War is HELL?

 “Everybody talkin' 'bout heav'n ain't goin' there…” -Spirituals as expressions of protest

I believe and preach that Jesus’ death and resurrection gives us victory in life, over death, and hell. In fact, when Jesus died and was resurrected he took our place and went to war in hell on our behalf so we no longer have to fight battles.

The Afghans should have been asking, “What the hell?” when the lone American serviceman slipped away from his base in southern Afghanistan before dawn last week and went on a methodical house-to-house shooting spree in nearby Afghan homes. The alleged gunman, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, killed 16 women and children as they slept.

As a person of faith, I am outraged not only at the actions of Sgt. Bales, but our government officials illustrated in the words of the Defense Chief, Leon Panetta. When asked to respond concerning the actions of the serviceman, Mr. Secretary simply stated “War is hell. . .!” I found myself laughing out loud in front of the television before screaming back, “so what the hell are we doing in this endless war in the first place?” A more thoughtful response to Mr. Panetta might have been “then use your authority to end it…please!”

 

For a country that is still wrestling and trying to figure out what it means to be a democracy, I find it highly-hypocritical that we can go to other countries and use our guns and bombs to try to make them become what we ourselves have yet to become, a true democracy. This brings new meaning to that age old adage, “mind your own business.”

We’ve created yet another hell for the Afghans, less we not forget the countless bombs and missiles that have blown up on the wrong targets or the recent burnings of the Koran. This new hell, created at the hands of a troubled serviceman, is now personal and cannot be attributed to any noble pursuit which has supposedly justified wars in the past. How can something that is created and then controlled by man for the purpose of winning or achieving a goal be considered “hell” by those responsible for the hell? Is it just me or does those in charge realize they are more responsible for creating this hell as those that we consider our enemy?

The United States is a country that was founded as a result of war with the British. We perpetuate war in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran where we superimpose our way of life onto a culture and people that continue to say, “Thanks, but no thanks!” We even declare war on religion, as in the case of Rick Warren and the Association of Evangelicals who proclaim free contraception for women an attack on religious freedom.

But we have not waged war within our own borders against the economic and social ills in what claims to be the richest country in the world. How ironic for a Republic that leaves 20 percent of its children in poverty, languishes in incessant racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia, and feels no responsibility in providing adequate healthcare to all of its native born citizens. We often wonder why there is so much violence in our communities, but our communities are modeling our government. So maybe it is true that war is hell but so are poverty, oppression, and discrimination. American made inventions that, unlike those 16 innocent Afghans, are impenetrable to the bombs and bullets of war or the laws and policies of a federal government.

In a place that continues to wear the banner, “In God We Trust,” war cannot be the result of our Trust in God! How do we begin to think about alternatives to war in our quest for peace as a nation? If heaven is the goal, and the kingdom of God is to come, we can no longer doom our own and others to hell via war?

I don’t know Staff Sgt. Bales personally, but I suspect that he is a victim of what war can do to a person given his countless deployments to the battlefield and the emotional and psychological impact of events he has witnessed. Participating in his fourth tour duty, when does the military say that enough is enough and take care of its own ending their term in hell? The military can be blamed for creating a personal hell for Sgt. Bales and so many others but I find it unacceptable to blame all of this on our own homemade war.