God Will Not Protect You
No one, including Christians, can escape tragedy.
The year 1983 is an important one for anyone who was alive at that time. The last of the original Star Wars trilogy, The Return of the Jedi was released. Michael Jackson’s Thriller was burning up the charts as it released hit after hit. On a personal note, 1983 was the year I entered high school. I became a teenager in the fall of 1982, but adolescence really began as I entered the halls of my high school. Adulthood was not too far away.
It was also the year the world could have ended.
The year 1983 saw relations between the United States and the Soviet Union at their lowest level since the Cuban Missile Crisis 20 years before. A number of events led placed the two superpowers down a dangerous path. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev died in the fall of ’82, replaced by Yuri Andropov. In September the Soviets shot down Korean Air 007 as it strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all on board. Within the Politburo there were those who were sure that America was planning a first strike on the Soviet Union. There were several flashpoints that could have begun a nuclear conflagration that year, but none brought us closer to the brink than Able Archer.
Able Archer was a joint NATO exercise that simulated a conflict with the Warsaw Pact that culminated in the release of nuclear weapons, or as Matthew Broderick’s character says in War Games, global thermonuclear war. There were a few components of the exercise that made the Soviets believe this was a pretext for war; coded communication and radio silence. Heads of government like then-President Reagan were supposed to take part, but no head of government took part. That’s probably a good thing, because if they had you and I might not be sitting here right now. The Soviets were so spooked they had placed their armed forces on alert with the Soviet 4th Air Army loading nukes on planes in anticipation of a nuclear attack. All the while, no one in the West realized that we were stumbling towards what could have been the accidental start of a nuclear war. For whatever reason, the Soviets did not press the nuclear button.
But even if we in the West weren’t aware of Soviet paranoia, it might have been because we were so fixated on the threat of nuclear war. Talk to someone from Generation X and you will learn how we thought a lot about nuclear war and if we would make it to adulthood. Hollywood provided us with “entertainment” that reflected our atomic fears with the movie War Games and the television movie The Day After which allowed Americans to see what a nuclear conflict with Russia would look like. Long story short, not good.
Looking back at the year 1983, I was a nervous wreck when it came to nuclear war. I was freaked out about The Day After. I finally told myself a noble lie: I said that God wouldn’t put Christians through such a horror. It was totally untrue, but it also put my mind at ease, somewhat. I was able to get on with life and not fear being vaporized by a nuke.
But a lie is still a lie. Christians have died because of persecution or war. They weren’t spared because they were believers. In fact, they were more likely to face horrors like losing their lives, not less.
When the war in Ukraine started last February, the specter of nuclear has returned from a three-decade nap. News reports early talked about how the war could go nuclear, and late last there were fears that Russian President Vladamir Putin could order the use of “lower yield” tactical nukes on the battlefield or release a “dirty bomb.” Every time the West sends more weapons Kyiv-bound, someone at the Kremlin is saying this brings us closer to mushroom clouds over Washington and Moscow.
Meanwhile, the aftermath of January 6 has opinion writers wondering how long American democracy will survive. How does this end?
Where the crisis in American democracy might be headed, says Vox. 6 in 10 Americans say U.S. democracy is in crisis as the ‘Big Lie’ takes root, NPR responds. Trump’s Next Coup Has Already Begun, the Atlantic warns in a special issue. As we near the 1-year anniversary of the Insurrection at the US Capitol, there is a lot of worry about how the 2024 Presidential election could set a constitutional crisis in motion that could lead to a weakening or collapse of our democratic governance.
Just like I tried to rationalize the clear and present danger of nuclear war, it would be easy to tell myself that such a thing as the future of democracy in America won’t happen, it very well could. Or we might enter a period of sustained political violence. Either way, bad things might be headed this way and we might not be able to escape it. Following God doesn’t exempt you from experiencing bad things. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus talks to his disciples about two events, an act of state-sanctioned violence and a random accident. Were these bad people that received their just fate? Jesus says “no.” Life happens and a lot of times, it is not because the people did anything. A tornado strikes a city. A plane crashes minutes after taking off. A mine collapses. Life can end in a moment and we don’t know when it might happen. But Jesus also stresses that we should live our lives with a sense of urgency, turning from ways that hurt others and God and towards things that heal.
In another part of the Bible, we meet a man named Job who loses everything, including his children. He did nothing wrong to deserve this. Being a God-fearing man didn’t protect him from tragedy. Even though he was angry at God, he never lost faith in God during this time of extreme loss.
The thing is, the odds that we will face some kind of calamity are not zero. Our grandparents and great-grandparents faced war, persecution, racism, and other horrors. They were not protected from the horrors of this world because of our faith. Indeed, sometimes our faith makes such horrors even more possible. For reasons we don’t understand, God is not able to protect us from disaster, but God does promise to be with us in times of tragedy. God does not just step back and say we are on our own. God is with us.
In September of 2021, on the 20th anniversary of September 11, writer Tim Alberta wrote a moving story about his cousin, Glenn. In 2001, Glenn was the general manager of Windows on the World, the restaurant atop the World Trade Center. On September 11, 2001, Glenn was running late to work. He wasn’t in the building as two planes hit the two towers of the World Trade Center. Glenn watched as his workers broke windows to wave tablecloths. He knew at that moment that his workers were going to die. The rest of the article is about Glenn having to pick up the pieces of his life as he mourned the employees and friends lost on that day. He was not protected from tragedy. He had to live in the aftermath of such a great loss. Over the last 20 years, he has tried to live his life again, but it hasn’t been easy. We can’t ride above tragedy. We can’t ride above its effects. But as a Christian, I know that God is with us no matter what and I know that God’s justice will prevail even if I die.
I was wrong to think I could be protected from nuclear war. I don’t think I can be protected from civil war or political strife. But I know that God is here and with me. It may not seem like much, but in the end, it is everything.