Shoot The Messenger

Shoot the Messenger
2 Kings 6:24-7:20

I muse from time to time on why it is that many Christians today fret about war more than Christians in previous ages. It’s not simply because they are following Jesus—at least, most previous generations of Christians did not think this way, and many Jews, agnostics, and atheists share that modern attitude. Is it a reaction to the nature of modern weaponry, which does such terrible things to people? Is it that modern communication makes it impossible for us to evade awareness of what happens on the battlefield? Is it that combatants come home from war horribly wounded in body and spirit rather than dying on the field, so that the cost of war continues to be visible in their subsequent lives? According to some estimates, 20 percent of combatants in Iraq and Afghanistan will develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, such as a kind of emotional numbness. You don’t have any feelings, positive or negative— neither joy or love nor anger or hostility...