A Christian Response to Protests in the Arab World, part 2

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The wave of protests in Egypt goes on and on. The seemingly peaceful protest turned bloody last week as thug-supporters of President Mubarak started to attack the protesters. A family friendly revolution suddenly became a bloody battle for control of Cairo's main Freedom Square.

We can easily get swept away by the excitement of popular uprisings. Our own American revolution was a rebellion against tyranny, and we seem to feel sympathy for what we perceive to be similar revolutions. The revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989 fascinated us. The so-called Orange revolution in Ukraine got lots of press in the US, as did the Rose Revolution in Georgia.

We need to remember, however, that not all popular uprisings lead to governments of our liking. The Iranian revolution resulted in a theocratic dictatorship that has been hostile to the US. African revolutions have tended to be guerrilla movements that simply traded one authoritarian ruler for a different one -- even some that initially had broad public support.

So how do we as Christians respond to the events in Egypt? What do we pray for? Should we get excited or fearful?

I would suggest that we learn to pray the basic items of the Lord's Prayer when it comes to world events like this. Particularly, we should pray "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." We should pray that whatever happens would allow God to reign in the hearts of more and more people.

It's tempting to view things purely the lens of our national interests. We might hear our politicians talk about allies or foreign who protect our national interests. This may or may not coincide with God's will.

It's also tempting to view world events through the lens of sentimentality.We can read the paper or watch the news and get caught up in the excitement of a popular uprising. But it's awfully difficult for us to know what the real situation is on the ground and what would really be best for the future of a given group of people.
When Mao Zedong came to power in China, the West was horrified -- and with good reason. His "popular uprising" led to an unbelievably repressive communist regime. From a human perspective, we would never wish that on any country.

But think of it from a kingdom perspective. The irony is that Christianity has exploded in communist China. Official stats from the Chinese government project that 20% of all Chinese are Christians today. Christian leaders quietly guess that the numbers are more like 40%. Isn't it unbelievable that there are hundreds of millions of Christians in a country that was almost 100% Confuscionist or Buddhist just a century ago?!

So when we pray for the Arab revolts in the Middle East, I would recommend that we pray for God's will to be done and for His kingdom to come more fully here on earth as it will one day be in heaven. And then we wait and watch.

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