sacrifices

I recently received an e-mail with the picture (to the right) on it. The caption is somewhat hard to read, but it says,

“Pearl Harbor survivor Houston James of Dallas embraced Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Graunke Jr. during a Veterans Day commemoration in Dallas yesterday. Graunke lost a hand, a leg, and an eye when he defused a bomb in Iraq last year. This week’s images of U.S. troops in combat in Fallujah deepened the day’s significance for many who attended tributes held in San Diego and across the nation.”

This is a truly moving story and picture that causes all Americans to be even more grateful for our soldiers. That being the case, I want to address the text of the e-mail that was sent along with this picture and show how I think that it is ultimately not honoring to God, and it may even be blasphemous. But in doing so I want to make it clear that I hold the men and women who have served, fought, bled, died or have been maimed with only respect and gratitude.

The e-mail was one of those forwards that insists that you send it out to everyone (or a certain number of people). Most of these types of e-mails say that you need to forward it to receive good luck, to avoid bad luck, or some other type of superstitious mumbo-jumbo. Here is the text that came along with the e-mail:

"We truly take a lot for granted. Forget the football "heroes" and movie "stars". Pass this on so that all may know the price of freedom. Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you, Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul; the other for your freedom."

Did anything about the comparison made between Jesus and an American soldier? First of all, from a purely biblical and theological perspective, comparing anything with God is utterly unthinkable. Now, I know that we use stories, parables, and other types of creative ways to communicate the message of the gospel, but none seem to be as crass as this is.

The equivocation of the sacrifice that Jesus made for our souls with the sacrifice an American soldier made for our freedom is shocking and upsetting. First of all, do I am very grateful that American servicemen who’ve fought and died on behalf of people (both American and of other nationalities). In fact, if it wasn’t for American soldiers, the world as we know it would be very different because Hitler would have crushed the rest of Europe. So, my consternation at the parallel has nothing to do with a dislike or disrespect for servicemen, but it has everything to do with Jesus being shown in a disrespectful manner.

You see, to put anyone at all on a similar plain with Jesus is a troubling, and most likely incorrect, thing to do. But, the audacity to put someone on a similar plain with Jesus in what He accomplished through His singular voluntary sacrifice on behalf of an unworthy sinful humanity is utterly offensive. It is not only the state of sinful humanity that makes this equivocation reprehensible, but the fact that Jesus Christ is, and was, perfectly holy that only punctuates this flaw.

Other than having a very blasphemous comparison as the core of the seemingly encouraging exhortation to appreciate both Christ and our servicemen is the problem with the theology of the distinction in who died for what. The Bible is clear, in the Old (Isaiah 61:1) and New Testament (Galatians 5:1), that one of the effects of God’s salvation that was accomplished through Jesus Christ was freedom.

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives And freedom to prisoners;” (Isaiah 61:1)

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

Christ died for, and accomplished, both the forgiveness of sins and the freedom from sin for all of those who are called by God (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:1b-2).

So, we should be thankful and grateful for all that the men in arms have done on our behalf so that we can enjoy life and freedom in America. But as Christians, we must always hold Christ higher than anyone or anything in what we say or do. We must never fall into the trap of casually referring to Jesus in either our off hand comments or our well intentioned stories or illustrations.

By no means am I guiltless in this same light of scrutiny, but it is my goal to always contend for the supremacy of Christ in all things, and that is why I attempt to censor how I communicate (or think) about God in relation to anything else.