Bad News Haunts Week's Headlines

© 2014 The Wired Word

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As with most weeks, news media this week have offered up a mix of stories, ranging from the weird and trivial to the serious and staggering. Here at The Wired Word, however, we were struck by the number of overwhelmingly bad-news stories clustered within a short time frame.
While not going into great detail, here are three news stories that jumped out at us:
1. Reuters reported that a video, purportedly made by the Islamic State, was posted on social media sites last Sunday showing masked militants shooting and beheading about 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya. A subtitle in the video describes the victims as "worshippers of the cross belonging to the hostile Ethiopian church."
2. Reuters also reported that last Sunday, a boatload of people fleeing violence in Libya drowned when the vessel capsized in the Mediterranean. At last report, 28 survivors and 24 bodies have been found -- but the survivors have estimated the number of people on board as between 700 and 950. The boat was operated by migrant traffickers who charge big money to help people cross the sea, often jammed on vessels that are not seaworthy. In this case, the traffickers reportedly locked many of the refugees in the boat's hold, which may be the reason so few survivors and bodies have been found. If most on board drowned, as is likely, the death toll so far this year among African immigrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to escape the problems in their homeland will be about 1,500 people.
The European Union is discussing how to address the flood of migrants and prevent the deaths, but nobody thinks the wave of people looking for safety and a better life in Europe is going to subside anytime soon.
One commentator has called trafficking "the slavery of the 21st century."
3. The Daily Mail reported last Sunday that when a rubber dinghy carrying around 100 African refugees across the Mediterranean began to sink, a Nigerian Christian boy prayed to God for his life. One of the Muslims on board ordered him to stop, saying, "Here, we only pray to Allah." When the boy continued to pray, a fight broke out and a number of the Muslim refugees threw the boy and 11 other Christians overboard to their deaths. When an Italian coast guard vessel rescued the remaining people on board the dinghy, they arrested 15 Muslims reportedly involved in the murderous incident.
While none of these stories present events that are particularly uncommon these days, they are currently making the common news, and those involving murders have even prompted National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan to condemn the killings and note their religious nature.
More on these stories can be found at these links:
Islamic State Shoots and Beheads 30 Ethiopian Christians in Libya. Reuters
Hundreds Drown off Libya, EU Leaders Forced to Reconsider Migrant Crisis. Reuters
Muslim Migrants Threw 12 Christians Overboard to Their Deaths Because They Were Not Praying to Allah ... Daily Mail
The Big Questions
1. What can American Christians do about the ongoing slaughter and purge of Christians in some parts of the Middle East and Africa? Do you consider this a Christian problem or a human problem, or both? Why? How would you differentiate between a Christian problem and a human problem?
2. Do we have any responsibility toward situations that appear too big for individuals to effect any change? What causes people such as the migrants in these news pieces to take such great risks to seek a better, or at least a different, life? What obligation do we have to help those who set about on a course of action that puts them in danger?
3. What does "love your neighbor as you love yourself" mean in cases like those in the news this week, where we don't personally know any of the people involved and live far away from them?. Do these news stories stretch the limits of a reasonable definition of neighbor? Does the term "compassion fatigue" apply here, and if so, should we try to combat it? Why?
4. While not equating the deaths in the news with the suffering of Jesus, Christianity maintains that suffering can lead to a greater trust in God and may have a purpose or lead to a greater benefit. In this respect, people who are suffering can find hope. But what about those who don't survive the hard times? In what ways, if any, do you think God is present in the midst of the sort of suffering we encounter in these stories?
5. What sort of explanation do you give others when you are asked why God allows things like the events in these news story to happen?
Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:
Lamentations 1:1-2; 2:11
How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! ... She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her ... My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people ... (For context, read 1:1-22; 2:11.)
The book of Lamentations is essentially a funeral dirge for the city of Jerusalem and the Judahites who had lived there. The laments contained in the book are usually attributed to Jeremiah, who's been called "the weeping prophet" because he had to speak such bad news to his people and was, in fact, a witness to the destruction of the city by the Babylonians.
Jeremiah did not lose his faith in God, and in the midst of mourning, he speaks some powerful words of faith (see 3:20-33). But he certainly knew a great depth of grief. Clearly his pain is for more than his own loss. He feels it intensely for his people and their loss.
While Lamentations is not part of the book of Psalms, its laments resemble psalms of lament. Old Testament scholar Robert W. Neff says that the difference between a complaint psalm and a lament psalm is that one can reasonably expect a complaint to lead to remedial action but that there is no remedy for things lamented. A lament psalm expects no action from God.
