By its Fruits a Tree is Known

A few years ago I responded to something I saw written.  I don't recall all of the details, but I remember there was great deal of hatred expressed towards some group, including a call to violence, followed by a request that people be good Christians.  My response was to quote Luke, Chapter 6, verse 27 - verse 38.  All of which is irrelevant to my subject, but it does connect my title with my content.

There are many who would argue that killing is sometimes a necessity, and with a bit of imagination, I can accept that as a possibility.  Certainly it is possible, if someone were trying to kill you or your family, you might have to kill them to protect the innocent.  There is nothing glorious about it, there is no reason to celebrate or gloat.  A terrible thing has happened and only the worse terror prevented, makes the killing acceptable.

Unfortunately, once killing for a valid reason becomes acceptable, it is only a few steps away from killing for any reason being acceptable.  War is an excellent example.  Our countries official entry into World War II began on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor, killing over 2400 Americans including about 60 civilians.  The war with Japan effectively ended August 9, 1945 after a second atomic bomb was dropped, this time on the city of Nagasaki.  Between the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nearly 250,000 people were killed, most of them civilians.

When someone is actively trying to kill you, the morality of defending yourself is not an issue.  If you take the time to try and justify the actions you need to take, you will no longer be able to take those actions.  Moral dilemma solved.  Send flowers.  But what if the person is a block away and on his way to kill you?  Should you kill him before he gets close enough?  What if he's just talking about killing you?  At what point are you no longer justified to kill in self defense?

On the morning of September 11, 2001 a horrible attack occurred and in response we went to war with Afghanistan, which in my opinion was a rather large leap.  In another questionable move we declared war on Iraq, mainly because Saddam Hussein was gloating.  Estimates vary wildly over the number of Iraqis killed, from a low of just over 100,000 to over 1 million.  Most estimates agree that about 60% of the deaths were civilians.  No reliable estimates exist for deaths in Afghanistan, although it is doubtful the death toll is less than 50,000.  Along with the wars, the United States decided to allow torture as a means of interrogation.  Once upon a time, interrogation by any means was considered unacceptable.

Another of our actions, which continues to this day, is the use of drones to carry out attacks.  Somewhere, a decision is made that a person, or several persons, needs to be killed, and an operator at a safe location flies a drone to the target and attempts to kill them.  The justification is simple; they are a potential threat.  Granted, they are a potential threat 7000 miles away, living in a shack 300 miles from the closest flush toilet, but still a potential threat.

If someone is running at you with a knife, take action, do what you need to do.  But if someone in another country happens to talk about wanting to buy a knife, maybe we can hold off on killing them and everyone else who happens to be in the area.  At least until after they actually get the weapon and get close enough to become a threat.