NAVIGATING OUR WAY THROUGH DARKNESS: a Christian response to the Syrian massacres
The death toll from two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 1,000, a war monitoring group said Saturday, making it one of the deadliest acts of violence since Syria’s conflict began 14 years ago.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in addition to 745 civilians killed, mostly in shootings from close distance, 125 government security force members and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with Assad were killed. It added that electricity and drinking water were cut off in large areas around the city of Latakia[1].
Sadly, the devastating news from Syria was quickly seized upon by opportunistic Christian commentators on Social Media who sensationalized the events with graphic videos of beheadings and inflated figures of Christian casualties. Each report seemed to plunge the viewer deeper into darkness, provoking hatred and fear among Western believers. In their relentless quest for sensation, the pursuit of truth was overshadowed, and the essence of a Christ-like response was lost.
Social media fixated on the brutal beheadings, casting doubt on the credibility of sources and the reported fatalities, which ranged from 700 to 4000. Darkness dominated the discourse, with each post amplifying fear and hatred to the point where light was not only unwanted but also ridiculed.
Amid a barrage of opinions, one spiritual principle emerged: The significance of Christianity is not the need to expose darkness but how to navigate our way through darkness.
FIRSTLY, navigating through darkness requires a quantum leap in our perceptions, shifting from victimhood to opportunity. It’s easy to fall prey to self-pity and view the darkness as overwhelming. However, we can choose to embrace it as an opportunity to be light.
One pastor from the frontlines, near Latakia, wrote the following:
“The Church in our city meditated on some of the meanings of this great spiritual occasion. We desire to go to every Syrian family suffering, crying, and doubting – of any faith, sect, religion, or affiliation. The purpose of our existence (as bearers of hope) is to openly heal their wounds. We can all together restore dignity to man and importance to Syria, to build a future worthy of true faith and correct humanity, whatever the wound.”
SECONDLY, navigating through darkness requires that we STOP, LISTEN, AND EVALUATE. Humans have an amazing capability to believe the worst in every situation and then act emotionally. We need to STOP, and listen to those who have gone before. The destruction in Syria is not new. The Church in Syria has been surrounded by darkness for more than 14 years and yet they have not surrendered to hate or hopelessness. LISTEN. Be still and hear the voices of those who proclaim a message of redemption, love, and forgiveness.
During a previous visit we met Sandy, a 23-year-old secretary at a Church in Jaramana, a city that has become one of the hotspots of destruction during the past weekend. She has seen suffering that passed her years of understanding and has witnessed hardships that a young person of her age should not endure. We stood amazed at her maturity and asked an honest but simple question: “Have you ever thought of leaving Syria during the past 14 years?” Her answer literally left us speechless: “When things change for the better I might consider leaving but during the war, we have decided to stay so that we can help people and be the vessels of change that make the difference.”
THIRDLY, navigating our way through darkness will require that we move cautiously. Do not listen to every voice that appears. There will be voices who will proclaim false ways of escaping the darkness, leading you deeper into a void of fear, suspicion, and hatred.
Remember this truth: darkness cannot overcome darkness. Messages of massacres only create more darkness. Those who proclaim to know works of darkness will only lead you on a rabbit trail into depths of hopelessness. Posting videos and pictures of people being killed and decapitated plays firmly in the hands of the enemy.
The one pastor, living in the heat of the war zone, explained to us that they first prayed fervently that the war would stop. “But,” she concluded “today we pray that the Lord will fulfill his purposes through us and that the Lord will use us as His servants in the midst of the war.
FOURTHLY, navigating our way through darkness will require adaptability and resilience. Only when we adapt to new challenges will we be able to be witnesses to Christ. One Pastor said the following: “May our hardships translate into compassion for others. We are people of the cross. We are people who live for the better of our nation. We pray that our lack will never prevent us from being more generous.”
LASTLY, navigating our way through darkness will require Christians to LIGHT A CANDLE. Peter Benenson, the English lawyer and founder of Amnesty International, at a Human Rights Day ceremony on 10th December 1961 coined this quote: “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness”.
Only by lighting a candle will darkness flee. This applies to almost all conditions. There’s plenty of darkness around—fear, suspicion, hatred, ignorance, prejudice—and it’s very tempting to simply observe and curse it. The events in Syria are no different. It’s easy to identify the atrocities and to end up sitting in the dark, cursing on all sides, while anger and hatred build up.
However, lighting a candle requires a moment of awareness and creativity. It demands that we focus on the areas in which we can act – prayer, fasting, solidarity – rather than fixating on the ugly and destructive. If we see darkness, we must also think about the positive alternatives we can offer.
As Christians, we are equipped with an everlasting emergency light—the word of God—which calls us to be messengers of hope and reconciliation.
[1] https://apnews.com/article/syria-alawites-sectarian-killings-coast-assad-hts-610cdee1d5762d3ecb75c700fb7cf5f2