Wilfred Owen was a poet, commissioned by the Manchester Regiment in the first world war. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery and was tragically killed one week before the end of the war. His poetry is passionate, written against the evils of the Great War, and I have copied part of one of his poems below. The “long black arm” is the barrel of the .303 gun:
Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm, Great gun towering t’ward Heaven, about to curse; Reach at that arrogance which needs thy harm, And beat it down before its sins grow worse; But when thy spell be cast complete and whole, May God curse thee, and cut thee from our soul,
The poem speaks of the necessary evil of death. He says that sometimes it is necessary, but in the end it needs to be destroyed.
However, was Owen’s wish futile? Wars continue. It appears there will always be arrogance that needs harm; evil will be necessary: at least, it always has been, and no social indicators point to any change in the near future. Does God have an answer to Owen?
In the Bible (and in the world!), “death” is the great evil. And it came into the world through sin. You might say that God tolerates this evil in order to judge us. But he also tolerates it in order to save us! Without a death, sin could not be paid for. The great news today is that Jesus has passed through death to redeem us, and exterminate this great evil forever. The ramifications of this are far and wide. Thank God and place your confidence in our Lord Jesus who has won the greatest war. ( Andrew)