MOSES OUTLAWED MURDER, BUT JESUS WAS SO MUCH SMARTER AND KNEW THAT WHAT NEEDED TO BE OUTLAWED WAS HATE. -By Roland Wrinkle
Yesterday (as I write), a twenty-year old man tried to assassinate a former President and perhaps the next President. A spectator was fatally shot in the head, and two others were critically injured, simply because they attended a political rally, showing political support for the candidate of their choice. We now have the response from cable news, network news, newspapers, pundits and social media. Where, and what is the “Christian” response? The current President had this so say: “An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation, everything,…It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen. Unity is the most elusive goal of all.” I disagree. Here is one Christian’s response, i.e., mine.
A LITTLE AMERICAN HISTORY: This Is Precisely “Who We Are” And It “Is America”. I was and am as shocked as anyone. But I shouldn’t be. Assassinations, successful and failed, are enduring features of the American landscape and political culture.
- Jan. 30, 1835: Richard Lawrence attempts to shoot President Andrew Jackson.
- April 14, 1865: President Abraham Lincoln is mortally wounded by noted actor John Wilkes Booth.
- July 2, 1881: President James Garfield is fatally shot by Charles J. Guiteau.
- Sept. 6, 1901: President William McKinley is shot and killed by Leon Czolgosz .
- Oct. 14, 1912: Former President Theodore Roosevelt, seeking the office again, is shot and wounded by John Schrankt.
- Feb. 15, 1933: Giuseppe Zangara attempts to shoot President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Miami.
- Sept. 8, 1935: Huey P. Long, an expected presidential candidate, is shot and killed by. Carl Weiss.
- Nov. 1, 1950: Puerto Rican nationalists try to kill President Harry Truman.
- Dec. 11, 1960: Richard Paul Pavlick plans to crash into the car of President-elect John F. Kennedy and blow it up with dynamite.
- Nov. 22, 1963: Kennedy is shot and killed during a motorcade in downtown Dallas; Texas Gov. John Connally is also wounded.
- June 5,1968: Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot and killed by Sirhan Sirhan.
- March 15, 1972: Arthur Bremer shoots Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace, leaving Wallace paralyzed.
- Feb. 22, 1974: Samuel Byck hijacks a DC-9 with the intention of crashing it into the White House to kill Nixon, but he is fatally shot by police before he could do so.
- Sept. 5, 1975: Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, tries to shoot President Gerald Ford in Sacramento.
- Sept. 22, 1975: Sara Jane Moore shoots at Ford in San Francisco but misses.
- March 30, 1981: John Hinckley Jr. shoots President Ronald Reagan as he exits the Hilton Hotel in Washington, seriously wounding the president.
- 1993: A plot to blow up President George H.W. Bush by car bomb is foiled.
- Nov. 11, 2011: Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez fires multiple shots at the White House, but not injuring anyone.
- 2018: Pipe bombs are mailed by Cesar Sayoc Jr. to Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.
- July 13, 2024: Former President Donald Trump is shot and wounded during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One attendee of the rally is killed. The Secret Service kills the shooter; FBI subsequently identifies the would-be assassin as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
No other country looks at America and says, “That’s the political system we need to have.” We demonize those who hold opinions and viewpoints at odds with our own. We hate those who disagree with us. We can’t fathom why anyone would entertain, let alone advocate for, a belief, view or conviction at odds with our own. If you hate Trump, you don’t stop there, you hate anyone who supports Trump. If you can’t stomach having an eighty-five-year-old President, you demonize anyone who would vote for him. Ideas that don’t sound good to us lead us to hating those who support those ideas. We have conflated the opinions we abhor with the human beings who hold those opinions. And hatred, not disunity, leads to political violence and assassinations.
It’s Time That Christians, Obligated To Be Witnesses To The World, Do More Than Denounce The Murder Of Political Rivals, Rail Against Gun Violence And Call For (Unachievable) Unity; It’s Time For Christians To OBEY THE COMMAND OF CHRIST TO STOP HATING!
“Thoughts and prayers” and “That’s not who we are as a nation” don’t cut it for followers of the resurrected Christ and aspirants of the Kingdom of God. We pray each day for the Kingdom of God to be realized here “on earth as in heaven.” But so much is demanded (and expected) of us by our God. We are called upon to be witnesses to the fallen and broken world.
