Thursday, May 12, 2011

Justice And The Fight For Freedom

The world watches anxiously as Arabs from Morocco to Bahrain together pursue one goal: freedom. They have mobilized to strike fear into the heart of tyranny. An entire generation fighting to expose and dismantle regimes built on oppression, corruption, and tyranny, these brothers and sisters envision a better future and a better life. They cry out for freedom, but the battle is really one for justice.

Today's youth have awoken to the reality that if they do not fight against injustice, no one will do it for them. They believe that corrupt governments and power hungry politicians are not the cornerstones of progress. Rather, hope rests on democracy and human rights to create a better world. Justice will be served. The wicked will be cast down.

Yes, this is an age of awakening. We will no longer lend ourselves to the injustice of kings and dictators, crooked politicians and bribe-seeking police. Yet to this day, mosques everywhere are filled with worshipers who bow to the antithesis of what it is they seek. They are a people who refuse to be ruled by unjust men, yet submit to an unjust God.

Time and again, my neighbors and friends instruct me that God will grant mercy to the faithful. I am told that for those who confess "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammad is His prophet" and outweigh bad deeds with good all will be forgiven. God will simply erase all the mistakes and errors triumphantly ushering the believer into paradise. In Islam, pardon is fully within the realm of God's justice, and He will pardon every good Muslim. Supposedly, bad deeds are forgotten never to be remembered.

But what of the victims, do they remember? Do they not deserve justice?

Consider a fictional courtroom in my local village. As you and I sit behind the defendant, he rises and moves to plead his case. Accused of murder, he stands before the judge and begins his defense,
"Your honor, I have committed murder as you are well aware. But you must understand that this is but an isolated incident. I have murdered, but I am no murderer. Consider the weight of my good deeds, I pray five times a day, give alms, and uphold Ramadan. Please ask my neighbors and they will tell you that I have been on hajj twice. Allah Al'Aqbar! Does not this life of service before Allah more than cover the few mistakes I have made? I beg your mercy as you consider my past service in rendering judgment."
With the drop of a gavel, the judge acquits this man of all charges. He is free to go. For a moment the courtroom is stunned; the citizens stare at the judge in shock. And shock gives rise to anger. "Order in the court!" cries the judge at the public outcry. Amidst the uproar, a young girl sits quietly trembling in the back row. Tears begin to flow down her cheeks; a flood of memories gushes through her mind. As her makeup begins to smear, her puffy eyes lock with those of the defendant as he retraces his steps down the aisle. With a grin, her father's murderer exits the courtroom.

Not one of us would tolerate such blatant injustice from a human judge. This revolution was started to cast down such injustice. And yet, Islam's claims make God out to be no better than our oppressors. To this point, my Muslim friends will object, "But God is not bound by our justice. His justice is different than earthly justice."

You are right when you say that God is not bound by temporal, finite creation. But I ask, did not the God who created you and I and the world in which we live also create the order that turns it and the justice that governs it? If God deems that the justice passed down to the prophets Moses, Jesus, and Mohammad is holy, is he not unholy when his justice proves contrary? Buried inside every human heart is a God-given conception of justice that flows from God's very nature. We can know and fight for justice because it is essential to the God who has sanctioned and sanctified it.

All injustice comes at a cost. A price to be paid. The murderer must relinquish his freedom, the thief must make reparations, and the sinner must be called to account for his active rebellion against a holy God. Within the confines of Islam's double-standard-justice, men will continue to uphold justice only when it is convenient and beneficial for them. Only a people that understands God's deep love for justice will actively pursue that justice in all facets of life.

Until the Arab world takes a firm stand on universal justice, the change they so desperately desire will elude them. An unjust God is as worthy of my worship as Mubarak is deserving of my tax money. Under an unjust God, the fight for justice will fail. Nothing will change but the names of those who filch and oppress the poor.

So what is the answer? How does God prove Himself just and still justify sinners? According to Paul's letter to the Romans in the Injil, chapter 3, the publicly shed blood of Jesus stands as payment for the sin and injustice committed by all who place their trust in this Messiah. Islam is half right, God will indeed pardon sin for the faithful. But He does not do this without payment.

God came to earth wrapped in man's skin, called Himself Jesus, and made the reparations on our behalf. Justice was fulfilled at the cross. The sinner's pardon is the blood of our spotless lamb.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Freedom or Facade?

