“Kill Them All,
And Let God Sort It Out.”

I heard lately (I think it was on the evening news, but I may have read it somewhere, if so, I’ve forgotten where, so proper acknowledgment is impossible – but I did hear this) that sometimes a soldier who confronted a vicious and murderous enemy in an urban environment, where the enemy had positioned themselves among civilians who were (at least were supposed to be) noncombatants, and the civilians would acquiesce (probably out of fear that they would be the first murdered if they didn’t) when the murderous enemy would plant mines and bombs in the road in front of their house to blow up the good guys, that a soldier confronting this nebulous and ghostly enemy, would be tempted to make a statement like this one. “Kill them all, and let God sort it out.”

It’s a terrible thing when man’s inhumanity to man drives one to even be tempted to think like that: to kill the innocent with the guilty just because the innocent might be actually guilty themselves. The loss of a friend who had no business dying young, the desire for revenge, can make it easier for a human to do things that same human wouldn’t dream of doing in a calmer, more ordered, environment. War is a terrible thing, and that’s an understatement.

The Christian Life is a war too, but of a different sort. What we try to kill is our own evil desires. What we must do to others is love, teach, serve, and forgive.

On that last thought of forgiveness, consider this text:

Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21-22 NKJV).

And now this one, a few lines later:

So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses (Matthew 18:35 NKJV).

The second text follows the parable of the unforgiving servant. Jesus says that if we are unforgiving, like that servant was, that God won’t forgive us. It addresses the importance of forgiveness.

The first text teaches that our forgiveness of others is to be without limit. It addresses the quantity of forgiveness.

Sometimes, in our Christian war, we may be tempted to think that the other guy has committed such a great wrong against us that he doesn’t deserve forgiveness. We may feel that God would judge him severely, so why can’t we?

The thought we began this piece with is a bad one, “Kill them all, and let God sort it out.” But, we can take that same structure, set it in a Christian context, plug in forgiveness: and it becomes a good thought. As far as our personal part in forgiveness is concerned, why don’t we just look at it this way?

“Forgive them all, and let God sort it out.”