1st John 3:16-18 Syria: Our Egregious
Nonfeasance - J : ) / The sovereign peoples' power and responsibility is
Providential |
(Text of web log post is copied below. But it is best viewed at the web log.
- - )
(1st John
3:16-18 NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His
life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17
But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up
his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little
children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Syria: Our Egregious Nonfeasance
The sovereign peoples' power and responsibility
is Providential
The
massive military and economic power of our Nation is of God.
It is
the responsibility of the several sovereign peoples of the several sovereign
states to effectively oversee those to whom they have delegated limited
authority.
The web
logger who channels ++Cranmer describes the situation in Syria which is largely
the result of the egregious nonfeasance of the sovereign peoples and their chosen
subordinates.
Like the
big boy on the block, the sole super-power has been given certain power and
authority and responsibility by the living God.
The
sword has been given us as His servants. Force of various sorts, and the threat
of force are to be wisely used in His service.
The slaughter of Syria's Christians - doing
nothing is not an option
Posted by Archbishop Cranmer at 9:43 am
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-slaughter-of-syrias-christians.html
or http://bit.ly/1jbWD45
He is
just one child in a sea of suffering in which thousands are being butchered and
millions displaced. As ever, the Christians are getting it worst. According to
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN ), violence against Christians in Syria is
becoming "one of the worst persecutions endured by Christians in this part
of the third millennium". Christianity risks being expunged from the
region altogether. Another report talks of Christians being beheaded simply for
wearing a cross, and tells us that "more than 600,000 Christians - a third
of the total Syrian faithful - are internally displaced or living as refugees
in neighboring countries".
Other
estimates put the figure at 1.3 million - that is two thirds of the entire Christian
population of Syria. They have no destiny and serve no purpose: they are
victims fate and chance. We can talk of the "Christian hope" and
waffle on about God's promises and the unfathomable peace of Christ. But when
you are cold and hungry, words bring little comfort. And when you're grieving
for your mum and dad, a rational appeal to God's coming vindication offers
absolutely nothing.
Apparently
the UK is giving aid, along with the rest of the EU, which amounts to millions
of pounds. That's nice, but this boy needs a hug, a shoulder, and new familial
relationships to begin to heal his lamenting spirit. He doesn't understand talk
of the anti-Assad forces, Al-Qaeda or the Free Syrian Army. He doesn't do
politics. He just wants to put his arms around his parents and be loved again.
And his
story - whatever it is - will be just one among the multitudes of the innocent
dead. When St John saw the martyred souls beneath the altar crying "How
long?" (Rev 6:9f), he saw the question as the Old Testament prophets had
left it:
And many
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
And they
that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn
many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever (Dan 12:2f).
Outstanding
injustice awaits the final intervention of God to judge this world and to give
life to the dead. Daniel expresses the limitations of a purely cosmological
theodicy in chapters 4 and 5. It is the opacity of history, the sealed scroll
in God's hand, that reduces John to tears [Rev 5.4]. It is the revelation of
the Lion of Judah, who is also the sacrificed Lamb of God, which affords us a
glimpse of joy that evil and suffering are made intelligible [Rev 5.5].
But this
doesn't comfort the grieving children of Homs, Maaloula or Aleppo. We can pray
and/or send money . Or we can physically go there and weep with those who weep.
We can petition the Government to open our borders and welcome them as we
should all widows and orphans. Whatever or whichever, doing nothing is not an
option.
Posted
by Archbishop Cranmer at 9:43 am Permalink http://bit.ly/1jbWD45
I2C
140117c 1Jo 3v16to18 Syria Our Egregious Nonfeasance / I2C / 140117 2025 / 1st John
3:16-18 Syria: Our Egregious Nonfeasance / The sovereign peoples' power and
responsibility is Providential
