WILL SAUDIS FOLLOW OUR WMD FOOTSTEPS?

150510-People fleeing in Sana on Sunday after [Saudi coalition] airstrikes hit the home of Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's former president--photo- Mohamed Al-Sayaghi--Reuters

The May 6, 2015 WSJ headline stated, Saudi Arabian City of Najran Hit by Mortars. This was a minimal reversal, of a concerted bombing campaign by the Saudi coalition supported by the USA, against one of the factions in Yemen {Saudis next door neighbor}, a country already devastated by recurrent war. This threat of mortars flung by desperate people contributes to a Saudi desire just announced, that mirrors similar historical actions taken by the USA, and Israel. Saudi Arabia Considers Nuclear Weapons to Offset Iran, WSJ, May 8, 2015. Will we help our friends the Saudis acquire nuclear bombs, as we did Israel, and this now after having fought a terrible war that persists in Iraq, ostensibly to rid an Arab state of weapons of mass destruction?

The message of the nation states with the deepest pockets: if one doesn't think one is powerful enough to withstand conflicts with other nations, then go get more and bigger weapons. The country with the most lethal armaments wins. Go nuclear, if you have to [that manner of thinking has already brought Iraq, Iran, and even Israel lots of trouble, and is endemic in our own society]. But wins what? The kingdom of God? The all loving, all merciful God sent His Son to say—every violence brings meaningless false victory.

There is no Jesus the Warrior. The Son of God has already won the eternal battle, defeated all evil, with the cross of merciful forgiving love, and not with the sword.

ow do we Christians teach the Middle East world this way of Jesus’ nonviolent love, creative generative work, and respect for all life, if we don’t yet truly believe it?

The richest Arab state, Saudi Arabia, has been bombing the poorest, Yemen. The U.S. bombing Haiti, in our hemisphere, would be comparable. Hearts and minds are never won over by bombs and bullets. Only tough informed negotiation truly ends the carnage. The Saudis will have no more success in Yemen than we did in Iraq, and Libya by proxy. The best they can do is bulldoze over the flaming embers of resentment. We should stop sending them, and all others, weapons. We must go learn what it means, "I desire mercy not sacrifice." Mt. 9:13 East and West, Muslim Jew Christian we've a lot to learn.