| | This is a link to the full text of the speech by Achmadinejad http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2009/04/21/full-text-of-president-ahmadinejads-remarks-at-un-conference-on-racism/. Here is an interesting experiment that can be performed with it. Reverse the names of the parties (Eastern exchanged for Western and vise verse), and replace bona fide examples of improprieties used as proofs of point with bona fide examples from the other side. Rewritten this way, it is easy imagine THE SAME SPEECH (sans cultural nuances) being delivered by a notable Evangelical authority (choose one), and received by a conservative audience with standing ovation. Everyone wants justice! And if we all got it, we would all be sentenced by God to eternal damnation. That's why I think that in a strong sense the Western world has abandoned the Gospel for Christianity, and in doing so replaced advocacy in Christ (our mission) with mutual vilification under a "rule of law".
So in the grand scheme of things I wonder which is worse, the absence of the Gospel or the perversion of it. I am all the more so thus inclined to implore God for His mercy rather than depend on the "rightness" of my race, religion or country - starting with my understanding of the cross. The only distinctive division between races is that between the sinful human race, deserving of justice, and the sinless Son of God, Who was not. We are justified to God not because we are "right", but because He taken our sins upon Himself. Those who claim to have received forgiveness, then, must live this way. We justify our "enemies" to ourselves not by dismissing injustices, but by want for their good (like God to us). It is the opposite of mutual vilification, and it requires self sacrifice.
That's why in my last post I said that Achmadinejad could have and should have started his address by advocating for Jews first, and genuinely understanding their suffering. Only then could he expose the abject treachery of those who would manipulate genuine expressions of sympathy for cruel advantage in the reversal of power. But that would have required that he abandon his "edge", and it would require a repentance from his world and life view. It is too much to ask, and he may even be misinterpreted by his own people as treasonous. Notwithstanding, the same repentance is necessary in the Western world. How many Christians would vote for a man who publicly proclaimed the want of free and full forgiveness for Bin Laden? (No. We want him "brought to justice"). It would be political suicide!
I don't think practically addressing our role in this is particularly intellectual. I am sure that reading "Tales of Persia" to my children doesn't rank very highly in terms power and influence, but at the time I didn't appreciate the extent that the testimony of a simple loving life could have. The Gospel drives me to love and understand in the same manner that I am loved and understood by God. That's why I think the Gospel is the simple solution to a complex problem, for ourselves and for the world.
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| | Posted 4/22/2009 10:44 AM - 20 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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