Questions: What do you feel about the Christians who have been slain this week for their faith? For the mass of people who died by drowning? What should we do with such feelings? What should such feelings impel us to do?
Regarding news stories like this week's, is a lament the only response? How can you express lament in such a way that those who have lost loved ones know that someone shares their sorrow?
1 Peter 4:12-13
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. (For context, read 4:12-19.)
First Peter was a circulating letter sent to churches in what is today Turkey (1 Peter 1:1). Its purpose was to encourage people in living their Christian faith, especially in a time of sporadic hostility against Christians. The apostle Peter was well aware of that hostility, and it appears that some form of persecution was occurring at the time he composed this epistle. Thus, he spoke to his readers about the "fiery ordeal ... taking place among [them]."
We don't know the details, but whatever the nature of these trials, they were happening to his readers because they were followers of Jesus. Peter didn't write to commiserate with them, but to encourage them to stay faithful no matter what.
Questions: In what ways might we who are not being persecuted for our faith convey these words of encouragement to those Christians whose very lives are under attack these days? What might we say to people whose loved ones died at sea in their flight from violence in their homeland?
Psalm 13:2
How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? (For context, read 13:1-6.)
Psalm 13 is a wail of lament. It starts by asking God, "How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" (v. 1), and it goes on to speak of the pain in the psalmist's soul and the sorrow in his heart (see above). The psalm is only six verses long, but it concludes with an expression of trust in and even rejoicing because of God's steadfast love.
We aren't told that anything actually changes in terms of circumstances between the first and last verses, but the perspective of the psalmist changes: the focus is placed on God's goodness even in the midst of horrors and struggles -- God has not, in fact, "[forgotten us] forever."
Questions: Read the psalm, replacing each instance of "I" with "we" and "me" with "us." Whom are you including in the "we"? What strength, if any, do you draw from knowing that others share in your pain and that you are sharing in another's pain?
1 Thessalonians 5:17
... pray without ceasing ... (For context, read 5:11-22.)
We've stated verses 11-22 as the context for this instruction from the apostle Paul because he says this bit about prayer in the midst of a list of faithful activities he urges upon the Thessalonian Christians. But really, this verse stands by itself, for prayer is not the subject of the context verses. It's almost as if Paul is saying that no matter what happens, followers of Jesus should always be praying.
Indeed, if nothing else, we should be praying often for persecuted Christians in the world today and for those in pain because of great tragedies.
Oswald Chambers said, "We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the difficulties."
Questions: Should we be praying for those doing the persecuting to change? Should we be praying for them to be punished, to "be shattered" (1 Samuel 2:10)? Do you really include your enemies in your prayers?
Can you think of an instance when you drew strength from knowing that members of your family and/or church were praying for you "without ceasing"? Though we often speak of praying without ceasing, how easy do you find it to remember to pray for someone you pledged to support? Do you require a reminder? Is the resolve to pray without ceasing the same as actually doing so?
Romans 13:3-4
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval; for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the servant of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. (For context, read 13:1-7.)
We've said this in The Wired Word before, but for massive problems, we often have to rely on governments to address them because they are beyond the capacity of individuals to do much about. The verses above from Paul offer a rationale for that.
That said, in democracies, we do have a voice in government policies, and we ought to exercise that voice for the common good.
Question: In what ways can we influence policies of our country that impact major problems and terrorism around the world?
For Further Discussion
1. There's a statement usually attributed to Joseph Stalin: "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic." How can we avoid such a view ourselves?
2. The late Fred Rogers, host of the popular children's TV show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, once said, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,' I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers -- so many caring people in this world." Discuss how this applies to today's lesson.
3. Respond to this, heard in a sermon: "So what can we say to all of this darkness? We can say that great affirmation all Christians share: that in Christ, the end is not the end. In Christ, what we call the end is the great beginning of eternity."
Responding to the News
Resolve to pray without ceasing.
Closing Prayer

O God, enable us to grasp the full message of your Word, that we may be better disciples of Jesus Christ. Please be with all who are hurt by oppression, persecution and the atrocious actions of others. Help us to perceive what you want us to do in response to such circumstances, and make us faithful in prayer. In Jesus' name. Amen.