On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, I was sitting in class at Pentecostal Theological Seminary. During a break, someone told me that a jet had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers. At that point I thought, “What a terrible accident.” Later, back in class, someone interrupted the class to announce that the Pentagon had been attacked. We were still in the dark, but we knew a horrible tragedy was occurring. Classes were dismissed and the entire student body gathered in the chapel to pray. Later, someone brought a television to the student center and we all gathered to watch the events. It was there that I saw the towers fall.
I spent the rest of the day in classes, with mixed emotions. I wanted to go home to be with my family in Georgia. I got home early the next morning and spent the day with Sharon watching the news and reflecting. Some Christian leaders were being interviewed and declared the attacks to be God’s vengeance upon the United States. Of course, many Americans were terribly offended. Others were asking why would God allow such evil? I remembered the words of Jesus:
“Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4-5).
These words continue to provoke mixed emotions in me. I believe the victims of 9-11 were innocent, that is, they were the targets of an unprovoked terror attack. I believe that the terrorist are evil and criminal. I am aware that many innocent children and other non-combatants have died in Iraq and Afghanistan due to the actions of the United States. I also believe that “all have sinned” and that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 3:23; 6:23). Conflict and violence litter the history of humanity. We erect monuments to celebrate our warriors and declare holidays to remember and even celebrate. But Jesus warned, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
The words of Jesus remind me that human conflict is sign of a fallen race, separated from the love and holiness of God. I believe that the United States is an exceptional nation – the land of the free and the home of the brave. I gladly stand and put my right hand over my heart when hearing the Star Spangled Banner. With that said, as a Christian I believe that we should remember that God loves the world – the whole world. There are brave and honorable men and women of every race and nation, all of whom are created in the image of God and are in need of divine grace. So as a citizen of the United States of America, I confess that I am a sojourner, an alien hoping “for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10 NKJV). My ultimate hope and allegiance is to the kingdom of God. So, today and every day I pray the words I have been taught to pray: “…deliver us from evil; For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For the law will go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He will judge between the nations, And will render decisions for many peoples; And they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, And never again will they learn war. Come, house of Jacob, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:3-5).
