There is a great evil abroad in our world today. An evil that wants to destroy and tear down, with no respect for people, societies or traditions. An evil that has no place for dialogue, and sees consensus as weakness. How do we stand against this threat? As a Christian, how do I follow the Lord Jesus in regard to this evil? Can we really turn the other cheek, and allow the seeming annihilation of everything we hold dear?
He would kill me if he had the chance.
Mayhap that chance will come his way?
He would kill me… in the name of God!
And there’s nothing I could do or say.
He has already killed me in New York,
In Madrid, London, and now in Paris.
He has killed me in the bomb-shattered
Ruins of Palmyra, and all the sway of Isis.
I am the infidel, my heartbeat a sacrilege,
And his ‘god’ goads him on to viler deeds.
A god of rage, and facile right and wrong,
Who gets his kicks when someone bleeds.
I spit on his nasty little deity and doctrine,
As far from the One as ever one could be.
Can he really be so heartcold as not to know,
Love is the sole qualification for eternity?
I am Charlie, I am Paris, I am all who,
Vulnerable and scared, embrace humanity.
Sisters and brothers, for such we are, must
Support each other against this insanity.
Muslims, Christians, theists and atheists,
Must reject hate’s lure, must affirm all,
Planet-perched in the vastness of space,
Together on our insignificant bluish ball.
How would You face this killer Lord Jesus?
Would You outstretch Your arms to one,
Who rushes in to pull the trigger, and
Eagerly longs for a bloody martyrdom?
Will Your look of love convert this man,
Who sees meek as being merely weak?
How are we to deal with a foe whose
God commands he slap the other cheek?