UPRISING

When Katrina's waters rose, we were glued to the news and our collective compassion was rubbed raw because there seemed no way to help the trapped New Orleanians on rooftops.

Now it is Syria who has no help in sight.  Desperate Syrians are being bombed daily by their own government.  Their "uprising" began in March of 2011 and has resulted in thousands of deaths.

Diplomats and ambassadors have been kicked out of the country.  The UN sent Kofi Annan to broker a peace plan, but that got nowhere.  Our government sounds like a drippy faucet as we continue to repeat "you better not do that", speaking to ears who could care less.

Today Russia has sent attack copters to "aid" the government effort.  That will not be good news in Homs, where each day brings escalation and death.

So who is fighting who(m)...and why?

Bashar al-Assad is the President of Syria.  He is a member of a small Shi'ite sect called Alawites which make up 15% of Syria's population.

The 75% Sunni majority are the people demanding freedom and being terrorized.  So the conflict is within Islam (Alawite Shia vs. Sunni).

Syrian intelligence and elite military units follow President Assad, but it is his shadowy "shabiha" (literally in Arabic, "ghosts") who are feared most.

These men in black t-shirts roam freely at night and are credited for the mass atrocities.  After the government shells an area, they go house to house, pulling out survivors to execute them.  Today's press reports say these ghosts of Syria are torturing children and using them as human shields.

The ghosts of Syria support the president, but no one seems to have any direct oversight over them.  What a lethal mix...currish thugs with no accountability.

The writing on this wall says "Assad or we will burn Syria".

America finds this killing repugnant, but what can we do? How do you give people an appreciation for the value of life?  Shall we kill more people to stop the killing?

Is it our responsibility to stand between Muslims who have no regard for the life of a brother?

Syrians are calling for freedom, but we know from other Arab springs that freedom is not the end product.
Christians in Syria have historically been free from harassment under the present government.  Would that change under new management?

What is America to do about this humanitarian disaster?

Reasonable people can meet in the intersection of several irrefutable truths:

LIFE IS A GIFT OF GOD 

AND HIS ALONE TO GIVE OR TAKE AWAY.

THOSE WHO MURDER WILL STAND BEFORE THE ALMIGHTY 

TO GIVE A DEFENSE.

OUR ENEMY COMES TO STEAL AND KILL.  

HE IS A MURDERER AND THE FATHER OF ALL LIES.

IT IS A PRIVILEGE/BLESSING TO LIVE UNDER THE RULE OF LAW.

BASE MEN PREY ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN.

King Solomon was reported to be the wisest man who ever lived.  Here's what he had to say about the coming day of accountability...  "Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether good or evil."  Ecclesiastes 12.14


The ghosts of Syria will not be the only ones looking for a rock to crawl under in that day.