WorldNetDaily wrote about Katie Couric’s “Dateline” interview with Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington (!), co-stars in the remake of The Manchurian Candidate. Streep, as unbelieving liberals tend to do when the media are around, took a swipe at President Bush’s faith (I blogged about something similar yesterday). Streep said:
“Through the shock and awe I wondered which of the megaton bombs Jesus, our president’s personal savior, would have personally dropped on the sleeping families of Baghdad….
“It was a question about, when you put Jesus on the campaign bus to stump for you, you have to really listen to what he says,” explained Streep. “Because he says, ‘If a man smite thee on the cheek, let — you turn the other, that he may smite also.’ And he says, ‘He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword,’ and he says, ‘Love thine enemy.’ Jesus could have raised an army against the people that persecuted Him. He didn’t. So, that’s what I was pointing out in my speech. And I couldn’t really imagine Jesus — like, I couldn’t imagine how Jesus would vote. Jesus was the Prince of Peace. Would the Prince of Peace vote for a war president?
Denzel Washington (!) challenged her statement, but that’s not what I want to focus on. People who don’t read the Bible quote it out of context quite frequently. Through a few Sunday school classes they may have taken or “God talk” they may have picked up here and there, they come to their own conclusions about Christ instead of letting the Bible speak for itself.
I blogged about this subject back in May on the old blog in a post titled, “Onward, Christian Soldiers.” There’s no point reinventing the microchip, so I’ll “rerun” the post:
“This is a special message to all who are in the body of Christ.
For the past week I’ve been blogging about the war and its atrocities. But as a witness to unbelievers and for the edification of believers, these matters must be put into a biblical context.
I don’t know about you, but in spite of everything that’s happened to this country in the last two weeks, I’m praising God this morning! I’m secure in the knowledge that He is in control, and nothing will frustrate His divine purpose.
Some commenters on this blog have either implied or said straight out that because Christ told us to love our enemies, it is inconsistent with His teachings for Christians to support the war in Iraq (or war in general). This may have been true before the Fall, but as I stated before, war is a consequence of sin. If you want to get rid of war and ‘give peace a chance’, you have to rid the world of sin.
To determine whether Jesus’ teachings are inconsistent with war, we must let the Bible speak for itself. Philosophical arguments and Scripture stripped from its context do not get to the heart of the matter.
The Bible makes distinctions between individual moral responsibility and governmental responsibility. To believers Christ says, ‘If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also….Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ The Sermon on the Mount, from which these words come, is a presentation of Christian discipleship, not a call to pacifism. Jesus was referring to our individual persecution as believers. We’re to pray for those who mock or harass us for our beliefs, but we are not prohibited from defending ourselves or others against the threat of robbers, rapists, murderers, etc., as permitted by law.
This is also clearly evident when He tells us that a man has no greater love than to lay down his life for a friend. The laying down of one’s life implies defending that friend against attack, which may result in our death.
When it comes to governmental responsibility, we read about the role and purpose of government in Romans 13:
For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. (3-5)
Our government has a God-given responsibility to protect us from attack, including warring with our enemies if need be. This does not negate individual Christians’ God-given responsibility to pray for evil-doers. Defending the innocent against evil is not inconsistent with Christ’s teachings.
Why must these things be? Rest assured that one day we will know the why of all things. As you read headline after sad headline, remember that Satan is a defeated foe. For God’s own purpose, the evil one is allowed to roam the earth wreaking havoc until the King returns to cast him and his minions into the pit of hell. Christ says, ‘[W]hen you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet.’ (Mark 13:7)
The end is not yet. It will get worse before it gets better. With a follower of Christ sitting in the White House, Satan is working overtime, and it may be God’s will that George Bush is defeated in November. God is awesome and will remain so no matter who our next leader will be.
The culmination of world events — the threat of Islamofascism, rampant sexual perversion, murders committed with glee — is not coincidental. God’s purpose will be revealed, and we know He has sovereignly decreed all things for His glory, though our finite minds cannot fully grasp this infinite concept.
Here is wisdom: When Christ returns, all who ’sleep’ will be resurrected, some to eternal life with Christ, others to eternal damnation in hell, so that ‘[A]t the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ (Philippians 2:10-11) Every creature will acknowledge the Lordship of Christ!
If there is someone reading this blog who doesn’t know Christ, I implore you to heed the warning. You will know Him sooner or later. Right now, you are under God’s wrath. Despite your unbelief, rebellion and hostility toward Jesus Christ, there will be a reckoning for your rebellion.
But our glorious Father in heaven has provided a way to avoid that reckoning through His Son Jesus. Our sin separates us from God, but believing on His Son and trusting Him alone for salvation provides an escape from the eternal damnation we deserve. Confess your sinfulness and unworthiness before God, ask His forgiveness and accept that Christ paid for your sins as He hung on that cross. If you want more information or wish to contact me privately, e-mail me at b***.
‘Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.’”
