Fighting Evil

Like many, I'm a big fan of JRR Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" saga, both the books and the movies. And like many of you, I could go on-and-on about my favorite passages or scenes, share personal reflections on their meaning, and debate interpretations. In fact, our family is currently watching the movies again now, and there is one thing that continues to stand out for me: the orcs are really bad fighters. We shouldn't be too hard on them, they have many physical impediments, inter-personal communication problems, and family-of-origin issues. Even so, they are a bit more advanced than the Storm Troopers, who could not hit the broad side of barn with their laser guns. Maybe we'll be treated to a sequel featuring a battle between the two.

It seems right to kill orcs; they are bad, they are not human, and they do not illicit empathy from most us. So it seems easier for me to navigate the heroic battle scenes without getting too squeamish.

But we are uneasy ground. "Evil" isn't abstract. Evil is made concrete in people who do evil things. And when the Messiah returns at the end of the age to triumph eternally over "evil," real people—not orcs—are objects of His vengeance.

The drama of persecution, suffering, and deliverance is not something we face on an epic scale in Annapolis. But we are a part of the Body of Messiah, and we know that our brothers and sisters elsewhere are facing such things.