Is love useless in the face of brutishness?

May 23, 2017 —Is love useless in the face of brutishness? The recent attack in Manchester again raises the question. When the MOAB (Mother of All Bombs) was dropped in Afghanistan, it was a show of power. Such demonstrations may quell aggression for a moment, but they may also exacerbate the undercurrent of fear and even escalate into other shows of force.

Love, on the other hand, is a power beyond the brute. Christian and Muslim mothers of Liberia, courageously uniting in public protest, put down the civil war in 2003 because they could not tolerate the nation’s sons being destroyed. Their love-motivated actions brought about a new reality for that nation.

Love like theirs has everything to do with the caring divinity that contradicts the man-generated vision of God as judgmental and punishing. It illustrates the all-compassionate God and the practical yet universal love exemplified by Christ Jesus.

It is the Motherhood of God, not bombs, for which the world yearns and has proven a greater power when lived. Divine Love is the only true power and ultimate reality. Nothing naïve. Ask a Liberian.