The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for September 9th, 2011 02:18 PM
toldailytopic: Regarding 9-11 they say "never forget". Never forget what? What should be our lesson learned on 9-11-2001? |
I am not nearly sure that we learned what 9-11 should have taught us. What was al Qaeda striking at? The power of the Yankee Dollar? No, American money has bankrolled the world, and al Qaeda is fond of money. Were they striking at Democracy? No, al Qaeda is outside of politics; a criminal extremist organization. I think it is way more basic than that.
Firstly, Islamic leaders still harken to what happened in ancient time. The Crusades remain as a debt unpaid. The Koran allows, even encourages, retribution in kind; Semitic vengeance. Islamic men, women, and children (heretics) were slaughtered during the Crusades. We notice that al Qaeda attacks have been in Christian countries, with the most attention-getting attack being right here in the most powerful Christian nation on earth. From the extremist al Qaeda point of view, this is pay-back time.
Remember that al Qaeda does not represent Islam. In their proactive attacks, al Qaeda is in direct violation of the Koran, for the Koran prohibits first-strike assaults. Islamic leaders, world wide, have condemned the extremist actions of al Qaeda.
But, there is an even more basic reason why America makes a great target for angry outsiders. We are arrogant. When abroad, our tourists are arrogant. When we are occupying overseas bases, our soldiers are arrogant, especially in third world countries. I don't think we even know we are arrogant, but foriegn people and foriegn languages and quaint customs make us uncomfortable, so we are standoffish and we seem vain. Topping this off, our State Department is officious and arrogant in its negotiations with foreign dignitaries. America is a very young nation in a world-wide community of nations with 1000+ year histories, yet we present ourselves like The Boss. Between being arrogant and being Christian, we irritate the world.
Coming into the Ten Year Anniversary of 9-11, we have not learned to curb our arrogance. As an irritant, we are an itch, and itches get scratched ...