“Whatever you do unto the least of one of these brothers and sisters of mine,
you do unto me.”
(Mt 25:31-46)
For the Christian, the atomic bomb was a Christ-killer. Indeed all weapons are either Christ-killers or intended Christ-killers.
A gun of itself is an inert physical object that can be used for many purposes, as a knife is of itself an inert physical object that can be used for a variety of purposes. A gun or a knife becomes a weapon when it is manufactured for, procured for or used for harming or killing another human being. The Christian who believes Jesus—and if the Christian does not believe Jesus who else will or can be expected to—knows that when he or she by an act of the will turns an inert physical object into a weapon, its purpose is to harm or kill Jesus, who is so united with the intended victim that He says that the merciless act of violence to be done is going to be done to Him (Mt 25:31-46/; Ac 9:4, 22:7, 26:14).
The explosion of the first atomic bomb at Trinity Site in the New Mexico desert, or the second in Hiroshima, or the third in Nagasaki did not happen ex nihilo. Matter—in this case an atom matter—by an act of the human will was turned into a weapon to harm and kill other human beings. Atomic matter, no more than the gun or the knife turned itself into a weapon. Human choice did that. The name under which this choice was executed was The Manhattan Project. In it, human beings, who were welders and carpenter, engineers and electricians, soldiers and scientists, politicians and plumber, all chose to employ their skill-sets to create, to manufacture and to use matter to harm and kill other human beings.
A gun used for skeet shooting, a knife used to peel an apple and atomic explosion used in an experiment to understand how a relatively newly known aspect of material reality operates are in themselves physically and morally innocuous. But all technology and it uses are ultimately an extension of the human being. A telescope or microscope is and extension of the eye. The microphone is an extension of the voice. A bulldozer is the extension of the hand and arm digging and lifting. Every piece of technology can be weaponized, that is it can, by human choice, be turned into an extension of the fists and arms of Cain. 70 years ago today, on July 16, 1945, atomic matter became an extension of the firsts and arms of Cain. The atomic bomb became a Christ-killer.
Atomic matter did not choose that course, that direction for its use, no more than Cain’s hands or arms choose to kill Abel. That came from some compassionless, invisible, charnel chamber within the human being that with the cooperation of the human being can release tsunamis of its rot into the human mind and heart, turning the human being into its human agent for flooding humanity with more brands of death, evil and suffering than human beings could ever anticipate or even imagine.
The July 16, 1945 atomic bomb explosion was unique because it was the first weapon of its kind. It was not unique because when employed it was the first time human beings had killed so many other human beings in one day. The fire bombings of March 9,1945 of Tokyo and February 13, 1945 of Dresden both killed more human beings than did the atomic bomb in Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It was unique because it possessed the potential to destroy all human life on the planet by direct detonation coupled with subsequent radiation poisoning.
But whether it is the fist that killed Abel, the stone that killed Goliath, the crucifixion that killed Christ or the atomic bomb that killed 60,000 Japanese in Nagasaki, the seemingly intractable rotted and rancid spirit motivating each act of homicidal violence is not of God and can never be of God. It is the always destructive, never Holy Spirit of the Evil One. How do I know? The Jesus of the Gospels told me so!
“Why do you not understand what I say? Satan was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.”
(Jn 8: 43-45)
A spirit and a truth, control the decisions on how matter will be utilized by a human being(s). However, a spirit and a truth that a person or people do not know are a spirit and a truth they cannot employ. The spirit and truth they do know are the spirit and truth for which they will become an agent and apply in the human situation.
Do not hand a gun, or a knife or any other matter to a human agent of the one(s) who was “a murderer and liar from the beginning,” because, for as sure as the Gospel, he or she or they will turn it into a Christ-killing weapon, even if it as small as an atom.
How to rid the human heart and mind and condition of this rotten and rancid spirit is beyond me personally. Jesus in the Gospels says He knows the Way and has the power and wisdom to do it. But why believe Him, especially if He is directly contradicting the politicians, philosophers, media pundits and prelates regarding the Way to do it?
