A Self-reflective Reflection On Anders Behing Breivik

I appreciated the comments and reflections of my friend Mark Keown on his blog Dr Mark K on the tragic massacre in Norway and its perpetrator  Anders Behing Breivik. Like Mark my heart and my prayers go out to the families of these teenagers killed by this mad man and to a shocked and mourning nation. As a small Nation at the other end of the world who feel as isolated and safe from the terrorism, I share the shock and the anxiety that it could be us.
As a christian, like Mark, my first response is to distance myself from this atrocity and this man who in a very weird manifesto talks of wanting to protect Christian Europe from Islamic incursion and left wing thinking. As one student here said there is no way a man who calls himself a christian could do such a thing, We are called as a people to show the love and grace that Jesus showed us and well love even those who others see as our enemies. It is sad to see racism and the echo of Nazism and extremism massacred as Christianity even if it is only cultural Christianity (and that may be the problem).

However I can't separate myself from this man... relax I'm not about to run amok... rather after so recently having posted a series of messages on the book of Jonah (Part 1, Part2, Part 3, Part 4) . I just had to reflect like the Jews do on Kom Kippur... "I am Jonah". What limits do I put on God's compassion for others. What limit do I put  on showing the compassion God has shown to me. How do I reflect the racial and societal stereotypes and barriers of my age, country and ethnic group and even defend them even irrationally by faith.  I joined a online community on September 12th 2001 which of course was 9?11 in the US and it was hard to hear Christian people full of anger and grief and shock calling for revenge and postulating the language of war even..dear I say it ... holy war. It is hard to hear and see  in New Zealand underlying racism even at a systemic level.

As Psalm 139 ends its beautiful prayer

 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.