TEN WAYS 9/11 VIOLATED GOD’S MORAL LAW

Today, we remember all those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001, and the loved ones who survive them. We pray God's greatest comfort for those who still bear the terrible scars of that day, physically and emotionally. We ask the Lord of Life to fill the emptiness left by the sudden and painful departure of treasured friends and loved ones.

As I reflect on my own experience on September 11 and the days following, I am struck by how profoundly evil the machinations of the terrorists were. In fact, it took 9-11 to reintroduce the word "evil" into the American lexicon.

Polls have consistently shown Americans believe in God and heaven by an overwhelming majority. The numbers are usually in the high 90th percentile. Yet, at the same time, most Americans dismiss the idea of Hell and the Devil. On September 11, though, we were left with no other explanation for what had happened. At a loss for words, it seemed when anyone was asked what the meaning of such a thing could be, they stammered until they found the right tag: It was just plain evil.

Sadly, it takes a grotesque act as barbarous as the 9/11 attacks to snap us out of our Pollyanna worldview and wake us up to reality. The deliberate, premeditated, intentional mass murder of thousands of innocent children, women and men epitomizes the complete violation of God's moral law for the Universe. Once again, the exception proves the rule: 9/11 couldn't have been evil unless an absolute Good truly exists. The Bible says that the Law of God is written upon our hearts. Somehow, even the most irreligious among us know this heinous act contradicted that often ignored Law.

There was no gray, moral fuzziness about what the terrorists and their accomplices did in 2001. They raised an angry fist in the face of God and His Holy Law. In fact, in less than one hour, the world-wide terrorist machine managed to violate virtually every one of the Ten Commandments:

"I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD . . . YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME."

The terrorists began by effectively declaring themselves to be God by deciding among themselves, over a long period of time, who would live and who would die. In short, they played God. This was the original satanic sin. It was Lucifer who declared that he would exalt himself above God. He would later seduce Eve in the Garden by whispering, "You shall be like God." The terrorists did that when they took into their own hands the power of life and death.

"YOU SHALL NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF A CARVED IMAGE . . . YOU SHALL NOT BOW DOWN TO THEM OR SERVE THEM."

But they didn't stop there. Bin Laden and his sycophants engaged in the most blatant idolatry by employing their own self-centered hatred and resentment as the motive for killing. In a sense, they practiced human sacrifice, offering their victims to appease themselves.

"YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD IN VAIN . . ."

Furthermore, to do this in the name of God obliterated the Commandment against taking the Lord's name in vain. To invoke the name of God for an act so morally reprehensible and illegitimate is the height of hubris.

"REMEMBER THE SABBATH . . ."

Even the rule of the Sabbath was atrociously violated that fateful day. By resting after He created mankind, God reminds us in the Sabbath that we are created in His image. That fact alone demands the utmost respect for human life. What the terrorists did on September 11, 2001, brutishly desecrated human dignity and mutilated God's magnificent handiwork.

"HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER . . ."

More than 400 profoundly sad children left in the aftermath of the terrorists' campaign of horror flies in the face of the Commandment to honor mother and father. This edict is aimed at keeping together the bond of mother-father-children. To rip a child from her parents is to take away the earthy prefigurement of the Heavenly Father. To take a child from a parent is worse than bestial. The violent tearing of the family is irreparable. It is a lifelong wound to the very soul of a child and the heart of a parent.

"YOU SHALL NOT MURDER"

Little needs to be said about the terrorists and their total disregard for the Sanctity of Life. The Commandment against murder can be best rendered from the original language as, "No willful taking of innocent human life." Only God gives life and only He can say when and how it is to be ended. The terrorists ignored the Author of Life and decided for themselves to target even the most innocent among us--even tiny children in day care centers!

"YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY"

And could what the terrorists did on 9/11 include breaking the code against adultery? You bet it does. Adultery protects the deepest earthly covenant, marriage, because marriage reflects the highest spiritual covenant between God and man. Adultery refers to the "adulteration," or polluting of those covenants. The Bible refers to the worship of false Gods as whoredom. The terrorists went whoring after angry gods made in their own images. Nothing is more purely adulterous than that.

"YOU SHALL NOT STEAL"

And, in taking so many lives, the terrorists stole what is most precious: The pleasure and security of companionship with our loved ones, the exchange of feelings, knowledge, opinion, humor, sympathy, empathy and physical touch. Children left without protectors, mentors, or disciplinarians; spouses left without their soul-mates; employees left without bosses; bosses left without employees; friends lost friends; cities and businesses lost every kind of worker and professional; even skylines were emptied of architectural icons.

Plenty of stealing took place on 9/11. The worst of the evidence occurs in the everyday events of life: empty chairs at dinner tables, empty seats at ball games, empty doorways on school mornings. The absence of these treasurers is excruciating to think about. Added to all of this, the terrorists stole the innocence of our young people and for all of us, our sense of security and well-being.

"YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS . . ."

False witness goes without saying. The essence of this Commandment is knowingly making a false accusation against the innocent. The terrorists accused as infidels school children, babies in strollers, pregnant moms, a mentally retarded kitchen worker, office clerks, firefighters, grandmas and grandpas, and countless other innocent people. Then, they meted out an egregiously unjust sentence of death by crushing, dismemberment and burning. Unthinkable.

"YOU SHALL NOT COVET . . ."

Finally, the mass murderers of 9/11 coveted what wasn't theirs to have. They wanted victory for their self-serving cause of terror, repression and vindictiveness. No one would legitimately give these miscreants what they demanded, so they took it with fury and cruelty on an unimaginable scale. As those who covet pursue the morally impossible, murder is employed as the only available means to achieve their craven ends.

This fifth anniversary of the attacks on 9/11, I give the only award ever granted for those who managed in one grand act to violate everything moral, everything good, everything godly. The plaque is cast in black and inscribed in blood red for the diabolical and dastardly way in which their deeds were done. The recipients can take it to Hell with them and show it off to Nero, Vlad the Impaler, Pol Pot, Stalin and Hitler, and whoever else down there may admire it.

But on the brighter side, I give the "Wonderful Works of God Award" to the selfless firefighters, police and rescue workers, soldiers, sailors and airmen, public officials and private citizens who reached out to help family, friends and fellow Americans in their grief and suffering. Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13 NKJV) And John the Apostle urged, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7 NKJV)

Here's to those who preached these texts better through their deeds on 9/11 than any of us pulpiteers have done in a lifetime through our words!