by Kirk Dyke

     What would Jesus say? What would Jesus do? Which side would Jesus take? Do you believe in Jesus? These questions I have gone through my head many times. On a typical morning, I was enjoying a cup of coffee and I picked up the paper to catch up on the local news. The paper I was reading was "The Daily Star". I turned to the local section and there was a columnist named Tom Grace. I have seen his articles before, but I really never paid attention to them. However, on this day it carried quite a title "What would Jesus say about war?" (in the Tuesday, June 21, 2005 edition). Well, that title caught my attention and so I read the article. It had quite a story. I am posting a few paragraphs from the article to show you, in case you haven't seen or get this paper.

     He says in the "What would Jesus say about war?" article: "Uncle Chet said, "Do you believe we've come to the point where Christians are debating whether or not to torture people in a concentration camp? You mean Guantanamo, Alice said. Any of them but Guantanamo's the worst, he said. Five hundred men in cages, charged with nothing, kept from lawyers, tortured and humiliated, with no hope of escape or justice? Six years ago, you would have thought that was the Nazis or the Russians I'm talking about, but this is a product of our American president and his Republican administration."

     "Well ask yourself: What would Jesus say if he sat down to supper with George W. Bush? Would he say, ‘Well, I've thought over that turn-the-other-cheek stuff, and that's baloney. You've got it right, George: "Bring it on." I give you God's blessing to bomb little nations, as long as they have oil or natural gas, and then make examples of their men by caging them, chaining them and stomping on their holy books because this truly is the way to peace and enlightenment in the modern world."

     "No way!" said the little miscreant, who attends Catholic school "Jesus was tortured, too." "Fed to the lions" I said. "Exactly my point," Uncle Chet said. "Anyone who's a follower of Jesus should automatically and loudly object to any form of torture, but instead, we're having a polite discussion of whether its OK to torture innocent people."

     "What would Jesus do? Uncle Chet asked. "He'd be against it," the little miscreant said. "He'd probably be a war protestor," I said. "He said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers.'" "I think he'd go to Iraq or Afghanistan, or wherever it was happening, and try to stop it," Alice said. "That's true," I said. "Imagine if he did," Uncle Chet said, "He' either be beheaded or headed toward Guantanamo."

     Reading this article brought this question right back into my mind again. With the war going on for years now, I really haven't keep it on the top of my mind. It's becoming so common that it's almost like background noise. I see those yellow ribbons on cars everywhere; it's almost as common as seeing a license plate. This article really stirred up my emotions on rethinking these questions. What would Jesus say about war? What would Jesus do? After thinking these questions in my head I decided to pick up the Bible and look for info on what Jesus might say. I grabbed the book and opened a random page, and the first book I went to was Luke in the New Testament. It claims Jesus said this:

     "But I say to you who hear. Love you enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those spitefully use you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. (New Testament Luke: 6:27-31)

     Is this hard to do? If someone strikes you, would you have the strength to turn the other cheek? These are very tough questions, that can have many different answers. Is there a true right answer? The United States was obviously struck, but did we turn the other cheek? Or did we strike first on a previous encounter? Have we turned to the other cheek so many times that we gave up trying? Again What would Jesus say about war?

     I ran into a book at the Public Library called "Peace Is the Way" by author Deepak Chopra. It shares his opinion on America's tactics. In chapter 7 ,"The Politics Of The Soul", Deepak shares a conversation he had where the question was asked of him:

     "Does any vote really make a difference? Deepak replied: to be spiritual is to realize many things, and one is that everyone is connected. When you act, you affect every moment of your life. You also affect every moment in everyone else's life. Because we are all connected creates a new kind of power for the individual. It may seem that a simple social act like casting a ballot is a tiny gesture. In an atmosphere of intolerance it can seem like a fruitless gesture as well.

     But it isn't. A single vote contains a mystery. The mystery is wrapped up in the concept of the soul and what it means to have one.



     Further on in the book Deepak give his belief of what war is.

     "War is the plague that human beings bring upon themselves. It is also a plague we might be able to end. On any given day since you and I were born, some part of the world has been at war; in 2003 the total number of open conflicts was thirty. In the twentieth century at least 108 million people died in wars. Of the twenty largest military budgets on earth, fourteen belong to developing countries. The United States spends more on its military then the next sixteen countries combined. That war is the major problem in the world is undeniable. The need for a new idea is just as undeniable. The new idea is to bring peace one person at a time until the world reaches a critical mass of peacemakers instead of war makers."

     So what do you believe? Does your vote really count? Can peace truly win? Can war truly be won? If you take a look at the United States war history, did all our wars truly win? Is the win ratio high enough to warrant all the deaths? Have all the wars truly made things better for all? These are really tough questions, because many different wars have happened with many different results. One thing for sure, is war isn't the 100% correct way, for if it was, there would always be a win and loss. Yet with all modern conveniences, some wars end in a checkmate.

     Every coin has two sides, war can be like a coin. One side is the benefit of making the world a safer place, with new inventions developed for the military and shared with the public. The other side of the coin is over 100,000 deaths on our name. How many of those deaths were of innocent people just trying to survive were they were born? Does the weight of the one side of the coin over weight the other side? If so, which and why?

     In the Bible it claims Jesus says this: "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (New Testament Mark: 9:36) Can war make us lose our soul? Even if we gain support or control over the whole world?

     Have we seen any positives from this war? Did new inventions come about to benefit the society to pay for this? Has love grown for one another in this country as a by-product of this war? Would maybe feeding our own country men and women have a better benefit? Or is investing into the military the best benefit? Do the wars truly give us the best benefit all the time? Again, these are tough questions, but questions that we should be able to answer but can we?

     With all the people dead, damaged, and psychologically hurt, is this really benefitting us? Or is it creating much more anger and stress among us and them? Did the rest of the world back us up? It seemed many more agreed with the United States over Afghanistan then Iraq. But we are at war with Iraq, over nuclear weapons that weren't found or don't exits. Even the United Nations, which this country founded, didn't agree and opposed.

     Imagine if that situation happened in reverse to the United States. A country bombed us and killed thousands upon thousands. Destroyed decades of buildings, nature, art and our cities. All because 6-10 people crashed airplanes in their country. The 6-10 people weren't even from United States, and yet they are attacking us. Should we all pay for errors that 10 people created? What did you do to deserve this? After all, it was the 10 people that crashed the airplanes, not you. Do you think innocent people should die because of this? Would it be worth it? Even if the Federal government was behind it, should all us innocent citizens suffer and pay with death? If it was a Republican that ordered it, why would the Democrats be also liable? Again, what do you think Jesus would say?

     According to the Bible in the book of John, Jesus says: "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. (New Testament John: 15:12) Does this apply to war? Or does it apply to countries? Or just individuals?

     So ask yourself this question: "What would Jesus say about war?" After all the United States claims it's a Christian Nation.