How Many Indeed

I visited Willow Tree and read an article she wrote, “How many”, in reference to the number of Jews that would have to die before the policy of making concessions to murderers is stopped. I followed the link and read more about how terrorists murder Jews; something that has gone on for a very long time. The world leaders get together and work out policy and deals that sound sincere and all the while there are more murders. So, how many will have to die until they quit trying to diplomatically deal with murderers?

I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons. In one of our books of Scripture, The Book of Mormon, there is a story worth relating. In Alma, chapter 24, in verse 21 we learn about a group of converts who at one time had been murdering savages themselves. Upon learning that God would require them to repent of their ways in order to gain entrance into His Kingdom, they laid down their weapons of war and vowed never to pick them up again for the chance of being made clean through and by the atonement of the Savior who was to come, even Jesus Christ. These people lay prostrated on the ground as the advancing enemy soldiers began to slaughter them in great numbers. No attempt was made to defend themselves and eventually even their enemies took pity upon them and ceased the carnage which they had brought upon these truly converted people.

I have listened to some of the survivors of WWII, the Jews who lived through the man made hell of the concentration camps intended to exterminate an entire people. I learned something about the human spirit from them, something that I had never thought possible. Many of these Jews, while far from complacent about their situation, regarded the taking of life, even the lives of their sworn enemies, to be a sin for which they were not prepared to wager their eternal souls and salvation on. They instead were led to the death camps as sheep to the slaughter. With this understanding my appreciation for such strength of spirit grew considerably. I had thought the Jews to be cowards, afraid to stand up for their rights, themselves; when the facts showed that, in fact, they were far superior in character and spirit to the rest of the human race as they submitted to the will of our Father in Heaven, not to the strength of the Third Reich.

I think I fall short in that area. I’m a retired police officer and I have a card in my wallet that explains the fact that I go down and qualify with my pistol so that I can shoot the bad guys if they need to be shot. I suppose that runs counter to productivity, not getting paid to do the same work as those who still wear the blue uniform. I don’t see myself as prostrating myself on the floor while the bad guys break down the front door and take aim at me or my family. I don’t see myself burying my Smith and Wesson 357 magnum in the backyard under the green bean crop either.

I think that I would be with those who stood watch over those very brave and courageous souls as they lay down and waited for their time to meet God. I would not feel guilty at all putting a third eye in some terrorist or any other bad guy intent on killing innocent people. If that makes my acceptance into my Father’s Kingdom less likely, then it is a choice that I make with my agency, that agency given to all men by our Creator.