been away awhile...

I was on the road all of last week, and pretty busy this past week catching up with stuff. Have a few things from that experience that I want to post, but first things first: the terrorist bombings in London was an horrific act of violence that deeply saddens and angers me. It does not shake my faith in humanity or God. It does raise my awareness of the presence of evil in the hearts of men. Our response to such evil must be continued faithfulness and renewed efforts to stop it from spreading; those who are already infected must be stopped.

One way to understand terrorist actions such as the London bombings is to see them as violations of the unwritten social contract that allows people all over the world to live together in (relative) peace. We are able to live together because we hold to basic values, including individual freedom, the right to self-determination, and respect for each other and all of life. Terrorists reject these values for others. Terrorists must be stopped by going after the rotten plant of terror itself - the branches who commit acts of terror, the roots who are the masterminds behind such plotting - and by correcting the festering soil in which terror breeds, fertilizing it with freedom, education, and opportunity, the conditions that lead people to choose to live within the guidelines of the social contract on which we all depend. We must bring light to the darkness and stop the dark peddlers of evil. Those who recognize the value of human life and dignity must respond to such terrorist attacks with resolve not to give up or give in to the terror but to stop the terror at its root; our response must also be one of sympathy and aid for those affected by terrorist's actions. In this wider understanding of human relationships, people divide into two categories: those who choose to live within the contract of interdependence and respect for all people; and those who choose to disregard these basic values of humanity and life. The world must be united together against the latter; it must also work to save those who haven't yet made up their minds or who are in danger of slipping into the terrorist's ways: the cost of failure is too high, as the bombings in London have shown.

My heart and prayers go out to all who were affected by this latest act of cowardice and terror.

The scriptural foundation for such thinking is wide: obvious texts on humanity's unity include Genesis 1:26-31 and John 3:14-21, the key verse being John 3:17; for the need to care for each other, see the prophets, e.g. Amos 8:4-14 and Micah 6-7.