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We take the Gospel seriously.
We must live it.
In giving ourselves
to each other,
we will come
to fullness of love
and revelation.
Spirit and Lifestyle
Tom Fox who was killed by his kidnappers in Iraq would agree with these
words from S&F. On the day before his abduction, Fox wrote:
"I have read that the word in the Greek Bible that is translated as "love"
is the word "agape". I have read that this word is best expressed as a
profound respect for all human beings, simply for the fact that they are all
God's children. I would state that idea in a somewhat different way, as
never thinking or doing anything that would dehumanize one of my fellow
human being.
"As I survey the landscape here in Iraq, dehumanization seems to be the
operative means of relating to each other. U.S. forces in their quest to
hunt down and kill 'terrorists' are as a result of this dehumanizing word,
not only killing 'terrorists', but also killing innocent Iraqis: men, women
and children in the various towns and villages.
"It seems as if the first step down the road to violence is take when I
dehumanize a person.... As soon as I rob a fellow human being of his or her
humanity by sticking a dehumanizing label on them, I begin the process that
can have, as an end result, torture, injury and death.
"With the waging of war, we will not comply. With the help of God's grace,
we will struggle for justice. With God's abiding kindness, we will love even
our enemies."
There are 16,400 Iraqis illegally detained in the U.S. prison system in
Iraq.
"Brutality engenders brutality," wrote Leonard Desroches, a close friend of
Jim Loney, another of the Christian Peacemakers abducted. "The longes, most
demanding spiritual journey is never to another country. The greater
spiritual journey for all of us is the journey from brittle ego to a
strongs, purifited self capable of risking compassionate love for others,
including enemies."
Cecily
