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Kill + Heal
A time to kill and a time to heal…

One man refused to carry a weapon, the other willingly embraced violence in order to protect the innocent – who can say who was right?

By Kent Kingston.

 

Meet Sam Childers. In many ways he’s about as different from Hacksaw Ridge’s Desmond Doss as you can imagine. In other ways, he’s remarkably the same.

Sam Childers is a patriotic American from the backwoods of Pennsylvania. After a misspent youth and young adulthood of drugs, violence and crime, he began to reform his lifestyle, worried that if he kept on with the way he was going, he’d soon be dead. Following his wife back to the Baptist faith of her childhood, Sam became a committed believer himself, even taking to the pulpit at times.

The story could’ve ended there, with Sam approaching old age gracefully as his construction business prospered, his porch rocking chair surrounded by adoring grandchildren. But a church mission trip to Sudan changed all that. Confronted by the violence and suffering he saw there and sensing clear direction from God, Sam sold his business and began a lifelong campaign to rescue the war-traumatised children of what is now South Sudan. Together with local and overseas supporters, Sam built an orphanage that has fed and housed more than 1000 children over the years. He also began to mount armed expeditions to rescue children kidnapped by Joseph Kony’s brutal terrorist group, the Lord’s Resistance Army.

Yes. Armed expeditions. That’s how Sam Childers differs from the thousands of other humanitarians who have devoted their lives to relieving poverty and suffering in developing countries. And in contrast with the political wariness of most foreign aid workers, Sam became quite friendly with a number of southern rebel militiamen, who accompanied him as he willingly shouldered an AK-47 on his rescue missions.

And so the legend of the Machine Gun Preacher was born — and the film. Like Desmond Doss, Sam’s story has been immortalised on the silver screen, with Gerard Butler (Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life, Phantom of the Opera, 300) in the lead role.

Two men. Both patriotic Americans. Both claiming the call of God prompted their lifesaving work in warzones. But while one man refused to carry a weapon, the other has willingly embraced violence in order to protect the innocent.

The contrast between these two brave men poses all kinds of questions. Which of them made the right choice in relation to violence? Did one or the other of them get their message from God garbled? Were their missions really a result of divine calling or just overactive imaginations? Can we realistically explain their consistently selfless actions without some kind of otherworldly guidance?

“For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven,” said Solomon, king of ancient Israel and reputedly the wisest man who ever lived. “A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal…”

Sobering words, and not ones to be taken lightly, considering the violence that has been done, and is still being done, by those marching under the banner of religion or freedom or national pride. What’s your answer? Is there “a time to kill”?

 

Meet Desmond Doss: The early years
Desmond Doss showed courage and conviction even in his early years

The unwavering faith and conviction Desmond demonstrated on the battlefield was not new – he showed those traits his whole life, even in his earliest years.

By Natalia Grobler.

 

Desmond Doss (7 February, 1919 to 23 March, 2006) was born in Virginia, USA. He grew up with a mother devoted to God and a despondent father devoted to alcohol. It was his mother who fostered Doss’ faith and inspired him to develop his unique identity that set him apart from his peers from an early age.

His greatest defining moment was the night his father and uncle were fighting while drunk. Desmond’s father pulled out a gun pointing it at his uncle. His mother bravely stepped between the two, demanding that he hand over the weapon.  The confrontation resulted in her securing the gun and passing it to Desmond, who she urged to run and hide it. Following this incident, Doss determined that he would never again hold another gun.

Ironically, it was Desmond’s father who was responsible for acquiring The Ten Commandments poster that was prominently displayed in the family home. It was the command not to kill that had a profound impact on Desmond. This was illustrated with Abel lying dead on the ground while his brother Cain loomed over him, club in hand. Desmond’s brother was his best friend and he could not comprehend how Cain had intentionally killed his own brother. Doss took this personally and an impression was embedded in his mind, “Desmond, if you love me you will not kill.”

This was the background that helped to define Doss’ character inspiring such unwavering faith and conviction. These were the building blocks that would certainly help Doss later withstand intense rejection and ridicule in order to fulfill God’s purpose for his life — a purpose that Doss, himself, could hardly have imagined.

What Hacksaw Ridge teaches us about doing good
Doss was an “even-better Samaritan” who intentionally placed himself in places of danger

Doss was an “even-better Samaritan” who intentionally placed himself in places of danger, discomfort and personal cost to serve others.

By Nathan Brown.

 

Desmond Doss wanted to serve. As he himself said, he was wrongly described as a conscientious objector; instead he was a conscientious co-operator, only labelled as a “conscientious objector” by a system that wasn’t sure what to do with him.

The rights and wrongs of such an attitude in the context of war and military service is a worthwhile debate, but not one that Doss gave much time to. Instead, he simply chose to serve — his God, his men and his country, in that order and in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable.

In following the teachings of Jesus as a guiding principle of his life and faith, Doss’s story of service demonstrates what it might look like to live in response to what Jesus described as the most important laws of life: “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40, NLT).

In Luke’s telling of the story, discussion of these two great commandments led into the well-known story of the Good Samaritan (see Luke 10:30–37). And, in a sense, Doss was a typical “good Samaritan,” an unlikely helper and hero who overcame prejudice and the temptations to not care, particularly about those who had mocked and bullied him.

But it can be argued that Doss was an “even-better Samaritan” who intentionally placed himself in places of danger, discomfort and personal cost to serve those who needed the care he could give.

Whatever our circumstances, the twin call to “love God” and “love our neighbour” is not about conjuring nice feelings, but serving, intentionally and practically, and doing good wherever and however we are able. It might not win us a Medal of Honor, but it is the faithful response to a much higher law.