A Christian Reflection on 9/11
by Rob Schwarzwalder
September 26, 2011
The American Interest is running a piece by the distinguished scholar Peter Berger about Christian reflections on the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 9/11. After citing the various and sometimes guilt-laden responses, Berger says this: “In all these texts there is not one word about the obvious moral reality of the event: That the United States was brutally attacked by an enemy of unmitigated evil, against whom violent force was fully justified. Both the goal of Jihadist terror—the establishment of a tyranny with systemic violation of human rights—and the means to get there—indiscriminate mass murder and torture—are utterly evil in the perspective of Biblical faith. That should be at the center of any Christian reflection about September 11.”
Amen: Whatever the missteps of American policy regarding our response to the slaughter ten years past, nothing should surmount, as a response to it, the reality that the terrorists were killers on a mass scale and that their acts against our country were heinous. Without qualification, without justification. Period.
American Christians embarrassed by the occasional reactive response from some of their fellow believers often go much too far in the other direction, engaging in lugubrious self-reflection and near-flagelative anti-Americanism. I am reminded of something the late Carl Henry wrote years ago: ”Not to oppose a Hitler, a Stalin, or a Mao would be an act of Christian lovelessness.” The same is true for the Taliban, al-Qaeda and their associates in the fellowship of human evil.
Should we hate them? No. Should we defend ourselves from them? Yes. The means of this opposition might be open for debate, but if America refuses to thwart those who would destroy it, we demonstrate our unfitness for the independence and liberty our fathers have, at the cost of many of their lives, bestowed to us. Let us be worthy of them.
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Comments
I have no words of defense for the terrorists that attacked our country. As you stated, “….the terrorists were killers on a mass scale and that their acts against our country were heinous. Without qualification, without justification. Period.”
There was no religion (particularly Islam) that cosigned or condoned their act of terrorism. Unfortunately, too many have stated exactly the opposite and see the groups that you’ve named (the Taliban, al-Qaeda and their associates) as true representatives of Islam and all Muslims. It would be similar to taking Timothy McVeigh, Jim Jones and David Koresh and their misdeeds and judging Christianity and all Christians.
If more people would avoid making that comparison, they would learn that they have Muslim Americans willing to side with them in their efforts to aid and assist in the defense of this country against a common enemy: terrorists.
Muslims simply will not aid or assist anyone who cites Islam and/or Muslims as “the enemy“! That’s just basic common sense, but I feel the need to spell that out in plain English, instead of veiled palaver.
By: A.W Polenski | September 27, 2011 at 9:39 am
I agree with your comments regarding the heinous acts of the terrorists, but as a grateful believer in Jesus Christ I must acknowledge the truth of what has taken place. When the Assyrians attacked Israel, God did not want the people of Israel to dwell on “just how bad” the Assyrians were, for God promised to deal with them in due time, but what God wanted was for the nation of Israel to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God and repent of the spiritual adultery they were committing. God is sovereign and 9/11 was a warning to the U.S to repent and turn to Him. God used the Assyrians willful disobedience to discipline His people. That is the mystery of Gods sovereignty and purpose. God used the terrorists on 9/11 the same way he used the Assyrians. We must not focus on the sin of the Assyrians or “Muslim Jihadists” in this case, but we must focus on the sin in each of our own hearts and repent. God is holy and just, and if we do not respond with obedience, faith and love, we too will likewise perish. This is the truth and where our focus should be.
Unfortunately, our leaders have responded with arrogance and pride and ironically used Isaiah 9:10 to try to give hope to our nation. It reads,
“The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.”
How painfully these arrogant leaders have taken this verse out of context, for the previous verse Isaiah 9:8-9 reads, 8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,
and it will fall on Israel;
9 and all the people will know,
“Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:”
The leaders said they would rebuild out of a pride and arrogant heart. Man cannot escape the judgments of God. Isaiah 26:9 says, “When Gods judgments are in the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.”
It is with great humility and a desire to obey the Word of the Lord that I must speak this truth, however difficult it is for our flesh to receive. I can do no other.