Pursuit of Peace

Throughout the ages, as we see in the Scriptures, God has worked to bring people to Himself - even after the fall, He continued to reach out to humanity.  Through a man named Abraham, He called and chose a people unto Himself and attempted to build relationship with His covenant people.  We read
in Jeremiah 31:
31 "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--
32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

The Bible contains an incredible narrative of God's love for human beings and how He wants to have fellowship with us.  He called out a people, Israel, and called them by His name.  He has brought those who are not part of that group into relationship with Himself by sending His Son to die.  And, He continues to confirm His covenant with the Jewish people today - but now, as then, they must respond to His call.  The tragic murder of 11 people in a house of worship, a synagogue, grieves the hearts of people of faith, especially Christians, because it represents a hatred for people whom God has called to be special.

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In Deuteronomy 7, we read what the Lord had to say about the people whom He had chosen, and we remember that Israel has a special place in His heart:
6 "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments...

It was an act of sheer terror - a 46-year-old man named Robert Bowers walked into a synagogue in Pittsburgh and opened fire.  An article in USA Today said:

The man accused in a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning screamed anti-Semitic epithets, including "All Jews must die," as he fired at random, a law enforcement official told USA TODAY.

At the end of his rampage, 11 were dead and six people, including police officers, were seriously wounded.  Just before going into the building, he had posted an anti-Semitic message on a social media site called Gab.  The USA Today story continued:

The profile includes an array of anti-Semitic comments and conspiracy theories. The anti-Semitic rants on social media prompted authorities to designate the FBI as the lead agency to investigate the attack as a hate crime.

In the post just before the shooting, the organization HIAS, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, was mentioned. The post accused the agency of bringing "invaders in that kill our people."

It's unclear who Bowers meant when saying "our people."

On the page appearing to belong to Bowers, he wrote about a number of conspiracy theories and his stark opposition to immigration, especially the migrant caravan that has drawn ire from the Trump administration.

But, he was not a Trump voter, according to the article - in fact, he believed the President was too "soft" on the Jewish faith and was surrounded by too many of them to really "Make America Great Again."  You may recall that his daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, practice the Jewish faith.

This is the second extremist arrested in the past week - a Cuban-American named Cesar Sayoc was arrested in association with the pipe bombs that were sent to a number of high-profile political leaders.  USA Today indicated he has an extensive criminal record.  His online profile shows an allegiance to the President; he also drove a white van that had numerous "pro-Trump and anti-Democrat stickers."

It is way too convenient to say that you had two individuals with extreme tendencies who approached political issues from different viewpoints and center the discussion on whether or not these men supported the President or not.

Fact is, extremists exist in our society - and their political viewpoints and actions are not always clearly defined.  But, we are seeing a chilling devaluation of human life that has infiltrated a number of different segments of our society; it's scary, it needs to be addressed, and the Church can play a key role in leading the way to a more civil discourse.  Ratcheting up the rhetoric doesn't persuade those who see things differently than you to change their minds - it reminds us that somebody is going to get hurt; and we see in Pittsburgh that occurred.

People with whom you disagree are not your enemy.  And, that includes matters of faith: for instance, Christians and Jews do not see theological matters eye to eye, but we can disagree agreeably and live as members of an orderly, civil society.  We can strive to show respect to other religions, even though we believe that Jesus is only way to the Father.  (We can even grant a benefit of the doubt to those Muslims who are seeking peace; now, if we sense radicals among us, then we can leave that to the authorities to deal with.)

The shooting in Pittsburgh, the mass murder, is antithetical to the nature of God.  Eric Metaxas did not mince words when he tweeted out: "Evil is a hatred of God Himself. It perennially finds its clearest expression in a murderous hatred of the Jews, who are God's beloved chosen people, & out of whom came the Jew, Jesus of Nazareth. What happened yesterday was an attack on God Himself and on all He loves. #yeshua"

This is a provocative, reasoned, and Biblically accurate tweet.  Unfortunately, there was way too much political posturing that I saw on Twitter after the attack, with people blaming the views of another segment of society, some blaming the President, and even among some Chrisitans an impuning of their response to the events of that tragic day.  Certainly, as a people, as a nation, we are better than this: certainly we can all agree on the horror of this event without having to resort to name-calling and finger-pointing; it dishonors the memory of the 11 who lost their lives.

We must seek to respond correctly and Biblically.  David Jeremiah of Turning Point referred to Saturday as a "devastating" day. In a statement, he said: "No one should ever have to endure such horrific violence in a house of worship in a nation where the free exercise of religion is a fundamental and basic human right. I’m praying for the families of these victims right now, and I pray that God gives them comfort and a peace that surpasses all understanding.”

Tony Perkins of Family Research Council said:

"I encourage our leaders to call the nation together for a focused day of prayer and reconciliation. Let us take a day to seek God and pray for Him to bring healing to our nation -- asking God to move in the hearts of people to bring about the unity our nation so desperately needs.

"The challenges America faces are far beyond anything we're capable of overcoming on our own. For almost 250 years, that's what's set America apart -- its acknowledgement that we are a nation under God. And if there were ever a time that our nation should be coming together to pray, it's now. Our history records it. Our Founding Fathers held a national day of prayer in view of the monumental struggle we were engaged in with Britain.

The FRC website also stated: "It's true that anti-Semitism has been on the rise in recent years, as FRC has documented extensively. It's also true that the freedom to believe and live according to one's faith has been increasingly marginalized and demonized by political and cultural rhetoric. But these factors, and others like them that contribute to the horrors like we've seen in the past week are symptoms that won't be remedied by mere political or cultural change."

Laurie Cardoza-Moore of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations described Bowers as a "Christian nationalist" who was influenced by what is called "replacement theology," which teaches that God no longer has a plan for Israel.  She stated: “It is long past time to confront the growing danger posed by the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism in America. We must examine how our society, including our churches and education system, is helping to enable this threat making not just our Jewish communities vulnerable, but all people. History has shown that anti-Semitism doesn’t stop with the Jewish community; this hatred will soon be directed at other people of faith as well.” She issued this warning: "We in America have witnessed a continuous rise in anti-Semitic incidents on college campuses and on social media platforms with little to no response from university administrators. They continuously cite the ‘free speech rights’ of students to perpetuate and thus legitimize this growing threat."