The Desert of the Real

The Photographer who took this picture has spoken out. I want to be fair to him, and be sure his position is on record. He does not agree with the sentiments of most of us commenting on this picture. He snapped what he felt was a tender moment. I get it. When I look at the picture, I even see it. I am quite sure the officer was definitely acting in a compassionate manner towards that little boy. I in no way mean to disparage him.

What the photographer doesn’t seem to get, is that the image itself reflects a deeper problem than the officer and the little boy. It reflects what lengths our government is willing to go to in order to control the activities of its citizens that it doesn’t like. It reflects in stark contrast the militarization of our civilian police forces, being placed against a background so obviously recognizable as a civilian home.

Thinking Iraq? No – think again. Think Durham, North Carolina. Part of the caption reads:

Even if a raid doesn’t turn up anything, presence and show of force sends a hard message to the neighborhood that gang and drug activity will not be tolerated.

Yeah, nothing shows the neighborhood you mean business like escorting a six year-old to the bathroom with an assault rifle. But Radley puts his finger on the real problem with this line:

But more disturbingly, it suggests that the Durham police department sees nothing wrong with conducting a violent, door-busting raid that turns up no evidence, so long as it “sends a hard message.”

shall perish by the sword.

When Jesus said this, he was speaking to Peter, after his rash action in cutting off the ear of the High Priest’s slave. There are of course multiple ways of applying this verse, it could have been a warning to Peter not to rush to rash action, as vengence is not in the purview of the Christian. However, I think it more likely that it was a prophetic statement. That the Jews who were now wielding the sword of the Roman government would soon see it turn on them and destroy them.

We have seen this same prophecy come true repeatedly in Church history, but as with so many other things in Church history which we fail to learn from, this one goes ignored. Here we see it again in a microcosm. A complete lack of foresight on the part of the parents led to unintended consequences that some of them aren’t real happy with.

She then fumed that a “pagan ritual” is “an educational experience my children don’t need.”

The reality is that Public Schools are a quagmire when it comes to the rights of students. It’s a mess, and not one worth sorting out. It’s like trying to save the good meat from a package that’s got maggots in it. Even if you succeed, you really still don’t want to eat it.

But more importantly than that, when we try to wield the government like a sword to accomplish what we want in society absent a work of God’s grace we are not paying enough attention to where the other side of that double-edged sword is going to end up. Every time a Christian decides to go this route they really should ask themselves, “What are the ramifications of this? How is it going to come back on me?” And having considered it, put that sword away!