TO DIE FOR . . .

There are many reasons I will never run for public office. One reason is that I never stop waffling, and I will never be able to proclaim a stance on some public issue, without also partially, maybe, sometimes, agreeing with the opposite stance, because truly, for real, and not just because I'm indecisive -- I passionately believe that in some things, there's just an awful lot of grey area. In other things, I know what is clearly wrong and right, but I struggle with proclaiming that at somebody, for the purpose of imposing a legal binding upon them. I am still trying to figure out my own role as a Christian Korean-American female attorney who wants to help those who need help but am constrained by my own intellectual, cultural, physical limitations. Please don't ask me to figure anything out for anybody else!

But here's another reason that I will never run for public office ... or rather, that no one will elect me to public office, at least not in this country. I BELIEVE THAT JESUS CHRIST IS THE MESSIAH, THE SON OF GOD, THAT HE DIED ON THE CROSS TO SAVE OUR SINS, THAT HE IS A PERSONAL AND KNOWABLE SAVIOUR, THAT A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM IS GREATER AND MORE LOVING AND MORE SATISFYING THAN ANY RELATIONSHIP EVER IN EXISTENCE, AND THAT HE IS THE ONLY WAY TO GET TO HEAVEN AND TO KNOW GOD. And on top of that, I'll say this, too: YOU CANNOT GO AROUND KILLING PEOPLE FOR BEING CHRISTIANS.

You hear me, Afghanistan?

I shared with some friends yesterday: I have no idea what it is to be persecuted for my faith. Frankly, I only have a vague idea of what such persecution might sound or feel or look like. Even reading the news about this Afghan brother, Abdul Rahman, I feel so detached, and yes, even disbelieving. It's like a movie. I have no concept of religious persecution beyond some curious friends and acquaintances skeptically asking me, "so what EXACTLY do you believe and why?" I know. So persecuted, right?

Hundreds of Muslims in Afghanistan are protesting the potential release of Rahman from custody -- he's on trial for having converted to Christianity sixteen years ago (no statute of limitations on that, I guess), and he faces the death penalty, after all. I guess it's sort of like if in the United States, Judge Brinkema just decided to let Zacarias Moussaoui go free while an investigation into his alleged involvement in 9/11 continued. (But ... forgive me ... I just don't see the comparison.)

I'm a big fan of abiding by the law. I enjoy the legal process. I'm all for political pressure being used to correct wrongs and to guarantee rights. I am the number one fan of the International Bill of Human Rights. But right now, I can forget about all those things, and just react from the gut, from the soul, from the very core of who I am and who I have been made to be: IT IS WRONG TO PERSECUTE OR KILL SOMEONE FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN, FOR BELIEVING IN GOD, FOR LOVING JESUS CHRIST.

It just is.

Rahman says this: "I am serene. I have full awareness of what I have chosen. If I must die, I will die ... Somebody, a long time ago, did it for all of us."

Jesus died because He had to, for you and for me, and for all of creation, for all of eternity. Rahman doesn't have to and it makes my righteous blood boil that he might.