Arabs everywhere are crying out to demand freedom. Egyptians, Libyans, and Saudi Arabians are standing up to corrupt and violent governments and clamoring for change. They raise their fists for freedom, equality, and hope.

On January 30th, Egyptians protested in a "Day of Rage." Officially, Bahrain followed on February 14th, Libya on February 17th, Morocco on February 20th, Tunisia on February 25th, and Saudi Arabia on March 11th. Unofficially, many have fallen in between, more frequent in some countries than others. In Morocco, for instance, every Sunday has seen peaceful protests in all the major cities since February 20th.

The protesters collectively want freedom. But on an individual level, people are demanding work, better pay, and more opportunities for the college-educated. They want to put a stop to corruption. They want new leaders. They want a better life.

But today's freedom movement has a serious internal flaw. The focus is on me. What can I get? How can I better my position? America's freedom was built on a Judeo-Christian ethic, an entire nation joining together to create a better world for everyone. Where self-interest comes first, freedom devolves into tyranny. The fight for personal gain is not the fight of freedom. This man's freedom is another man's chains.

The conception of freedom that requires the destruction of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat is a never-ending cycle of violence. Freedom always has in view the minority. And this is the fork in the road where freedom and Arab culture part ways because even the minority does not have in mind the minority. What an Arab minority has in mind is ascension to power on the backs of other minorities. For many, freedom is an empty word, a stepping stone to securing power.

I fear that many of today's freedom fighters have a short-sighted view of freedom. If freedom is what you want for your nation, there is no place for your motivations of money, power, and position. Freedom requires sacrifice. Freedom defends the weak, helps the helpless, and extends its hand to enemies. My Arab friends, you must set aside your hatred, your biases, and your differences. It may sound counter-intuitive, but by helping the helpless, you help yourself.

Will you fight for your own rights, but deny them to your countrymen? At the end of the day, will the poor and uneducated still be marginalized? When you have seen your revolution through, will you acknowledge the rights of your Christian brothers and sisters, those who have been threatened, tortured, and killed in the name of Islam? Will you defend the oppressed, abused, and downtrodden?

I want you to know that you have many Christian countrymen. In fact, they are scattered all across North Africa and the Middle East. They work hard, commend truth, seek justice, and ask God to give wisdom to those in authority over them. They are the minority that is most in danger of being left behind in this revolution.

Will we all get the better life you seek, or is this just a facade?

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

The Shot Heard Around The World

A young 20th century would stumble into the world desperately seeking identity. The expectations were high; previous generations had been responsible for reformations, industrial revolution, and the Enlightenment. Progress was lifted high as the banner that historians would use to define the age, a powerful diversion to steal the world's attention away from the atrocities of imperialism, ongoing wars, and the rising discontentment of nationalism.

Mankind looked down from his high tower reveling in the glory of his great masterpiece all the while oblivious to the corrosion of its foundations. Then, one warm summer morning in Sarajevo, a shot was fired that was heard around the world. Before the projectile reached its mark, the world was at war. Piercing the jugular vein of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the bullet released a flow of long overlooked anger and virulence into a shattered world loosely held together by the tenuous geographic lines laid out by the imperial powers that be.

Fired from the gun of a young Serbian, this shot would signal the mobilization of the world's armies. Declarations of war would be heard as far as the shot's ringing echoes could reach. With one swift action, the world was at war. An unstoppable chain of events brought modernity crashing back down the very mountain of progress it had intrepidly stood upon.

A fledgling 21st century would find itself in that same struggle to discover its identity. One more generation fed up with its oppressors, the Arab world unwittingly awaited a catalyst as it stood by watching kings and dictators -- risen from among their own people -- multiply the iniquities of previous centuries' colonists. Once more the answer would be heard loud and clear by the world that had turned a blind eye to their suffering. With the strike of a match, a young Tunisian man would ignite the Arab world sending far and wide the flames of violence and rage long suppressed.

College-educated but out of work, his only hope to support a hungry family -- the produce cart that he pushed around the streets of his city -- was confiscated by corrupt policemen whose own families were well provided for. The next day he set himself and the Arab world on fire. The empty gas can lying by the side of the road, his smoldering body would spread the flames like a wildfire to the far reaches of North Africa and the Middle East. As the flames spread, every major Arab leader would feel the heat of Mohamed Bouazizi's fire.