Life & Living: Forgiving the "Butcher of Baghdad"
I expected it but it still brought a shudder: Saddam Hussein, former leader of Iraq, guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. He was defiant as ever, yelling "Power to the people and death to their enemies!" Then today there was a notice in the paper that a subdued Hussein was back in court (he is being tried on other charges), saying that it is time for "forgiveness," reconciliation, and a handshake. After all, Hussein said, that is what Mohammed and Jesus Christ would like to see. It was a big week for calls for forgiveness with Saddam Hussein and Ted Haggard.
Concerning Jesus Christ, Hussein was right. Listen to our Lord's teaching from Matthew 5:43:48 ...
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
In Jesus' teaching it is the "enemy" who is the special measure of one's dedication to Christ. It was His enemies that defined the shape of Jesus' ethics. By the way, did you know that the Romans considered Christian views on love and forgiveness as weakness? One does not forgive one's enemies; one kills them. That same view is still popular in some circles today. But for Jesus, God requires His people to love through the hate of others, relying on God's eternal justice to make things right, if necessary. Jesus has a lot to say about how we view Saddam Hussein.
C. S. Lewis, one of the most influential Christian lay-theologians of the twentieth century, puts the matter of forgiveness succinctly in his book Mere Christianity. Writing about justice and war, Lewis says,
Even while we kill and punish we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves-to wish that he were not so bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in fact, to wish his good. That is what is meant in the Bible by loving him: wishing his good, not feeling fond of him nor saying he is nice when he is not.
I would like to recast Lewis just a little in this way: to love one's enemy is to do all one can to change the enemy into a friend…or a brother/sister. We all know stories of hatred turned into love by the power of Christ. I think of the former biker who belonged to a terrifying gang before he began following Christ. "Every morning I woke up," he said, "looking for someone to hate." Christ changed that. On the other hand, I am sure that you know cases where Christian love has been refused and even scoffed at, of people who seem to be all hate and violence. This is similar to the terrorist who hates Christians and wants to kill them just because they are Christians, and this means the young and old as well. The pathology of the serial or mass killer reflects a merciless abuser with no conscience, a person too twisted for contemporary psychology to help. Again, only Christ can change such a person.
I admit it seems easier on the surface to wish someone's good, as Lewis puts it, who is at least a candidate for returning love. It seems harder to deal with that violent person who hates indiscriminately. Yet Christ gives us the pattern. The least we can do for our enemies is to sincerely pray for their good, that is, for them to change, to embrace love, to become themselves a forgiving person. This prayer must be sincere if it is to reflect the Spirit of Christ. If we can do anything else to bring about such change, then we should be able to do it. It is important to note that Christian love, or the attempt to love, does not mean overlooking common justice and the social penalty for crimes committed. I read an article several years ago about a serial killer who was converted to Christ while on death row. He did not appeal for clemency because of his new faith. Quite the reverse. He stated clearly that he deserved the death penalty because of what he did as a non-Christian. Later he was put to death, as the state required, having maintained his faith and his witness to the end.
This brings us back to Saddam Hussein. It is easy for a Christian to wish Saddam had been a gentle, compassionate leader, one who treated his own enemies as he now says Mohammed wanted and as Hussein now wants to be treated. By the choices he made he was not that kind of man. His own appeal for clemency depends on the current Iraqi system of justice. Meanwhile, the church prays for him, for God's just and merciful will to be done, not in the next few months but for eternity. We would like for the former dictator to become a changed man for the better, even now, and to accept society's judgment on his actions. Should he be released from his sentence? I think not; he chose his path and its possible consequences. He must now walk that path. While we detest the harm he brought to thousands of people, we do not detest the man at his deepest levels. He has, after all, a spiritual self. Can he be changed? That is up to God to decide. Perhaps he is beyond help, perhaps not. What we know is that we are to continue to pray for Hussein, even as the Butcher of Baghdad, and our other enemies too, and pray good, sincere prayers. And when the opportunity presents itself, we can be used by God to be vehicles of love and compassion to unloving and hateful people. It is not a matter whether they deserve love or not. We have Christ as our model and our enabler. He will help us do what He wants us to do, to be what He died for us to be.
Jerry Mercer
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