There will always be those who have chosen a way of life that is incapable of producing the great wealth and benefits of our society. Out of their envy, they seek to tear down that which they can not build themselves. This is part of why we are called not to envy others. For out of that envy springs anger and hatred towards our fellow man.Amen.
Our attackers claimed to have attacked us in the name of Allah. Most Muslims claim that the attacks were a perversion of their faith. Fair enough. However, I have never heard a reasonable theological argument as to why they believe this is so. Christians would say that such an attack on the innocent could not be performed at God's direction, because, even though God is all powerful; He chooses to be bound by his promises and his word, the Bible, which forbids murder. Further, He is a God of reason; and the attacks on the innocent were unreasonable. I echo the questioning of the current Pope, who asked if Muslims believe that God is capable of ordering murder or even idolatry from his followers, because his will is all powerful. I have yet to see a cogent reply. With so much destruction in the current age done in the name of Islam, I think we are owed an explanation. (I know that horrific deeds were performed in the name of Christianity in past ages. But our answer is that those were contrary to God's law and we repent of them and actively abhor them in this age. I am asking for the philosophical or theological basis for the Muslim claim that the hijackers operated outside of the bounds of their religion.)
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I have always struggled with this. Not only have horrific deeds been committed in the name of "our" God, but by God himself.
ReplyDelete(In 1 Samuel 15, God, through the prophet Samuel, sends Saul on a mission to exterminate the Amalekites. The instructions are explicit: don’t just kill the men, but the women and children also, and even the cattle – spare nothing and no one. Saul, first, sensitively warns the Kenites, a more friendly tribe, to dissociate themselves from the Amalekites, lest they be destroyed along with them. And he then makes vigorous war on the Amalekites, emerging victorious, with considerable booty including the Amalekite king as a captive and the choicest cattle.)
But more to your point, Envy is also the vehicle for the "tax the rich" mentality
Road Dawg
Not the Livestock!
ReplyDeleteUlysses Everett McGill