Manning, Snowden, Assange, Wikileaks, NSA. We have seen a lot of news and events
circling the topic of secrets, information gathering, and who has the rights to
collect and reveal classified information.
The U.S. government has deemed it necessary to collect untold amounts of
information on citizens without a warrant.
Our governing bodies can collect, store, and eventually review copious
amounts of what once was private information in cell phone conversations, and personal
emails to use against those who may plot our country's ruin.
This is just what we know.
I am no conspiracy theorist, but if the U.S. is upset at people
revealing facts about domestic espionage on its own citizens through only cell
phones, and emails, it stands to reason, there may be even more going on.
I do find it unsettling that we have allowed our officials
to collect private information, scan our bodies at air ports, and allow our
children to be handled in a pat down all in the name of safety. But let me ask a question; do we feel any
safer?
I believe that most of our leaders have the right
intentions. I believe most think they
can make us safer. However, I also
believe our forefathers knew well about the dangers of a government with too
much power. I believe too much power
lends itself to great corruption. I
believe the lengths that have been gone for our safety have only angered more
people who now foster ill-will. I
believe we have allowed our government to play god by allowing access to our
privacy. We have allowed our bodies to
be scanned and groped. We have allocated
great wealth away from education and medical solutions in order to build weapons
of unspeakable horror.
We have fallen into idolatry. We have made our military our god. Our government and its ready defense has
become what we trust most. We have given
this false god immeasurable power to protect our way of life, to give us freedom,
to bring us peace, to ensure us life and cast judgment on the wicked. We have fallen into a blind faith of
civil-religion in which our priests are our military, our bishop's members of
the federal government, our pope the president, and our objects of worship mere
war machines. I don't think this was the
plan. Again I think good intentions were
behind all this, but this is the strength of evil; taking good intentions and
perverting them into something frightening.
When we see more of our children come home from war with
bodily or mental injuries, or when they don't come home at all, that should be
a sign that something is not right.
Perhaps I am taking this a little too far. I have been accused of being a little too
dramatic in the past. However, as a
follower of Christ, I put my hope in Jesus first. It is Jesus as God who has established and
protects my way of life, he gives me freedom, he brings me peace, and he alone
carries out judgment. It is God who I submit
my private information, my body, and my hope.
I think fellow followers of Christ need to be careful about
blindly accepting what has been going on. I think we have stripped God of his
power and handed over to a false god (figure of speech we are not powerful
enough to take away God's power).
I believe in order, I believe god likes it when we organize
rules and a way of life. However, I
believe that power needs to be kept in check, power needs to be divided, power
needs balance; otherwise governments become divine wielding Caesars. We need to remember the place of government,
firmly placed under God. When God is
truncated by our policies, anything will be done to protect us, even if that
means violating our freedom.
A god of war cannot save us from the fear of death; we need
a god of resurrection. We need a god of
new life, a god of peace, a god that can redeem us, our relationships, and our
world.
