Last week a 21 year old man from my town was arrested while trying to leave the country to join ISIS.
He told a friend that fighting with the Islamic terrorist group would be a “golden opportunity,” and he’s one of our own, a neighborhood kid I could easily have run into at the store, worked out next to at 24 Hour Fitness, stood in line with at Starbucks. And he’d like to kill me.
My family and I are proud and content living in Orange, CA. There’s a strong community feeling here, and though we’re not tiny, we’re closer knit than most places I’ve lived. It’s family friendly and low key; our 23 years in the town have been happy. So it’s revolting to consider someone grew up among us, then quietly embraced a literal reading of Qur’an:9:5: “Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.”
Revolting and bewildering, actually. How could the idea of joining up with monsters to commit monstrosities appeal to this guy? What did they offer him that we didn’t?
Of course he’s responsible for his insanity, not us. Nothing the community did or didn’t do made him decide. But people don’t align themselves with groups like ISIS in a vacuum. There’s something the groups have, something tapping into a human need that’s not always bad in and of itself.
Now evil itself can be inviting to people who’ve got their own demons, for sure, so in cases like that, there’s no legitimate human need being met by joining up. The desire to rape, overpower, and kill finds full expression with ISIS, so if that’s in your heart, then terrorism’s a good fit.
But I’ll bet there’s more to it than that. I’ll bet there’s an appeal to ISIS that’s offered by other crazy sects too, like tightly controlled cults, or extreme factions. They offer something compelling which some people live, die, or kill for it. Three “somethings”, in fact, that deserve our attention.
The Power of Purpose
Extremist organizations, to my thinking, keep it pretty simple when it comes to the “Why are we here?” question. They have clear purpose, usually in the form of a mission, and all parts of their lives are funneled into accomplishing that purpose. We can look at the mission itself – usually something apocalyptic and far-fetched – and laugh, but we shouldn’t. Because while the specifics of the mission may be weird, the need for purpose isn’t. People crave a reason to get up, to get going, to keep at it. That’s one of our fundamental needs.
So basic, in fact, that psychiatrist Victor Frankl, who endured no less than Auschwitz during WWII, noted that among the prisoners laboring under the shadow of the gas chambers, those most likely to survive were the ones who maintained a sense of purpose. His classic Man’s Search for Meaning was based on that premise, and though he didn’t write from a Biblical world view, his book has valuable things to say about the power of purpose.
Say what you like about the craziness of ISIS, they don’t lack meaning. In their world, they’re the good guys, existing to conquer or at least restrain the Infidel bad guys. They know that’s what they’re here for, and their simplicity of purpose drives and energizes them. For many of today’s disaffected aimless types, a mission can seem like an answer to prayer. Granted, the mission’s usually nuts. But the need
is normal.
The Power of Passion
They’re true believers, and their beliefs require something of them. Not just ISIS; all the hyper-controlled, paranoid cults we’ve seen over the decades: Charles Manson’s Family, The Moonies, Robert Applegate and his followers, the Children of God, David Koresh, Jim Jones. All of them collected souls who wanted something bigger than themselves to give themselves to, something to require all their devotion and draw out of them endurance levels they’d never tapped into before.
Belonging to these groups meant long work hours, communal living, loss of individualism – a total body and soul sellout. They didn’t just hold beliefs; they lived and breathed them, passionate about principles, zealous to obey stringent rules, totally given over.
And since we’re born to worship, longing for something bigger than us, is the attraction of an all-consuming lifestyle really so hard to understand? ISIS doesn’t say “Try us out and if you’re not satisfied you get a money back guarantee.” It says “Don’t come if you don’t bring every ounce of your being with you.”
And a young man from a gentle American town responds. Passion has its appeal.
The Power of Partnership
When Vincent Bugliosi wrote Helter Skelter, his best-selling account of the Manson Family case which he prosecuted, he noted that the murderous cult had genuine love for each other.
That sounded obscene considering their behavior, but he had a point: When you’re partnered with other people, all of you sharing the same purpose and passion, you get pretty close. You lean on each other, live and engage together day and night, and develop the comrade’s bond.
All of which answers one of our most primary needs: to belong, to connect, to be known and loved thoroughly. Membership in these groups guarantees intimacy. And the evidence of our need for that, and its absence from so many today, is so overwhelming that it doesn’t need much description.
The Power of Piety
Yet isn’t Christianity, lived out in the truest and fullest sense, able to answer all three? I look again at the descriptions of the Early Church in Acts 2 and I see Purpose, Passion, and Partnering in spades.
Per the Lord’s instructions, the disciples gather, the Spirit fell, the preacher preached, the souls were harvested. And then?
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved. – Acts 2:42-47
It’s all there, isn’t it? The faith isn’t meant to be a really-good psychological approach, of course, and no one should follow Jesus with emotional fulfillment being the main goal. And yet, when we live it out properly, life in the Body of Christ makes pretty darned healthy people out of us. It defines us, ignites us,
binds us together.
So how tragically ironic that a young man would attempt a flight into hell when the genuine article could have been found at the local church!
But then again, we’ve got to ask ourselves if the level of commitment and love we require of ourselves, and each other, is worthy of our legacy.
We’ve done it right before. Jerusalem at Pentecost. The Great Awakening. Azusa Street. The Jesus Movement. It’s all happened, the moving of the Spirit forming the Body which in turn invites believers into a community of passion and purpose.
I see that happening in my church today, and I want more. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. So will we the Church of 2015 pray for the revival and reformation we all hunger for? Will we invest in the genuine with more zeal than poor lost soul’s like this young man invest in the counterfeit?
Or, as Walter Martin used to so aptly say, “Are you willing to do for the truth what the cults are willing to do for a lie?”
Hope you have a wonderful weekend. God bless.
Love,
Joe
