Tom Fox is dead.
Tom Fox is dead. He was killed by the insurgents who had kidnapped him and his fellow Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) colleagues. He'll be mourned for a month or, maybe longer, if -- God forbid -- his collegues are killed one by one. But six months from now, I have a hunch, he'll be forgotten and after that he'll remain a mere statistic in Iraq's orgy of senseless violence.
This raises the essential question - was his death worth it? Was he being terribly naive in assuming he could make a difference by being there?
Tom Fox would be best qualified to answer those questions. Just before he and his colleagues were kidnapped, this is what he wrote to the CPT headquarters: "Why are we here?" We are here to root out all aspects of dehumanization that exist within us. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls."
The entire text was posted on this blog a few weeks ago, and if you scroll down a little you'll be able to read it.
Tom Fox's reasons sound rather idealistic and a tad naive if one looks at the kind of assumptions he made in that statement. Did he really expect oppressors can be stopped by taking a simple stand on preventing the 'dehumanising of God's children'? Didn't he know that oppressors will simply bulldoze him to silence? Was he that crazy?
Apparently, his organisation shared this craziness by turning those preposterous assumptions into corporate goals. Their objective happens to be quite simple: to offer an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict, to provide organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and in the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations.
In a way these goals sound noble and, hence, unrealistic. It appears to be resting on a very idealistic level but on closer examination, it becomes obvious that these goals aren't any different from what Christ has asked us to do. Love our enemies, show the other cheek, forgive seventy-times seven, give to them that ask... commands that basically ask us to rise above our human instincts and grasp the divine.
That, in short, is what Christ really wants - to make us people who begin to emulate Him in our lives, in our actions, in our motives, and to go against the very grain of what the world wants us to be. Thankfully, He has given us the Holy Spirit to make this inner transformation possible because we cannot do it on our own. It is simply not within our nature to do so and requires the Holy Spirit to turn us into people who are imitators of Christ.
Is it risky? Yes it is, because the world can never accept those who live by God's standards.
Will it cost us our lives? Certainly, and Tom Fox's matyrdom reveal that to follow Christ is not a walk in the park.
Is it dangerous? Very much so, but our assurance and confidence rests on what Jesus the Immanuel has promised: "I'll never leave you nor forsake you."
This raises the essential question - was his death worth it? Was he being terribly naive in assuming he could make a difference by being there?
Tom Fox would be best qualified to answer those questions. Just before he and his colleagues were kidnapped, this is what he wrote to the CPT headquarters: "Why are we here?" We are here to root out all aspects of dehumanization that exist within us. We are here to stand with those being dehumanized by oppressors and stand firm against that dehumanization. We are here to stop people, including ourselves, from dehumanizing any of God's children, no matter how much they dehumanize their own souls."
The entire text was posted on this blog a few weeks ago, and if you scroll down a little you'll be able to read it.
Tom Fox's reasons sound rather idealistic and a tad naive if one looks at the kind of assumptions he made in that statement. Did he really expect oppressors can be stopped by taking a simple stand on preventing the 'dehumanising of God's children'? Didn't he know that oppressors will simply bulldoze him to silence? Was he that crazy?
Apparently, his organisation shared this craziness by turning those preposterous assumptions into corporate goals. Their objective happens to be quite simple: to offer an organized, nonviolent alternative to war and other forms of lethal inter-group conflict, to provide organizational support to persons committed to faith-based nonviolent alternatives in situations where lethal conflict is an immediate reality or is supported by public policy. CPT seeks to enlist the response of the whole church in conscientious objection to war, and in the development of nonviolent institutions, skills and training for intervention in conflict situations.
In a way these goals sound noble and, hence, unrealistic. It appears to be resting on a very idealistic level but on closer examination, it becomes obvious that these goals aren't any different from what Christ has asked us to do. Love our enemies, show the other cheek, forgive seventy-times seven, give to them that ask... commands that basically ask us to rise above our human instincts and grasp the divine.
That, in short, is what Christ really wants - to make us people who begin to emulate Him in our lives, in our actions, in our motives, and to go against the very grain of what the world wants us to be. Thankfully, He has given us the Holy Spirit to make this inner transformation possible because we cannot do it on our own. It is simply not within our nature to do so and requires the Holy Spirit to turn us into people who are imitators of Christ.
Is it risky? Yes it is, because the world can never accept those who live by God's standards.
Will it cost us our lives? Certainly, and Tom Fox's matyrdom reveal that to follow Christ is not a walk in the park.
Is it dangerous? Very much so, but our assurance and confidence rests on what Jesus the Immanuel has promised: "I'll never leave you nor forsake you."
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