Blessed are the assassins of foreign dictators?

I think not. For those of you that have not heard: the founder of the Christian Coalition, Pat Robertson, has called for the assassination of Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela on national television today. The reasons he cited included Chavez's intentions to spread communism and Muslim fundamentalism (in a 98% Christian nation?) throughout South America. Since Robertson figures wars are too expensive, he suggests that a covert operative could go in and "take him out" instead. Read about this in the news, it is pretty much front page everywhere.

Now, if this was some Senator saying this, I would think he or she was a nut and out of line. It makes poor political sense, and the Monroe Doctrine was probably not intended to be used as a justification for murder. (Maybe it was - but that is a different debate!) The Bush Administration, I am pleased to report, claims to agree. But this is not a goofy legislator with delusions of grandeur. Pat Robertson is considered to be one of the great leaders of Christianity in the United States. And that is what has me outraged.

I mean, Hugo Chavez is no Oscar Romero. But can you see Robertson strongly disapproving of the US supported assassination of Romero, who had been branded a "communist"? I cannot.

You see, Christian is supposed to mean "little Christ", or at least somebody who attempts to live their life in a Christ-like manner. And so we have Hugo Chavez, who very well may be an enemy of the United States - I really do not know enough about the man. Let us for the sake of argument say that he is indeed an enemy of the United States and every person living in it. What does Christ teach about enemies? I am sure you all see where this is going: "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who despitefully use you, and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father who is in Heaven." (Matthew 5:44-45 for those of you following along at home) There is plenty of other good stuff in the Sermon on the Mount about "resist not evil" and the like. And because of these verses, others, and Christ's example it is commonly known that I do not believe in "Just War". But I can respect both the people and their reasons for believing in "Just War": from Augustine, to CS Lewis, to Jason Lancaster.

This is not "Just War". This is murder. I have no idea how Robertson would defend his comments in light of Matthew 5, and I am pretty sure his answer would make me sick. So I will tell you how I see it: Robertson is clearly ignoring Christ's teachings and Christ's example and doing what he thinks is best for Christianity. In short: he thinks he knows better than Jesus. He is not the first. Peter thought the same way once and Jesus famously responded to him, "Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Peter, it is generally thought, turned out alright. And humanity, especially Christians, have had two thousand years to learn from his example. And yet a man who is supposedly a great leader of our faith recommends cold-blooded murder on television. I shudder to think what the rest of the world - especially the Muslims that Robertson has so often lambasted for being violent - think of the faith I love because of these comments. When I make mistakes in my "Christian walk" (whatever that is), I at least take comfort that they do not make the front page of all the nation's newspapers the next morning.

If you are the sort that prays, I would suggest praying for two things. The first being that as little damage as possible comes from Pat Robertson's comments. The second, and perhaps more important thing, is that Robertson figure out his mistakes - either by himself or with a little help from his Savior - and become a great champion of Love, like Peter.

Perhaps sometimes I let the world do too much of my thinking for me.

I was legitimately exhausted tonight, but my head was muddled and I felt restless. I tried reading some theology, but I could not get my eyes to focus on the page. Theology rarely fills me with any sense of comfort anyway. What does soothe me is my pipe. Now, some people believe that I smoke too often. The fact of the matter is that I smoke perhaps once every other month by myself and whenever the occasion presents itself in the company of some of my closest friends. And to those of you who do know the joys of occasional pipe smoking: I think you will understand why I walked down to my car to recover my pipe and tobacco.

So I sat in the white chairs that are seldom used on our front porch and lit my pipe. I watched my neighbors walk to their apartments, make calls on their cell phones or smoke cigarettes on their own porches. I watched the smoke I blew dance above my head, and sometimes get sucked into my own air conditioning unit. Whatever I was thinking was not really important - to be honest, I cannot even recall where my mind was wandering. What is important is that the thoughts I was thinking, were my own.

And this is what I meant when I said that I let the world do too much of my thinking for me. I listen to too many songs, and do not write as many lyrics from my own head, heart, soul or wherever lyrics spring from. I play video games, or watch movies, or read books where stories unfold instead of creating stories of my own by actually doing things with my life. Every three hours spent watching a movie is time I could spend creating memories of my own. When you watch a movie, it is like making memories that are not your own. For instance, I am overly fond of the Lord of the Rings movies. I can recall in great detail the dark journey through Moria, the siege at Helm's Deep and Frodo's desperate journey across Mordor. The problem is, none of these places exist and none of the characters are real. There must be some science-fiction horror story where a human being's memories are supplanted by events that did not really happen. It strikes me now that many of the things I can remember from childhood are events that occurred in my favorite books, video games and movies.

Not that I do not have many memories, happy or sad, from reality as well. However I think that I am familiar enough with the epic adventures of other people now. Perhaps it is time that I abandon playing addictive adventure games and live my own adventures. Maybe that is one of the things I like about my job: I can come home with a story almost every night. The events of my life are not likely to be worthy of epic poetry. But I, at least, never get tired of my own life or my own thoughts. I am happy in my own head. And I hope I have the discipline to spend more time there, rather than vainly searching for Indiana Jones-esque satisfaction in the form of fiction. (Perhaps this is why Timothy Laux dislikes fiction with so much zeal!) God gave me this life for a reason, and I somehow doubt that the reason is "watching other lives go by" or "trying to escape my own life through fiction".

I remain an advocate for both fiction and fantasy. They have their place in my world. But my place is in God's Earth, not in Tolkien's Middle Earth or any other pale imitation of the glorious Creation.