Disturbing Realities
This week, I've been forced to think about some pretty terrible things.
First, in the current issue of the New Man eMagazine, we ran an interview with Peter Holmes, author of Christ Walks Where Evil Reigned. It’s not an easy read. His book (and the interview) is about the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that left approximately 1 million dead. Thinking about the 100-day frenzy of murder, rape and maiming left me sickened and horrified afresh at the truly demonic capabilities of man.
Second, I interviewed Rob Morris, president of Love146, a ministry that rescues children from the seedy sex slavery industry. Rob’s accounts of children snatched from their families and farmed out to pedophiles made me blink back tears.
Just when I thought I was out of the woods, I stumbled upon youtube.com videos on the topic of abortion, created by a Catholic group called “Priests for Life.” The videos detail two popular forms of abortion that reveal the true horror of these “procedures.” The priest in the video does not dramatize, nor does he vent. Rather, in a matter of fact fashion, he simply describes second term abortions, demonstrating the technique, forceps in hand.
Abortion is one of those practices that infuriate me. Yet I have to admit that—until I was confronted by these unsettling videos—it had been a while since I had been filled with righteous indignation at the practice. It was the same with the Rwandan Genocide and the scourge of child sex slavery. These things, while reprehensible, failed to gain my attention until my brothers in Christ awakened my conscience by peeling back the lid I had placed over those disturbing realities.
Though it was tough to think about these things, I’m grateful I did. Sometimes we need to have our realities disturbed by disturbing realities—especially when our actions can form part of the solution. Today I want to give you a challenge that I will also take myself: next time God awakens you to a disturbing reality respond with your heart and your hands. Don’t shrink away from the pain, and when you feel it, step out in faith and take action. You just may be the answer God had in mind.
First, in the current issue of the New Man eMagazine, we ran an interview with Peter Holmes, author of Christ Walks Where Evil Reigned. It’s not an easy read. His book (and the interview) is about the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that left approximately 1 million dead. Thinking about the 100-day frenzy of murder, rape and maiming left me sickened and horrified afresh at the truly demonic capabilities of man.
Second, I interviewed Rob Morris, president of Love146, a ministry that rescues children from the seedy sex slavery industry. Rob’s accounts of children snatched from their families and farmed out to pedophiles made me blink back tears.
Just when I thought I was out of the woods, I stumbled upon youtube.com videos on the topic of abortion, created by a Catholic group called “Priests for Life.” The videos detail two popular forms of abortion that reveal the true horror of these “procedures.” The priest in the video does not dramatize, nor does he vent. Rather, in a matter of fact fashion, he simply describes second term abortions, demonstrating the technique, forceps in hand.
Abortion is one of those practices that infuriate me. Yet I have to admit that—until I was confronted by these unsettling videos—it had been a while since I had been filled with righteous indignation at the practice. It was the same with the Rwandan Genocide and the scourge of child sex slavery. These things, while reprehensible, failed to gain my attention until my brothers in Christ awakened my conscience by peeling back the lid I had placed over those disturbing realities.
Though it was tough to think about these things, I’m grateful I did. Sometimes we need to have our realities disturbed by disturbing realities—especially when our actions can form part of the solution. Today I want to give you a challenge that I will also take myself: next time God awakens you to a disturbing reality respond with your heart and your hands. Don’t shrink away from the pain, and when you feel it, step out in faith and take action. You just may be the answer God had in mind.
posted by Drew Dyck at 10:18 PM
1 Comments:
http://www.asweforgivethose.com/ Here is a link to a documentary about Rwanda focusing on a few who are forgiving those who caused them a lot of pain & suffering in that terrible conflict. Reading the interview with Peter Holmes, it was the first time I can recall the conflict being described as a vocational dispute rather than an ethnic/racial one. A rush by journalists to put a media soundbite description can often leave a different impression than what was actually happening.
http://www.wrf.ca/comment/pov.cfm?povID=28
Here is an interview with the documentary maker from the Canadian based Work Research Foundation.
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