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Who can remain indifferent to and unaffected by the tragedy in Kosovo? Surely Christians cannot remain disinterested! When almost a million people are suddenly uprooted and become refugees; when men by the thousands are separated from their families and many of them are apparently shot; when women and children by the tens of thousands shiver day and night without food, drink or shelter on cold Balkan hillsides; when rape, arson and murder stalk the land; and when NATO warplanes, funded in part by our taxes, systematically destroy the infrastructure of an impoverished country trying to rebuild after almost 50 years of communist dictatorship--then who can remain silent?
Despite all of the information and propaganda disseminated by the global media (or perhaps because of it), I believe that wickedness, even ethnic cleansing, is not found only on one side of this tragic war. The reality is not that simple. Governmental animosity and evil have been pervasive in that area, as elsewhere, for many years, and they still abound. If we review recent decades, let alone the last five centuries, of Balkan history, we realize that there's been enough oppression, aggression and brutality to allocate much blame, although not necessarily in equal amounts to all sides.
As I reflect on this gut-wrenching catastrophe, and as the stark, late night news pictures keep me awake, I'm filled with a variety of emotions. I despise Slobodan Milosovic. I weep for the innocent children. I shudder when I see old women being pushed across the border on wheelbarrows. I cringe as I think of "smart" bombs--a contradiction in terms if there ever was one--shattering historic buildings in Belgrade. And I thank God that my family and I live far removed from that horror.
So what sense can informed Christians make of it all? Or is there no sense to be made? Can only God see the big picture? Is there no perspective into which this tragic chapter in human iniquity can be placed?
Let me make some observations, which may help us to see this calamity as God might want us to see it.
First, since Old Testament times, God has reserved to Himself the right to use some governments and states to punish other governments and states. Repeatedly he used his Chosen People to punish the wicked nations around them. And more than once He used some of those evil rulers and their armies to punish His own Chosen People. We must acknowledge God's prerogative to act in this way.
Second, the carnage of warfare grates against God's essential goodness and love. That truth is already evident in the Old Testament. Even though God Himself had ordered David to shed blood in battle, He then invoked His priority peace ethic, telling the great king that because he had shed so much blood, he could not build the temple. In the New Testament this emphasis becomes central. Jesus goes to great lengths to teach His followers to follow the way of peace. Accordingly, in our day as then, Christians must diligently pray for peace, call for peace and work for peace. That's part of the mandate given us by the Prince of Peace.
Third, given the free moral choice which human beings possess in this age, many people, from peasants to princes, have chosen to live by the ethic of intolerance, animosity and violence. In light of God's respect for human choices even when they are unwise, He allows people to pursue evil and violent ways, apparently recognizing them as "normal" in a fallen society. Perhaps that's the reality which Jesus had in mind when He said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, My servants would fight" (John 18:36).
Fourth, God established the institution of government, which, because society consists not only or even primarily of Christians, necessarily functions at an ethical level lower than that of the church. It is "God's servant to do you good", but it "does not bear the sword for nothing." Government is "God's...agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer" (Romans 13:4). Does this governmental mandate extend to the punishment of evildoers in the international arena, especially if done by an international consortium for the general good? Perhaps it does.
Fifth, in light of the above declaration, most Christians believe that God has established the "police power" to help maintain law and order in a fallen society. If we endorse the use of the "police power" within countries, should we also accept it in the international arena? And how should we react if it is difficult to ascertain whether international military action is mainly a police action or mainly the assertion of national advantage, undertaken to secure oil or other strategic resources?
Sixth, Christians are called to do good. We therefore support wholeheartedly the humanitarian relief efforts which mission agencies, especially our own mission board and Mennonite Central Committee, undertake to help those in desperate need. We give generously and gladly "In the Name of Christ". Matthew 25:31-46 spells out the unmistakable directive.
Doubtless there are other views and interpretations. As members of an historic peace church, we could all benefit from a careful study of Scripture and from sharing insights with each other as we endeavour to know what it means to be Christ-like in this bewildering situation.
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