- Mark 16:15: “The Lord has commanded Christians to ‘witness to the world’“
- John 17:18: “Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world“
- Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth”
We are “in the world” (John 17.14), but not “of the world ” (Romans 12.1-2). We have allowed ourselves to become misdirected. How are we to witness? “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12.2.
How Are We To Witness When It Comes To Political Violence? Answer: The Command To Not Murder Has Been Radicalized To “Do Not Hate,” For Hate Is The Prerequisite For Murder.
The Ten Commandments issued from Mount Sinai were intended to guide the young heirs of Abraham to live and act separate and apart from the surrounding pagan nations. But Israel repeatedly and spectacularly failed in its vocation to “be a blessing to all the nations,” Genesis 12.3 and parts pf 15. So, God became a human being (the perfect Israelite and representative of Israel) to do what the biological heirs of Abraham couldn’t do, i.e., put into action God’s rescue plan to restore all of Creation and launch the New Heavens and New Earth.
In God’s promised New Creation, honoring mothers and fathers, not murdering, refraining from cheating on your spouse, and not getting jealous won’t cut it anymore. And what Jesus commanded in Matthew 5 is the key to what I am trying to argue:
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment… “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….”
Forget, “Do not murder.” The bar has been astronomically raised to “Do not hate.”
WHY THIS RADICAL CHANGE IN WHAT IS DEMANDED OF CHRIST FOLLOWERS? BECAUSE HATE IS THE LIFE BLOOD OF ASSASSINATIONS. As it turns out, Jesus was, and is, really really smart. He understands the fallen nature of fallen created human beings, loaded and armed with free will. “Murder” is universally defined as, “The killing of another person with malice aforethought.” “Malice” means “Hatred.” Get rid of hate, and you get rid of murder.
No one knows this better than Jesus himself. No one knows the effects of political violence better than Jesus. When his flowers realized that He wasn’t the leader of the political movement they supported (i.e., ousting the occupying Romans militarily), they shouted, “Crucify him!” Matt 27.22-23. Crucifixion was a particular method of execution, reserved for political opponents. Pontius Pilot had inscribed on the cross (in Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek, so no one could not notice), “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” The ultimate political statement.
Thus, our faith and its Church, were founded on an act of political violence. Jesus wasn’t crucified because his followers weren’t unified, or because “This isn’t who we are as a nation,” or “We are better than this.” He was assassinated, just like all the American political leaders listed above, because a culture of hatred against opponents has been left significantly unchecked throughout American history. And unchecked by the very folks who God designated to be his emissaries here on earth. What this country needs is not merely protestations against gun violence, denouncements of divisiveness and disunity, and feckless declarations of “This is not who we are as a country.” What this country needs are Christians who follow Christ and serve as witnesses to the world that hate produces assassinations and that Hate=Assassination. Robust debates about things we don’t see eye-to-eye on is healthy and helpful. Hate will tear this country down faster than a nuclear warhead.
Putting All This Into Practical Effect. Here’s the rhetoric that embodies and enflames hate:
From the Republicans: “There will be a bloodbath!” “[Their opponents] bring death and destruction.!” “Revenge and retribution!” “Lock him/her up!” “Stand down and stand ready!” “We’re coming for you!” “This will be the end of our country as we know it!”
From the Democrats: “Our democracy is at stake!” “[The opponents] present an existential crisis.” ”This will be the end of our country as we know it!” And other equally apocalyptic warnings. (Contrast all of these rhetoric with the smooth and seamless transitions of power recently in France and England.)
When the 350 million Americans are saturated, inundated, and deluged with end-of-the-world messages and portends of Armageddon, an infinitely miniscule handful of angry, deranged, disgruntled will take this as a trigger or signal or permission or invitation to murder the object of his or her opponents.
Before he was assassinated, Abraham Lincoln warned us. “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” He also famously quoted Jesus, “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall.” Luke 11.17. If we witness to the watching world a shocking and unexpected absence of hatred for those with whom we disagree, the country will take notice. And then, we just might become that Shining City of the Hill we mistakenly thought we were.