{ 20 comments }
Thanks for putting into words some of the things which have been running around in my head!! Denzel Washington was right,”You’ve got to read the whole book”! Taking things out of context and deceiving the public seems to be the primary occupation of the left today. It has been the primary occupation of “the father of lies” since the beginning.
Only thing that troubles me, from reading the reviews I gather that “TMC” is a fairly overt anti-Bush piece. (There’s this giant corporation, see, that makes $$$ off of people going to war … ) The review compared it to F911. I’d like to see Washington spell out his own politics a little more clearly.
But he did right to set Streep straight.
“Megaton bombs”? Geez, what a nitwit …
La Shawn, as usual, excellent!
For what it’s worth, noting that I am neither Christian nor a student of the Bible, I always took smiting on the cheek to be a symbolic blow,an attack on the ego. It has been, after all, the method always portrayed as the challenge to a duel.
Our society as a whole ceases to be students of the Word. Even Christians don’t know the Bible as they should. Most of this is due to our educational system. We wouldn’t dare teach the Bible in schools and we have less cognitively aware kids because of it.
Glad to see someone like Denzel pushed aside Holly politics and said what needed to be said.
And Jesus was absolutely not a pacifist — Luke 22:
Donald Sensing had a nice post about Roman culture and soldiers being dishonored when they would strike and the stricken not fight.
I think personally, as individuals, turning the other cheek, and especially mercy, are crucial. Forgive and … move on (they have the right slogan). AFTER the guilty have confessed their guilt, preferably; though for a surviving victim, forgiveness is important for their future happiness.
For SOCIETY, justice is crucial — and justice requires violence.
The Pope is not supportive of Bush’s Iraq war; nor was the WW II Pope a martyr against Hitler (much anti-God, anti-Pope criticism is based on that, today). There is a real, unresolved Christian tension between fighting injustice with violence vs. enduring the injustice with merciful forgiveness.
Would Streep oppose D-Day and accept “containment” of Hitler? I’m 90% sure that Streep is fully supportive of legal abortion — which most Christian believers oppose. (hm, now I have to look and see if it’s mentioned – nope)
Oops, clearing the money changers out of the temple. The one time Jesus uses force.
Yep, using religion for making money can be a problem (Swaggert? Robertson?). I wish the Church would go for employment maximization.
I enjoyed your former post of Onward Christian Soldiers. I read something (I am not sure if it was in the Bible or not) but a man asked a general, “Who shall we kill, Sir?” And the general said, “Kill them all. Jesus will know their hearts!” Jesus knows Mr. Bush’s and our soldiers’ hearts.
LaShawn, I’m glad you re-ran the post. It gave me goosebumps the first time around and still does. Your third paragraph is the most important. We must rid the world of sin, not embrace it to be politically correct.
Thank you for standing tall.
LaShawn. This is an extraordinary post.
Thanks for posting it again.
Going slightly tangential here… but, I find it curious that Hollywood remakes a film about Chinese (“Manchurian”) communists infiltrating the American political system during the height of the Cold War. Given post-9/11, you’d think the most logical (and believable) contemporary up-take would be Al Quaida/Islamic Extremists surrepticiously making it’s way up the U.S.’s political chain of command.
But noooooooooooooooooo. It’s those “evil” and greedy U.S. corporations that covertly inject themselves into the head of the Vice Presidential candidate (read: Richard Cheney). Funny, but wasn’t he also to blame for the global freeze-over in “The Day After Tommorow”? Didn’t they even have a Cheney look-alike actor in that roll? Our current VP must be Satan himself, I guess. Who’d a thunk it?!
*sigh* Evil Democracy is to be blamed for everything, with Evil Capitalism at it’s heart. But…. wait…… Isn’t it that same “Evil” Capitalism run by those “Evil” Corporations that’s paying those enlightened thespians? And isn’t it that “Evil” democracy that’s giving them the Freedom to display their vacuous inanity on the silver screen for all to see?
*sigh* …whatever…
Interesting…this is my first view on of the board, and I find it unique. Let me provide my analysis of your statements LaShawn, because I think there are some obvious issues that must be addressed by your philosophy.
Is war only right if it serves the best interest of America?
For example, there has been ongoing civil war and persecution in the Sudan. I would assume based upon the foundation of your argument, that EVERYWHERE an injustice is committed by one group against it’s people, the US should unilaterally step in and imposes it’s will militarily or economically correct?
If we are using the biblical argument, Christ never made reference to justice as it relates to ECONOMIC GAIN, or preservation of self-interest in areas other than physical protection.
The bottom line is if you ideology is carried out to it’s logical conclusion, America should not just be at war with Iraq, but also Iran, Syria, the Militia in Sudan, China, North Korea, and those are just the countries of the top of my head.
If war is right based upon the pursuit of justice, then apply it to it’s logical end and we will be at war with many, many, many nations…
Hirez, not necessarily so.
