It is amazing that during this high holy season of Jesus’ resurrection that Cal Thomas writes as though he wouldn’t recognize Jesus if he were directly in front of Him, much less if he met a modern-day disciple who emulated Jesus’ life, and, in furtherance of Jesus’ message of peace and non-violence, his death as well.
Yet Jesus himself said that those of the world would be blinded to His reality. Seems that Mr. Thomas, a self-described devout Christian who subverts Jesus’ teachings, is among that worldly population Jesus was speaking about.
Thomas, in a March 14 article, http://www.townhall.com/opinion/column/calthomas/2006/03/14/189678.html criticizes Tom Fox, the peace activist executed by his Iraqi captors. Thomas said his murder was tragic “because the likelihood that the presence of Fox and his colleagues would change the attitude or behavior of their captors was zero to none.”
Hmm. And when Jesus told Peter to sheath his sword and otherwise did not lift one finger to prevent his captors from killing him, did Jesus believe that his executioners would adopt Jesus’ message of peace, love and mercy? Of course not, and neither was that the expectation of Mr. Fox.
Thomas is so bent on protecting his radically conservative ideology that he would totally and thoroughly miss this modern-day Christ-like sacrifice and instead demean and sacrifice the fallen lamb on the altar of partisan politics because the spokeswoman for Mr. Fox’s group, Christian Peacemakers Teams, had the audacity to speak the truth: “We believe that the root cause of the abduction of our colleagues is the U.S. and British-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.”
Instead, Thomas insists that Jesus’ teachings of non-violence are wrong. “Peace happens when evil is vanquished,” according to Thomas. And for Thomas that can only occur by the sword, and in the case of the US invasion of Iraq, a sword brandished on the basis of lies, and swung so as to kill hundreds of thousands of innocents.
In short everything Thomas stands for in this regards is the exact opposite of Jesus’ main teachings, indeed the very purpose of His life. Donning the cloak of Jesus, God’s Lamb, to cover the wolf beneath is, what…a lie, a sin… evil maybe?
So how would he like to be vanquished?
RFD 3.16.06
1 comment:
Well said Richard!
Over 10 years ago I used to carpool to work from Versailles with a friend. When we were in his car he insisted that we listen to Christian radio. I enjoyed some of it until Cal Thomas would come on with his daily commentary. Cal Thomas is not a Christian. He epitomizes all that is wrong with the far right's Christian hypocrisy. Even though I try to be open to all ideas, whenever I see Cal Thomas on TV or an article by him; I always turn the other direction.
I am troubled by the movement in our beloved country that secretly considers the illegal attack on Iraq as a moral continuation of The Crusades. People who want to kill and maim to rid the world of evil-doers are themselves evil.
There is a bumper sticker that says "Jesus was a Liberal". Anyone who is honest with themselves cannot deny that simple point...if they have read his teachings.
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