"If I could get my hands on [Osama] bin Ladin, I'd skin him alive and pour salt on him. Nothing would be cruel enough. [And let's] level the country that's harboring them....Hit them with whatever we've got." (Blaine Harden, "For Many, Sorrow Turns to Anger and Talk of Vengeance," The New York Times on the Web, September 14, 2001.) That was one American's angry reaction to the recent terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Others actually acted on their anger: In the U.S., firebombs damaged Islamic mosques and Hindu and Sikh temples. One man attempted to run down a Pakistani woman with his car, claiming he was "doing this for my country." And another awaits trial on the charge of murdering Balbir Singh Sodhi, a 49-year-old Chevron gas station owner and father of three who was shot to death while landscaping outside his business. The Council on American-Islamic Relations says it received more than three hundred reports of harassment and abuse from the Tuesday of the attack through the next Thursday night. That's half a normal year's worth in three days!
This raises an important question: Just how *should* we react when we're attacked? After all, the terrorists killed more than *six thousand* of our fellow citizens. And they used innocent civilians--women and children as well as men--as both weapons and targets. Their blatant, intentional cruelty adds anger to our tears. Whether or not we had relatives or friends among those who died, we feel the loss. We know that in what they did in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, they were striking at us too. Our natural reaction is to strike back--to hurt them as much as they hurt us. But what's the right thing to do in this situation?
The Bible reveals God's perspective. Here's the advice it gives.
First, the Bible affirms our emotions--both sorrow and anger. So we needn't try to suppress them. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, He stopped the joyful procession to weep. He wept because He foresaw the destruction of that city just forty years in the future. He ached with all the suffering its people would endure. (See Luke 19:41ff.) Sorrow, then, is appropriate.
So is anger. God designed us to experience anger; He put the capacity for this emotion within us when He created us. In fact, the Bible often ascribes anger to God Himself. (It also attributes anger to Jesus; see, e.g. Mark 3:5)
Anger motivates us. It moves us to act. It's only when we use the energy our anger provides to hurt others that we sin. That's why Paul could caution: " 'Be angry but do not sin.' " (Ephesians 4:26 NRSV)
Anger gives us the courage and energy to confront injustice. It motivates us to do what we can to protect those who cannot protect themselves.
Second, the Bible tells us we can respond by helping to save lives. In fact, Jesus said that God will base His final assessment of us on how we treat those in need. Caring for the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the sick and injured is like caring for Him. (See Matthew 25:31-46)
After the recent attack, New Yorkers by the score volunteered to help rescue survivors. And news reports told of others from faarther away who managed to get to the site and offer their assistance. Blood banks around the country reported increased numbers of donors. And throughout the country, people gave money--funds to help with the rescue efforts, to help the survivors and the families of those who died. Scripture endorses exactly this kind of "charity."
Third, the Bible tells us that we can pray. We can pray for ourselves, for our own pain and fear and anxiety and that of our loved ones. We can ask God's healing for the injured, for God's comfort and peace for those who lost loved ones. We can pray for our country; for wisdom and patience and strength as our citizens and leaders decide how to respond. (See, e.g., Philippians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:1,2,8)
And, as difficult as it may sound, we can pray for those who attack us. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said,
"You have heard that it was
At Jesus' crucifixion, He prayed for His tormentors: " 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.' " (Luke 23:34 NIV) Stephen showed us that weak, emotion-laden humban beings can follow that example. As his persecutors were stoning him to death, he prayed, " 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' " (Acts 7:60 NIV)
Misguided and, yes, controlled by evil though they may be, terrorists are also God's children. However distorted His image in them is now, they still have the potential to bear His likeness fully. The apostle Paul became Christianity's greatest missionary and theologian. But before his conversion he was in effect a terrorist leader--a religious fundamentalist who actively worked to destroy the new religious movement by imprisoning and killing its members.
Finally, the Bible indicates that events like the recent ones in New York and Washington call us to assess our own spiritual state. Scripture consistently pictures the times just before Jesus' return as extremely turbulent. Paul, for instance, called them "terrible times", warning that people would be "brutal" and "treacherous." (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV) And Jesus termed that period a time of "great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again." (Matthew 24:21 NIV)
Jesus said these troubled times call us to "watch" and "be ready." They call us to cast our lot with Him, to place our fate in His hands. Those who do are assured of eternal life in the better world that is to come--no matter what happens to them in this one.
That is a choice worth making.
said, 'Love your neighbor and hate
your enemy.' But I tell you: Love
your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may be
sons of your Father in heaven."
(Matthew 25:31-46 NIV)