Love and bombs are not the same thing

Why do we make so many excuses to justify violence while ignoring Jesus’ teachings? In the past week I have seen so much Christian support for violence following the Paris attacks that I wonder when Christians discarded scripture in favor of American views.

ISIS murdered 129 people in Paris on Nov. 13. After that, my Facebook feed blew up with people posting their sympathies and the catchy phrase “Pray for Paris.” The sympathetic response for Paris was both beautiful and inspiring. But many of those people were Christians who would express enthusiasm at the violent retaliation of France just two days later with the bombing of ISIS in Syria.

There are two reasons Americans and Christians shouldn’t support France’s retaliation. First, history is repeating itself. France is making the same mistake as we did in 9/11 by retaliating with violence without thinking of long-term effects. The same is bound to happen after the Paris Attacks. Religious extremists will not be snuffed out by violence – it will only cause more violence to ensue.

Second, Christ calls us to be peacemakers. Over and over again we see that God hates violence and over and over he tells us to turn the other cheek, love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We need to be more Christ-like in our response to violence and our enemies.

What is Jesus’ response to violence? If you draw the sword, you will die by the sword. So can we please end the cycle of violence? Religion should progress morality and peace, not inflict pain and suffering. But for some reason we have mixed nationalism with religion and that is when the religion of love becomes as distorted as the religion of peace.

Right here you might be tempted to argue for self-defense and that France needs to protect itself. But I’m going to be brutally honest: where is the biblical basis for that? Matthew 5:39 says, “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.” I would say members of ISIS count as evil. Does this not apply?

Fear is the only thing stopping us from doing the right thing and from obeying the commands of Jesus. If we support the actions of our country that are in direct contradiction to the Bible then we make nationalism our god. Matthew 5:44 says, “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” The verse seems pretty straightforward about what our response as Christians should be.

We shame the name of Christianity when we “Pray for Paris,” but celebrate France’s bombing of ISIS. We are putting nationalism before the teachings of Jesus when in church we say “love your enemies” and we post on Facebook “Finally, someone bombed ISIS.” Love and bombs are not the same thing.

Now this might all seem good and well in the hypothetical, but how in the world would we function as a country if we never went after our enemies? At the current time, our country is not perfect and the world is not perfect. America is not going to obey the teachings of Jesus. Instead, we have to look at it as an individual choice – will you love your enemies? Will you turn the other cheek? Will you pray for those who persecute you instead of retaliating with the same poison they show you? It’s up to you.

Now I’m not anti-American – I’m pro-God. Sometimes American values and God conflict and when they do, I will choose God every time.