Yes life is sooo unfair, but there is only so much we can do about it. People tend to confuse what the Bible says and the distinctions it makes between personal, societal and national rights and wrongs. What do you think the “laying down a life for another” implies? Over 900 of our troops laid down their lives so that Iraqis may have a chance at a better life. It’s too late for the millions that died already under Saddam, but on a scale, I’d say that was a good return on our sacrifices to terminate Saddam sooner rather than later.
But as for your “logical conclusion”, it’s what we’re doing right now. So if we have to fight, we have to go for max effect/return. That means picking your battles, recalculate the effects before moving on to the next priority.
After 9/11, Afghanistan was the 1st priority, then Iraq. Who’s next? We’ll have to wait and see after we get to the point where we can redirect our forces. Likely Iran, since they’re bound and determined to go nuclear sooner than later.
The fortunate thing about NK is that they are truly an island and we can “ignore” them for the time being while doing what we can to collaspe them from the inside out. Our military forces would be better utilized in containing and or taking out regimes that threaten to take out their neighbors. Between communism and islamofascism, the jihadiis are the greater threat. The hope is that China will come around of its own accord–mainly waiting for the red-book hardliners to die out.
Iraq is central to the Middle East and hence, the geopolitics was logical. A side benefit is that not all Arab countries are sympathetic to radical islamism. Between what’s going on in Iraq and the general war on terrorism, that’s a pretty good reason why Libya has “moved” away from terrorism. Even now there is discussion of non-bordering arab states to take part in Iraq’s security. What’s unilateral about that?
With Africa, it is whole different set of equations, and right now, the vaunted UN is not interested in doing anything about Sudan. If anyone thinks about doing anything, it would once again be declared unilateral.
In and of itself, the concept of “unilateralism” is a crock. Also, we as a nation don’t have the stomach for war for the sake of war, so we’re not about to take on any and everyone. From the Jacksonian point of view, Iraq got what was coming to it and the hope is that others will take note. So that when we tell Sudan to stop the genocide, they will know we’re serious and not the same old, same old as the UN, NATO or what have you of a cabal of surrender monkeys.
Jesus was not the national leader that the society he returned to wanted, so it isn’t surprising to me that his words aren’t those of a political leader whose job it is to protect our property. The US government is not an arm of the church, so I wouldn’t expect the government to risk the lives, and use the money, of everyone in this country to do something that doesn’t serve their personal interests solely on the basis of the Christian view of justice. Some of us have a hard enough time respecting the right of nascent human life to continue, if doing so limits our choices as human adults.
Hi La Shawn, I’m a fairly new reader to your site but i want to say that I am awestruck at how clear and concise your posts are.
I’d particularly like to thank you for this one. Being a conservative Christian myself I’m often conflicted about my inner desire for justice and the belief my religion is based upon peace and forgiveness.
I don’t pretend to be astute in the study of the Bible, but in what I have read and what I have studied, I have no recollection of Jesus ever requiring us to forgive those who will show no remorse for the crimes they have perpetrated and make clear they plan to perpetrate again.
If we have learned anything in the last few years, it should be that if we truly desire justice then we cannot have peace at this time. Not with artocities such as were occuring in Iraq under Saddam, in Afganistan under the Taliban and the artocities that are occuring at this exact moment in the Sudan.
A little OT:
I went and saw The Manchurian Candidate today. It was an awesome movie, minus the Bush-bashing. I mean, there were obvious parallels drawn to Halliburton and Iraq, and many very subtle things like newspaper headlines and the like that I zeroed in on and rolled my eyes over, but the movie was still fairly gripping.
Sherry,
In Luke 6:37, Jesus says “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”
I think what this means is that we are to be mindful that we too are sinners. If we are to be protected from judgement then we must not judge others. Of course offenders must be judged, condemned, and punished, but that is by a government, which God himself has established (Rom 13:1).
There are many sins that we all continue to commit because of our own weakness. To an absolutely pure God, we are as unworthy of eternal life as the worst terrorist. And yet to some few people, God has given a gift of saving faith. The correct response is to be ever thankful that in God’s grace He has chosen to forgive us. The least that we can do for those who will not be forgiven by God is to have forgiveness for them ourselves because instead of us they were selected by God to demonstrate His ultimate justice.
As for Iraq, “and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday” (Isiah 58:10).
While I was sort of down writing the post back in May, I was also joyous. We tend to forget that God is in control. AWLAYS!
Ambra – Ditto. As I mentioned in one of my posts, Christians need to be equipped with THE WORD and properly. We know that Satan quotes Scripture, and if he can do it…
Andy – I was just about to say that!
John – Well-said.
To everyone: I’m enjoying having you guys around and reading your reactions. Blogging is a revolution in communication. We live in different parts of the country (and world), yet we come together here, in this virtual location, to share ideas and thoughts. Thank you for making me a part of it. We all may contribute a verse.
Streep knows as much about Christianity as she does pesticides.
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