Monday, October 29, 2007 at 2:02am
Is war within us?
Column: Interesting Times
I can't sleep. World War III? The U.S. president rattles his word sabers. Vice President Cheney says if sanctions or bombings of Iran cause oil prices to go up, "so be it." Who are these people who shake the world with their threats? Their backgrounds have been analyzed and dissected for all to read, but I still don't know who they are. All I know is that I cannot sleep over threats of war.
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" Doesn't this verse from James 4 suggest that the war the president and vice president seem so eager to prosecute actually exists in their own beings?
Is war something that is within us? And why do so many of us seem so asleep to what is being done in our names? Why are we not roused by what a few are warning and saying — that there is some out-of-control thought, disguised as informed leadership, that terrifies the world as much as "terrorists" terrorize. Is there some kind of ratio between those who cry out "Death to America" as there are people asleep during sermons and prayer hours?
I wish I had the answers to these questions. I wish I knew how to answer my friend Karen, who wondered about the possible relationship between the California fires and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Are the fires some sort of payback?" she asked. "How horrible. To think that might be possible."
Don't say I am naïve. Don't say that "Iran is a nuclear threat and they must be stopped."
We have all heard that. I have heard that and it may be true. But how many wars against selected Islamic countries can one nation wage? Who decides? It's all too alarming for me to sleep, even though I have a down comforter, organic sheets and live where the big issue is the declining water basin, lack of snow and drunk drivers on the interstate. Perhaps it is because I live in relatively secure surroundings that I am suffering for those who do not?
If we are all One — or as Paul says in 1Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" — then perhaps it is not inappropriate to toss and turn all night, knowing bombs are falling and more may rain down across the Middle East?
I don't know about you, but this is my only hope as oil nears $100 a barrel:
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet" (Matthew 24:6).
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Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" Doesn't this verse from James 4 suggest that the war the president and vice president seem so eager to prosecute actually exists in their own beings?
Is war something that is within us? And why do so many of us seem so asleep to what is being done in our names? Why are we not roused by what a few are warning and saying — that there is some out-of-control thought, disguised as informed leadership, that terrifies the world as much as "terrorists" terrorize. Is there some kind of ratio between those who cry out "Death to America" as there are people asleep during sermons and prayer hours?
I wish I had the answers to these questions. I wish I knew how to answer my friend Karen, who wondered about the possible relationship between the California fires and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Are the fires some sort of payback?" she asked. "How horrible. To think that might be possible."
Don't say I am naïve. Don't say that "Iran is a nuclear threat and they must be stopped."
We have all heard that. I have heard that and it may be true. But how many wars against selected Islamic countries can one nation wage? Who decides? It's all too alarming for me to sleep, even though I have a down comforter, organic sheets and live where the big issue is the declining water basin, lack of snow and drunk drivers on the interstate. Perhaps it is because I live in relatively secure surroundings that I am suffering for those who do not?
If we are all One — or as Paul says in 1Corinthians 12:13, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit" — then perhaps it is not inappropriate to toss and turn all night, knowing bombs are falling and more may rain down across the Middle East?
I don't know about you, but this is my only hope as oil nears $100 a barrel:
"And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet" (Matthew 24:6).
— — —
Lynne Bundesen is the author of five books on religion and was adjunct professor at the Boston Theological Institute under a Templeton Science and Religion Grant. She is currently the spiritual expert for the physical and spiritual health website of Dr. Andrew Weil. Her book "The Feminine Spirit: Recapturing the Heart of Scripture" was just published. Her email address is {email lynnebundesen@hotmail.com}lynnebundesen@hotmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Lynne Bundesen.