Violence has ravaged the United States in the past. From popular video games and television shows to our own citizens shooting civilians in public, it is evident that we are a country that has not only become non-reactive to violence, but one that promotes it. Our country sells weapons to governments that bomb a school bus of children in Yemen, Congress takes no action after multiple mass shootings resulting in loss of life on more than one occasion, and our president deploys the military to meet refugees fleeing from a region devastated by corruption and social stagnation.
French philosopher Jacques Ellul describes the role of the biblical prophets not as those who foresee the future, but as people who are “thoroughly familiar with the developments around them,” including “actual and potential dangers, crises, and wars.” Ellul argues that the prophets “politically and morally judged the situation in which Israel found itself.” The prophets did not simply preach of inevitable doom to come, but rather a prediction of what would happen if Israel chose to continue to disobey God. The prophets also give hope that, through repentance, God would forgive and intervene in the predicted course of events. While there is very little correspondence between today’s preachers and the prophets of the Old Testament, there are social and political warning signs flashing brighter than ever in this country. We are traveling down a violent road that, if we do not turn away from, we will surely see the consequences that Israel saw when they turned from God: pain and suffering that could have been avoided.
In his speech “The Chance for Peace,” given just after the Korean War ended while the United States was on the brink of a recession, and Russia and China were arming themselves, President Eisenhower, a five-star general, stated, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” This is, in one sentence, a summary of the consequences we face as a result of our ignoration of wars driven only by economic and political gain, mass shootings, and a downward spiral into a post-World War II armament industry for the self-gratification and quest for power of both the government and the private citizen. Later in the speech, President Eisenhower argued that more than money is being spent on arms. He said, “It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.” He argued, “This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”
Just as Israel ignored their prophets over and over again, every generation ignores their prophets and the warnings of pain and suffering. Eisenhower spoke of the dangers of a growing armament industry; Ellul warned of contemporary issues such as economic globalization and power. All warnings that were ignored in the past led to terrible consequences and, predictably, the warnings we ignore will lead to more. The signs are among us. Every mass shooting, every refugee turned away from a country built upon dreams of freedom, and every bullet that flies and bomb that drops is a declaration of war on humanity. It is a declaration of our disregard for human life. It is a revelation of a deeper evil so ingrained in our culture that we are willing to put a human life in danger simply to ignore its presence. This evil manifests itself in the stigma placed on mental health, deliberate racism, and our placement of political, economic, and social power over human life. Let us not ignore our prophets. In our daily lives we must strive to build community. We must listen to those we disagree with, even when we may be offended by what they say. Our president should not be ignoring the murder of a journalist, nor should he be intentionally provoking through social media. As a country, we should not be involved in a war on terror or a war on drugs, we should be focusing on diplomacy and funding rehabilitation instead of sending addicts to prison. We are aware of the path we have chosen, and we are aware of our prophets. We must strive for peace as a country and as individual citizens. Let us unhang ourselves from this iron cross we call life and learn the trades of healing and reconciliation.
