Founded on Lies

“One of the deadliest con jobs of our time.” (Source: Yahoo! News) That’s what CBS News tagged the claim that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction or WMDs. Based “on information that came from an Iraqi defector code-named ‘Curveball’… [about Saddam Hussein’s alleged] secret biological weapons program” (ibid) the Bush Administration waged a war against Iraq that “led to over 100,000 deaths.” (Ibid) However, in an exclusive interview with The Guardian newspaper, Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi a.k.a. “Curveball” now confesses that he lied about the WMDs when he sought asylum in Germany. He is unrepentant: “Maybe I was right, maybe I was not right… They gave me this chance. I had the chance to fabricate something to topple the regime. I and my sons are proud of that and we are proud that we were the reason to give Iraq the margin of democracy.” (Ibid) He even justifies his lie by claiming that, “Believe me, there was no other way to bring about freedom to Iraq… There were no other possibilities.” (Ibid) That’s simply a shallow the-end-justifies-the-means argument. One bitter comment summed it well: “So much lives have been wasted all because of lies of a person. I’m not really sure if one can say that the freedom the Iraqis now enjoy is really worth all the innocent lives sacrificed for it’s sake.”(Ibid) No doubt the soldiers went to the Iraq war out of an honorable sense of duty, sacrificing life and limb. No question that Hussein’s dictatorial regime has to be brought down. But the recent peaceful protest that forced out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak proves Al-Janabi wrong. There were other ways to free Iraq.

When I read that, I thought of the countless lives sacrificed in the name of Christianity. But it is not a waste because our faith is not founded on a lie. The Apostle Paul argued, “And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain… Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Corinthians 15:14, 18-20a, ESV). Thus the Good News is really worth all the lives poured out to share it with others. “Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that your work isn’t wasted in the Lord.” (v. 58. ISV)

Brethren, we have a sure foundation for our faith.

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