Jack Bauer, Paul, and the Rescuing of Hostages at PastorBlog

Jack Bauer, Paul, and the Rescuing of Hostages

by Phil Gons on August 15th, 2007

By now I’m sure everyone is aware that 19 South Korean evangelical Christians are being held hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The original number was 23, but 2 have been killed and 2 released.

Ted Olson at the Christianity Today Liveblog noted yesterday the Times Online report that the South Korean government has stopped at least two military operations to rescue the hostages. One of those operations involved plans to kidnap family members of the kidnappers to put pressure on them to release the hostages.

Here’s Olson’s commentary on the thwarted rescue operation:

It’s hard to imagine, even if kidnapping innocents to secure the release of the aid workers had “worked,” that the Christian aid workers would be very pleased. It’s hard to imagine Paul writing to the Corinthians, “When persecuted, we persecute; when kidnapped, we kidnap.”

Sounds like a good, biblical response, right? It fits right along with Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek.

R. Scott Clark (Wikipedia) has a different perspective. Here’s his response to Olson’s comments:

Oh my.

Would the Apostle Paul have cut off anyone’s head? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean that he thought that the civil magistrate shouldn’t do so. In fact, the Apostle taught that the civil magistrate had a duty to bear the sword (Rom 13:4).

The real point here is this: the church is the kingdom of God, the locus of the administration of the covenant of grace. The civil magistrate is not the church, it is not an administration of the covenant of grace. The civil magistracy is an administration of law, of the covenant of works, of the principle “do this and live.”

. . .

We don’t need grace from the magistrate. That’s not his job. We need him to conduct wars and prosecute justice. If one wants grace: go to church, that’s why Christ instituted it as a distinct kingdom.

Read Clark’s whole response.

What do you think? Who’s on target? Olson or Clark?

Update: There’s been a good bit of back and forth between Olson and Clark at the CT liveblog (also here).

Read the original sources:

Times Online: Fear of bloodbath thwarts efforts to rescue hostages
Ted Olson: Freeing Christian hostages the Jack Bauer way
R. Scott Clark: Jack Bauer Doesn’t Work for the Kingdom of God
Ted Olson: Can the state kidnap? Can the church object?
R. Scott Clark: Dialogue with CT’s Ted Olsen Regarding the Two Kingdoms (same content as the above)

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4 Responses to “Jack Bauer, Paul, and the Rescuing of Hostages”

Ted Olsen

Actually, I made some similar points to Clark’s in a recent article (http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/julyweb-only/129-42.0.html).

But I think Clark missed the point of my blog post. I WAS talking about the church rather than the government. The hostages are Christian aid workers. Should we automatically assume that it is the duty of the government to save Christian aid workers and missionaries when they fall into persecution? If we go into dangerous places to fulfill our Great Commission mandate, should we look to Caesar when Jesus’ promise of persecution is fulfilled?

I also think that it is the church should proclaim justice to the civil magistrate, and that Christians should speak against the government taking innocent people hostage, just as I believe that Christians should speak against the government enabling the killing of the innocent unborn. I also think that the church, and Christians in democratic societies, should speak on behalf of their persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.

But I think our witness is damaged when the government takes innocent people hostage in an effort to rescue us from kidnappers. Can there be debate on this point?

Anyway, I e-mailed this to Clark since he apparently doesn’t allow comments on his blog. I hope he responds.

Aug 15th, 2007 5:43 pm
Phil Gons

Thanks for the follow up and clarification, Ted.

I agree that your point concerned the church, rather than the government. But the lines get fuzzy here:

It’s hard to imagine Paul writing to the Corinthians, “When persecuted, we persecute; when kidnapped, we kidnap.”

I think where the confusion came is that your rewriting of Paul suggests a failure to differentiate between the roles of church and state. No one was suggesting that churches persecute in return or kidnap the kidnappers’ loved ones.

I hope Clark responds to your email. I look forward to the further discussion.

Aug 16th, 2007 8:32 am
Ted Olsen

FYI, the conversation has continued:
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2007/08/can_the_state_k.html

Aug 16th, 2007 3:43 pm
Phil Gons

Thanks for the tip, Ted.

Aug 16th, 2007 5:27 pm