Picture a Middle Eastern nation that prefers to have nuclear bombs and other weapons to defend itself from a regional rival that it dead set on destroying it. If the nation you saw in your mind was Israel, you would be correct. But if the nation you first thought of was Iran, you would also be correct during the Netanyahu years. That is because Netanyahu has dreamed of destroying Iran for 4 decades.
That brings us to the first 2 chapters of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. Following Paulˋs argument against homosexuality in Romans 1 comes the warning against judging others at the beginning of Romans 2. We Christians often conveniently forget that sequence.
Why are we warned against judging those whose sins are listed in Romans 1? It is because in so doing we condemn ourselves for we commit some of the same sins. James says something similar in James 2.
We often think that the warning against judging others as applying only to individuals. But should that be the case? What if we apply that passage to nations, especially after they attack other nations for an alleged offense?
Take the American and Israeli attacks on Iran that started last Saturday as an example. A number of reasons have been given for the attacks. The Iranian takeover of the American Embassy in 1979 is one. The claim that Iran has killed thousands of Americans in another. And that Iran has recently killed tens of thousands of its own people is another. And then there is Iran's exporting of terrorism while wanting to possess nuclear weapons.
We should note that before the Iranian Revolution with its takeover of the American embassy in 1979, we supported another Iranian government that employed a secret police that would arrest, imprison, and torture dissidents in order to maintain a Ẁhite Revolution that consisted of a top-down government and a modernization of parts of Iranˋs society. When that government was overthrown, the U.S. provided shelter for is leader, the Shah, in part because he was suffering from cancer. Those in the Iranian Revolution wanted to put him on trial for the crimes he had committed against the Iran's people. And so here the U.S. supported one dictator who was cruel to the Iranian people, we are currently attacking another such leader who did the same.
The claim that Iran has killed thousands of Americans is false though the number is above 1,000. And many of those deaths were members of our military who were killed by proxies in response to their presence or actions. In addition, there were some embassy bombings that contributed to that number. But the claim is made in a way that implies that the murders would occur at the spur of the moment to civilians in public and that is false.
Along with Israelˋs and Americaˋs claim that the current Iranian regime has treated its own people horribly, what is never mentioned is how Israel treats the Palestinians and how America supports that treatment.
Israelˋs government has officially opposed the creation of a Palestinian state while it uses the Occupation to cover its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the Occupied Territories. And so we must ask, especially wth Israelˋs recent atrocities in Gaza and its violent annexing of land in the West Bank, how different, other than with tactics, is Israelˋs treatment of the Palestinians from Iranˋs treatment of its dissidents? Certainly, Iran's current government is evil because, in part, of how it treats its people. Here we are not asking which nation's practices are the most evil. When evil is being practiced, such a question is irrelevant here.
Do we understand how our accusations against Iranˋs government can easily turn to self-accusations or perhaps confessions of wrongdoing? That is not to excuse the atrocities Iran has committed. What we need to realize is that those who are doing the accusing are just as guilty of committing or supporting atrocities as the Iranian government is.
And so if attacking Iran can be justified for its treatment of its own citizens, why are Iran and its proxies not justified in attacking Israel for its treatment of Palestinians? Are not Iranian citizens and Palestinians humans and thus deserve to be equally respected as people with human rights? A similar argument can be made for Israelˋs right to defend itself against Palestinian attacks. If Israel can openly and brutally attack Palestinian civilians, which has been done on a monumental scale in Gaza, then what is wrong with Palestinians returning the favor?
If we wish to justify the joint U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran because it was expanding it ballistic missile program and plans to build a nuclear arsenal while shouting ˋdeath to Americaˋ and ˋdeath to Israel,ˋ what is wrong with Iranˋs nuclear intentions when Israelˋs Prime Minister has wanted to attack Iran for decades? After all, Israel has a nuclear arsenal and its own missiles.
One thing that is wrong with all of the attacks on both Israel and Iran is that their perceived necessity could have been avoided through negotiations. But the negotiations that are needed here are the ones between Israel and the Palestinians over land. That is because most of the atrocities that are either practiced or enabled by Iran has been because of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Those nations who exercise their judgement against other nations or people with the non defensive use of force have demonstrated that they rely on the rule of force. Israel, in particular, uses force to enact its own version of the Bush Doctrine. That Doctrine stated that the U.S. would not allow rivals to become even emerging threats. And that is what Israel attempts to do with attacks on its neighbors. And such an approach is done to eliminate any possible check on Israelˋs desires to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians from the Occupied Territories.
Here we could also ask my fellow Americans this question. If America is justified in attacking Iran for its treatment of its own citizens, then wouldnˋt the use of force to affect regime change in America have been justified during slavery and Jim Crow? After all, our treatment of Blacks and other minorities has been horrific for most of our history. However, our nation's need for self-flattery refuses to consider the question.
Applying the beginning of Romans 2 to geopolitics presumes that there exists a great equality between ethnicities and between nations. And the question then becomes if people who look down on others in judgment are subject to the judgment of God, then why wouldnˋt nations be subject to that warning too?
Something else needs to be added. Because of his lack of self-restraint, Trump has taken the act of judging others for crimes that America also commits to a new level. Certainly Iranˋs leaders are morally horrible. But in acting as their executioner, Trump if not imitating their crimes, commits his own set of crimes. For in judging other nations, Trump assumes that he is only answerable to himself.
The Bible says not to judge in several places. At the same time, there are times when we must confront people or nations with their wrongdoing. How do we handle this possible contradiction? Perhaps when judging others, we must distinguish between looking down on others from looking at others. While the former judges with a sense of moral superiority that comes from being blind to one's own sins, the latter does not.
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