THE LONGEST WAR AND POTENTIAL FREEDOM FOR ALL--Some thoughts

 IT IS OFFICIAL!  THE AFGHAN WAR IS CONCLUDED. No more occupying solders from America and or NATO in Afghanistan. Called Operation Freedom by some, the United States invaded Afghanistan 7 October 2001 and successfully drove the Taliban from power. This was done in order to deny al-Qaeda a safe base of operations in Afghanistan. I was five years retired from my 45 years of pastoral ministry and seventy-four years old. Twenty years later finds me having passed the age of ninety-four, still alive and enjoying a reasonably good life, unlike thousands of Afghans.

We gave Afghanistan a twenty-year respite from al-Qaeda terrorism. We introduced a new "conscious" of life, liberty, and the pursuit of personal independence but we failed to wipe out the terrorism of small, petty,  weak men who prey upon women and children in their attempts to escape being historic dinosaurs of time and tradition by using muscle and violence.

Our air power lifted some 123,000 Americans and Afghans to a new life of potential freedom. AFGHANISTAN WILL NEVER BE THE SAME, for freedom--like life itself, can never be put back in the bottle and a cork contain it. Once loosed, freedom is indestructible and will live under the most impossible conditions and pop up again in the most unexpected places. American blood now enriches that of Afghanistan and the spirit of freedom has been tasted by many an Afghan who will never be the same--because of our twenty years in their country. A common humanity is the God-given birthright of every human being--by right of divine creation--in the image of God/Allah. 

Readers of this blog will agree and disagree. The generations to come will write many books and spend years of public debate as to the rightness or wrongness of our intervention in Afghanistan. I doubt anyone ever resolves it, In fact, I would suggest this might well be the moral battle of the ages for I contend we were all created in the image and likeness of THE DIVINE and we are what we are, and who we are, by divine right.

Martin Luther caught a vision via revelation of THE WORD OF GOD. He did not escape his theocratic thinking taught him by his church but he did catch a vision of what it means to walk personally with Jesus and experience a relationship rather than a ritual. Islam, like Luther, is hooked on the horns of this theocratic thinking. Islam tries to tie itself to Mohammed who finally committed himself to conversion via the sword. Historically, Mohammed began as a reformer of a decadent Christianity and only later converted to his Sword Religion that radical terrorists (and some Muslims and all fascists) espouse today.

It took generations of Anabaptist and Pietist believers to get to the core of personal choice and freedom of religion in public life as we know it today in America. A most interesting read is the story of ROGER WILLIAMS who founded Rhode Island to escape the theocratic mindset of the Puritans who jailed people for failing to keep the Sabbath. Rhode Island became a place where people could decide for themselves and enjoy freedom of faith, or no faith. Maryland later became a place where Roman Catholics could live in peace, while much of the rest of the colonies were hampered by their theocratic practices. Freedom has been on a long journey in America and I dare believe Afghanistan has now had a taste that many will continue trying to satisfy. 

I believe in the God who inspired Hannah of old to conceive and deliver her baby in marriage and place him in a protected basket and trust him to the God of Heaven as she hid him in the bulrushes of the Nile River. That great God later found Moses the former prince become a felon and inspired him to go back and face Pharaoh and lead Israel's band of slaves to freedom via the Exodus. God had his hands full trying to teach slaves to accept the responsibilities of freedom and stop their irresponsible complaining, but through the centuries of the Old Testament God did in the fullness of time send Jesus as Emmanuel (God with us) and there were those who understood what God had been revealing through the centuries: freedom and faith are personal, not political. 

Faith does not give one a preferential place over others who are different in color, culture, caste, or even politics. Faith is personal--a matter of the heart and it is practiced best by a humble walk with God, as Jesus lived it while going about teaching and preaching and doing all the good he could--not my will but thine be done. 

May God bless America for its willingness to share freedom with all people everywhere. May God bless Afghanistan to know God, the  I AM of Humanity. May God bless our world as we strive to build a coexistence of peace among all people, hope for future humanity, and love (charity--good works) for all...  

CALLED TO LISTEN

 

One of the newsletters I read with great appreciation is THE HIGH CALLING, published by The Francis Asbury Press of Wilmore, KY. This July-August issue includes such names as John Eldredge, Michael  Henderson, Leroy Linsey, and Scott Peck. Also included are Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Tim Roehl,  Thomas Oden, Walter Wangerin and a brief piece by Robert Greenleaf. Editor Stan Key has assembled a formidable group to provide a power-filled package of authors and thinkers that expand his theme—the opened ear.

Key describes “The ‘opened’ ear’” as one that ultimately “speaks of the submissive servant, willing to serve out of love.” I found Leroy Linsey especially insightful  on the opened ear. Linsey is a Missionary-speaker for the One Mission  Society, in theological education and discipleship. He holds the PhD degree and is deeply committed to--and heavily involved with--the Asbury Society.

Linsey wonders what Stephen meant when he accused the Jewish leaders of being stiff-necked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears (Acts 7:1). Noting that they were stubborn to the point of having both uncircumcised hearts and ears, Linsey suggests Stephen was perhaps thinking of Jeremiah’s words centuries earlier: “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it” (Jer 6:10).

Linsey recalls the Exodus event when Moses instructed the people when an indentured servant stayed on with his master beyond his time of designated service, or the Year of Jubilee arrived. “The master was to take the servant to a doorpost and pierce his ear through with an awl. The pierced ear was a sign of submissive, loving service, denoting obedience and surrender (see Ex 21:5-6).

Isaiah described rebellious Israel with this same language: “You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened [literally, pierced, or bored]” (Isa 48:8). Citing additional references, Linsey wonders if we readers have “pierced” ears and would Stephen perhaps think we had “uncircumcised” ears--when we do not hear our Lord’s words.

Bonhoeffer offered his belief about “The Ministry of Listening” and Editor Key summarized Bonhoeffer’s belief: “But Christians have forgotten that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by him who is himself the great listener and whose work they should share.”

I love Bonhoeffer’s reference to the Ministry of Listening and I accept his challenge, that became the editor’s theme for this issue of THE HIGH CALLING—We should listen with the ears of God that we may speak the Word of God.

From Warner's World, this is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com – we are no longer our own; we have been bought with a price—not my will but thine be done.