It must be one of the extraordinary accidents of history that the first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, which marks the annual Feast of the Transfiguration for Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox Christians around the world. As Matthew's Gospel describes the Transfiguration:
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. (Matthew 17:1-8)
Roughly 19 centuries later, and 65 years ago today, the city of Hiroshima was destroyed with elements that cannot but recall the Transfiguration: a sun-bright white light, a roar from heaven, a cloud, terror, and -- most of all -- a world that would never be the same.
Mass destruction was not new to the human race, of course: cities had been leveled before World War II, and civilians had died en masse before, though never to the level of the Holocaust. But before August 6, 1945, mass destruction was achieved through the amalgamated repetition of micro destruction: one sword swung, one bullet fired, one gas chamber filled, one firebomb dropped, over and over and over again.
At Hiroshima, mass destruction was consolidated into a single plane and a single bomb. Moreover, it foretold the apotheosis of humanity's bent toward hell: our proliferated world, in which the spread of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology has placed life on earth under a single act of human will. Hiroshima didn't transfigure the world, but it did transform it.
About a week prior to the Transfiguration, Jesus had asked his disciples, "What good will it be if a man gains the world but loses his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26). The power of our atomic age means that we have gained the world in a most literal sense. But at what cost -- and what are we to do about it?
I believe that the continued existence of nuclear weapons will make their use inevitable. I believe that when this happens, the consequences will be uncontrollable and yield evil beyond our wildest imagination. I believe that the only way to prevent this occurrence is to abolish nuclear weapons multilaterally and verifiably. And I work toward that end because I believe that world-gaining and soul-saving are diametrically opposed.
It is no surprise that these beliefs and this work lead to a routine dismissal as naïve, utopian, and idealistic. And yet it seems to me that my accusers are twice the sons and daughters of utopia that I am. They believe, against the evidence of recorded history, that with nuclear weapons we will somehow enjoy perpetual luck. And they believe, against the Scriptures, that righteousness is weak.
In the Transfiguration, I see God's pre-emptive answer to such adversaries -- the would-be nuclear world-gainers. "This is my Son, whom I love. With him I am well pleased," says the Lord. "Listen to him!"
To wit: the way of Jesus of Nazareth is greater even than the original act of spiritual mass destruction, the Fall: "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" says Paul, but "if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" (Romans 5:12, 15).
On August 6 we remember a transfiguration and a transformation. Both came with clouds, blazing light, and sound. One brought death in a scope never before seen. But the other revealed a life even greater.
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Transfiguration of Jesus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ - August 6 - Feast of ...
A distinction without a difference. 1000 killed by bullets, 1000 killed by fusion or fission effects. Dead is dead, and no one left behind is any happier on the killing end of the stick. But the a-bomb allows for killing inexpensively for the wielder in circumstances similar to WWII, where the wielder alone has them.
If our response to 9/11 had been to drop a single nuclear weapon and kill a few thousand Muslims, then over 100,000 Iraqis would not have died; over 6,000 US soldiers would not have died; and instead of spending a trillion dollars, we would have spent just millions. And I daresay the American public would have been satisfied. Instead, we waged not one, but two conventional wars, spending lives and treasure as if they didn't matter at all, gaining very little indeed.
Also, consider: Thousands of a-bombs in addition to the two actually used on enemy targets in WWII have been set off so far; and we're all still here. So it is quite clear that the bogeyman of atomic holocaust is overstated based upon using a few hundred or even a few thousand of them. It turns out that as usual, it's not the weapons we need to fear, it is the act of war.
I can only assume that those on here bemoaning the use of atomic weapons as “evil” would suggest an alternative course of action, such as:
1. Continue the blood bath that would cost many more thousands of American lives and literally millions of Japanese lives before we achieved the final victory.
2. Surrender to the Axis.
3. Adopt a new strategy of ‘winning the hearts and minds’ of the enemy by waging a ‘people friendly’ war policy.
Which one should it have been?
(We have been trying No. 3 ever since. Viet Nam, Iraq, Afghanistan. How’s that working out? Why is it taking two or three times as long to lose wars these days than it did to win wars before? War is a terrible thing but it need be waged with a swift victory in mind.)
In cases of defense, it follows logically that self-defense is warranted. Religion is aware of radical evil, and in the instance of such evil, it can become necessary to act violently. My study of history tells me that we have far more to fear from ambition that uses violence to achieve its purposes, as with America's war in Iraq. May the divine forgive us for what we do in its name.
What is America's "ambition"?
Have we met our goals?
A city full of non-Christians who got *nuked* is not an appropriate thing to proselytize Christianity over.
Gandhi's non-violence was a political tactic that evolved from the inner realization of spiritual unity within himself. Gandhi studied all the world's religions and after attending many churches, he remarked that Christianity was a great religion and all Christians should "TRY IT!"
The problem is not with Christianity, but that too few who claim to be have taken The Sermon on The Mount as their manifesto and live lives that express that God is Love and God Loves All.
"The wisdom of non-violence teaches that war is not the way to follow Jesus. War is not the will of God. War is never justified. War is never blessed by God. War is not endorsed by any religion. War is the very definition of mortal sin. War is demonic, evil, anti-human, anti-life, anti-God, and anti-Christ."
http://wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1354&Itemid=222
Should the Jews in Warsaw have tried to fight for their lives?
What should have been the American response to Pearl Harbor?
How about the Chinese in Manchuria?
(This could get to be a pretty long list!)
This is a fallen sinful world and we are commanded to take care of our own.
1 Timothy 5:8
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.
By the way, the Sermon on the Mount, the Christian life-style, is ultimately important and relevant to Christians, but it is not the true Christian "manifesto". We have been commissioned to:
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
If you REALLY loved me you would help me find eternal life.
But you already knew that.
Hiroshima-Nagasaki= the biggest indiscriminate mass murder of human beings
I am just glad that my people did not take part in this great sin of WW2. I will let those who has blood on their hands figure it out.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/aprilweb-only/117-31.0.html
Pity, cause I actually like the tolerant message as an antidote to much intolerance.
yes....also the firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo were horrible things....those "thousand bomber raids" and the air marshals who advocated them should not be hailed as heroes.
That doesn't excuse the inhumanity of it, but why are we making a special day for this one bombing, vs the thousands of other days we bombed entire cities out of existence?
With no gods about,
waste and desolation reign
as dead leaves pile up. -- Basho
Each work day, I drive in the desert
past the windowless walls,
the concrete monoliths,
canyon buildings containing inside
the idle workshops of plutonium alchemy,
the factories of the Nagasaki bomb.
The veterans say the bomb
saved their lives and freedom.
The pictures haunt me:
images burned into
Nagasaki streets
like Christ’s shroud,
the fissile photographic
plates of the bright instant,
the vapor of souls,
the hanging flags of burned skin,
the cancers and bleeding gums.
The Hanford walls
are not inscribed
with the names of veterans,
or the children of Nagasaki,
the Bill of Rights,
a poem by Basho or E=mc2.
Only canyon buildings
with water stains
visited by tumbleweeds.
Hanford Nuclear Reservation