The Cure for Terrorism
Terrorism is a plague that has existed since the beginning of humanity. From the dawn of written history, we see humans using the principles of terrorism to manipulate people into submission, whether it is Pharaoh throwing Hebrew babies into the Nile, Assyria massacring and torturing the 10 tribes of Israel, or Herod committing genocide against the infants of Bethlehem. Modern events like September 11, 2001, are seared onto our collective cultural identity and memory.
Terrorism is not a new problem, nor is it restricted to one geographic region or a particular ideology. Rather, it is incredibly diverse, nuanced, and complex. One thing we can be sure of: terrorism is a distinctly human problem, deeply imbedded into our fallen nature.
Over the years, terrorism has captured the minds of the modern world. In response governments, private military firms, and various nonprofits have attempted to bring solutions to this problem. Despite trillions of government dollars spent and countless manhours, the solution is ever elusive. Instead of progress, over the last decade we have seen a steady increase in terror attacks across the globe.
But we have the true cure for terrorism. Indeed, humanity has had the solution for many years, but this does not make it easy or intuitive.
To cure terrorism, we must stop trying to be the solution; the world is not ours to save. That’s God’s job. And he has already redeemed humanity through Christ. It is not up to us to “fix” humanity; Christ has already accomplished this.
Terrorism exemplifies the worst of what humans are capable of. Radical problems beg to be solved with radical solutions, but we must resist this urge. Instead, we must understand that Jesus died for Al-Baghdadi (the former leader of ISIS) just as much as he died for you and I. Jesus is about redeeming the entire world, and that includes the most horrific jihadists.
But what does this look like? How can we take this principle and apply it to the world in a way that brings permanent change?
Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount not to “resist an evil person,” but to respond to others with love and generosity. What Jesus outlined is not a negative concept, yet we tend to think of nonresistance in terms of what we do not do, rather than what we do. Nonresistance aligns more closely with terms like radical love and enemy love.
Jesus outlines an entire ethic for the eradication of hatred. His life and death show us how this works; our radical love is an extension of his. How can we live out this principle in a way that changes the world? If you are living out nonresistance, there truly should be less hatred and violence in the world.
The cure is not us, but Who is living through us. The cure for terrorism is taking the principles of nonresistance and radical love and walking it out across the globe, including in the most challenging environments Christianity could ever enter.
There are many creative ways we can bring Jesus, to show the next generation that there is a better way. We can do discipleship, teaching English as a way of building relationships, or by vocation training that enables a profitable life. Ultimately, we confront radical ideologies (specifically fundamentalist Islam), and disciple people in the way of Jesus, the King.
To do so, we must understand the people we work with. To engage those at risk of radicalization we must study culture, ideology, religious worldview, and a host of other elements.
We must be willing to do the mundane in order to change the world. It is not the dramatic and flashy, but slow, consistent, daily discipleship.
When volunteers work with refugee children in Iraq, they are doing counter-terrorism by being the hands and feet of Jesus. They are showing these children, often for the first time, that they do not have to live out of fear and revenge.
The government and military have had their chance at stopping terrorism; we should not be surprised they have failed. Now it is time for the Church to step in, to be Jesus to people who have never heard. We must show the next generation there is another option besides hatred and violence; there is a path of peace and love through Christ.
~A Kingdom Channels Staff Member
