Evangelicals and Torture?

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080912/poll-golden-rule-coaxes-evangelicals-to-rethink-torture-stance.htm


"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies..." (Matthew 5:43-44, NIV)

I have just read an interesting article on evangelicals and torture (link above). A poll showed that 46 percent of Obama supporters and 67 percent of McCain supporters believe that torturing prisoners can be justified to extract information from captured terrorists. I am not for giving these folks steak dinners, big screen TV's and grounds privileges, but it seems to me that this is contradictive of both Christianity and the political opinion of both candidates.

Let us not forget that one of our presidential candidates spent over five years incarcerated during the Vietnam War. Let us not forget that he endured cruel torture, both mental and physical, until his release in 1973.

Let us not forget that Christians through the centuries were subject to cruel and unusual punishments and even death at the hands of those who were threatened by Christ's claim to power.

Let us not forget that Christians, when in positions of power, have proven no better through the centuries. They have burned heretics at the stake.They tortured mentally-ill people, claiming they were demon-possessed or witches. Protestant state-supported churches martyred many radical reformers, including Baptists, who refused to assent to the claims of these churches. Let us not forget that the bloodiest war per capita known in the history of the western world was fought between Protestants and Catholics.

And may we never forget the cruel torture Jesus endured as Jesus went to the cross to be publically humiliated before He died.

Can we do no better?

As a Christian, my ethics can never be based upon the intended result ever justifying the means to the result. For Christians, our witness is dependent upon the means and not the end result. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in his Ethics that this is the rebellion of humanity that began in the garden, not to do evil, but to be our own judge of what is good and evil. Part of living in the world is that my safety and security, and that of my loved ones, is dependent upon God. Part of living in this world is that there are people who intend to do what they believe to be justified harm. Part of living as a Christian is the conviction that for Christians, in the end death does not have the last word, but the last word is spoken by the God who raises the dead. He is in fact "the Alpha and the Omega."

Tim