Waging War or Finding Peace

Written By Jonathan Krogh

Dear Answer Seekers:

As I write this morning, a streaming news program is blaring in the background with pundits bloviating their opinions regarding the United States and Israel’s decision to bomb Iran.

I remember during John McCain’s campaign against Barack Obama in 2008, he made a particularly controversial joke during a mic check at a rally; he was castigated as reckless for singing, “Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Iran.” I also remember, in subsequent elections, so many candidates accusing their opponents of fostering dangerous military designs against Tehran, risking endless wars in the Middle East.

Since the Iranian Revolution when Muslim Fundamentalists overthrew Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the Shah, resulting in the captivity of 66 American hostages, Iran has been an international hot potato, fomenting terrorism and instability throughout the region. I also remember an account related by Jimmy Carter to one of my professors at the University of Chicago Divinity School of how, at the beginning of the revolution in November of 1979, he asked his advisors what exactly the Muslim Fundamentalists believed. He sat in the Oval Office with political strategists of the highest level who could not give the slightest summary of the theology or faith held by those undertaking a religious revolution.

At the time, Carter was suffering from a slight cold, so it was announced that he was too ill to make his appointments that day. In reality, he cleared his schedule and threw the advisors out of the office. Before he was going to make any strategic decisions, he felt he needed to understand what was motivating this previously unforeseen enemy. Alone in that moment, Carter turned to the only source he could find in the Oval Office. Much to his disgust, the President of the United States found himself reading articles about Islam and Iranian Muslim Fundamentalism in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Later, Carter consulted various university academics, most importantly Marvin Zonis, a University of Chicago Business School professor who specialized in Iranian economics. Well versed in Islamic sectarianism and fluent in both Arabic and Farsi, Zonis completely understood Carter’s need to comprehend the impact of religious belief on the region’s political tensions. As President Carter lamented, Washington’s elite advisors could tell him everything except why.

All this has come flashing back from my memory because once again we are being told to sacrifice blood and treasure for our own good. In 1979, we were caught off guard because the United States government erroneously believed the Shah’s repeated assurances that all was quiet on the Iranian front. This time, the violence is initiated by our choosing; but I wonder if this generation of elites is any closer to understanding why?

Of course, my memories and theories on geopolitical unrest are of little importance to world events. As I said in my sermon yesterday, my cynicism is of little value in furthering the Kingdom of God. If history repeats itself, I will tie myself in unproductive knots of self-righteous indignation and at best reap the shallow reward of a smug, “I told you so!”

But this time I’m trying to break the cycle of my own unrest. I could rail against the machine, shouting restlessly from Psalm 2, “Why to the heathens rage?”; or I could move forward a few Psalms and read, “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.’” Then perhaps, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4)

Like the war plans of nations, I must remind myself that I have the power to make informed choices regarding my inner peace. And so, seeking to understand my own motivations, I remain,

With Love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor

Jonathan Krogh
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