What is an appropriate way for a Christian to reflect upon the attacks of September 11, 2001, now that we are ten years hence? There are many remembrances taking place which are largely empty gestures of sentimentality devoid of real meaning, designed not to offend more than anything. Such is our upside-down, twisted world apart from Christ. But how should we who are followers of Christ respond, for truly it is a time in our nation that calls for thoughtful reflection.
Ten years? Has it truly been that long? Those under 18 are largely unaware that their normal is abnormal. Adults who stood around in frozen horror as we watched on TV what initially seemed an accident and then quickly and clearly manifested itself as terrorism happening in America – we who grumble about taking our shoes off or worse at the airport, but who for the most part have suffered very little directly – we now find ourselves living in a scaled back version of what Israelis and even Europeans have been living for years. Our false sense of security evaporated that day like the fog burning off to leave us under the searing heat of the sun. For Christians, have we learned to place our security in Christ and Him alone, and not in circumstance or American insularity? I’d like to think we have, but I suspect that is untrue for most.
Much is being spoken about the victims of that horrific day – and the stories are often heartrending. Young children snuffed out before their promise could blossom. Parents cut off forever from their surviving kids. The rescuers who ended up with cancer and other awful illnesses after breathing in the dust of death at Ground Zero. But I ask this, especially given the inclination of the press to beatify the dead in a secular roll of honor: are the victims of 9/11 saints? First, let us as Christians be clear that the only true definition of a saint is one who has placed his or her faith in Jesus Christ and thus found salvation for their sins. That is, all who truly believe in Him are saints; there are no superheroes in the Church that we elevate as the Roman Catholics mistakenly do.
What we can say with certainty about the victims is that they were in death what they were in life. If they were Christians when September 11, 2001 dawned, they were with the Lord in glory the moment they died their awful deaths. If they began that day as unbelievers still evading the Lord who loved them, loving instead their sin, then in their deaths they went from one horror to a far more unspeakable and eternal horror of hell itself. Dying in a terrorist attack does not atone for the sins of the wicked. Only faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross can do that, period. We must not under any circumstance pray for the dead – their fate has long been sealed. We can pray for survivors and their families that they would find their hope and solace in Christ if they have not already.
What then of Muslims? Have we not all found ourselves having a strong sense of anger well up within us when we see a Muslim in public? These people whom we once only saw on the news or in big cities now work in stores in our small towns and shop in our malls like the rest of us. American Christians will have to come to terms with how to relate to them, as they cannot be looked at as some distant, foreign problem. As Christians it is right for us to want justice – not revenge, but justice – for those who caused the deaths of Americans and others on 9/11. And many of those people have died in the subsequent war on terror. But Christians must be careful not to hate Muslims any more than we hate any other unbelievers. We hate the lies and darkness that keep them from seeing the truth of the gospel. We hate any actions of theirs that harm others. Yet we must seek to win them for Christ like anyone else, and that means loving our enemies, which never comes easily. Islam is not the religion of peace, Christianity is when lived as Scripture teaches.
In sum, I would urge us who follow Christ not to glorify those who ought not be glorified, and not to hate those who ought to be loved. We need not live in fear but in the confidence of Christ. We are assured of His providential care over us and all things for it is rooted in His omnipotence. We trust in His love for His children, whether we live to be ninety-nine and die in our sleep, or whether we die of cancer, a car accident, or a terror attack at a younger age. Let us reflect more on Christ on this day of remembrance, and pray for our nation and those from other nations to find their peace in Christ. He is the resurrection and the life, and that is no idle and meaningless thing to remember.
Rev. Kenneth McMullen
Saturday, September 10, 2011
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