IT IS ASSUMED that a magazine like yours aims to develop the spiritual gift of discernment. This is the ability to separate fact from fiction, truth from lies, and stated agendas from hidden ones. Sadly Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall (in "With Weapons of the Will"), rather than ferret out the hidden agendas behind wanting to topple Saddam, have opted for the more benign "we can do it nonviolently."
Let's face it: There is only one country that has used weapons of mass destruction on civilians, and it wasn't Saddam (remember Hiroshima?). I am also old enough to remember when Iraq (and bin Laden) were given weapons—ostensibly to kill the enemies of America (Iran and Russia). Life has a funny way of coming full circle, and the weapons given to these groups now threaten America.
The spiritual lessons of bin Laden and Iraq are a) that violence re-creates itself no matter who uses it; b) that ultimately what we do unto others we do unto ourselves; c) there is no difference between the bad guys and the good guys—we are all reprehensible and will use mass murder to achieve our selfish ends; and d) creating friends out of our enemies gets much more done than maintaining enemies (remember Russia?).
This is the type of perspective that a so-called Christian magazine ought to be focusing on: spiritual depth rather than shallow discernment.
Celia Davis
Toronto, Ontario
Read the Full Article
