The Quest for Profits: What Role Do We Have in the Rise & Fall of People and Countries?

            I read a lot of different style of books, techno-thrillers, urban fantasy, traditional fantasy, science fiction, detective/mystery and some westerns.  I have even been known to read a romance novel or two especially if I do not realize it is one when I pick it up.  One of these romance books I accidently picked up because I thought it was a techno thriller, and it was more so than a romance, was called “Crimson Code” by Rachel Lee.  It is not a bad read, and it has some unique ideas.  One of the more interesting ideas is the idea that there has been a group of people around the world who are more interested in power and money than they are in ethics and morality.  This group of people instigate and manipulate people and nations into hot and cold wars so weapons can be sold, stocks can be raised, pawns can be moved into positions, etc.  This group is centuries old and familial.  What really piqued my interest was the idea that people would be willing to start wars, use blackmail, and resort to assassinations to make more money.  I have often wondered if there are groups who do try to do these things or who, maybe not manipulating nations into war, put profits before people.  Before you say there isn’t, or I am into conspiracy theories let me ask you a few questions.

            How often have you heard about criminal groups using violence and fear to enlarge their territories or make more money?  What about multi-national companies who move to other countries to avoid the environmental, labor, or safety laws?  What is the primary responsibility of corporations?  Are we complicit in any way to the rise and fall of people or countries?  As we look to make money do we contribute to any of the other subjects we have talked about recently-human trafficking, immigration concerns, etc?

            This morning we will continue our series on the Church, personal holiness and social holiness and will be looking at money, business, and the quest for profits.  Specifically we will look at how the quest of money can impact not just the quest seeker, how the quest for money interacts with other social holiness issues, and how we all are players in the rise and fall of nations.  IF we have time we will talk about how money does not necessarily solve all of our problems.

            First of all let me state a few things:  1) Business is in business to make money, 2) Scripture does not say money is evil, 3) Scripture does show rich people are loved by God and can be saved by faith in Jesus just as a poor person can.  At the same time we hear in Scripture that it can be very difficult for a rich human being to enter the kingdom of heaven to the point Jesus says in Matthew it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  This is most likely because people who have riches or many possessions put their trust in what they have and not in Jesus.  It could also be they are scared  or do not desire to pay the price to be a follower of Jesus which is to be willing to give up all to serve Jesus.  Remember the rich young man in       who wanted to follow Jesus but could not because he was not willing to give all up to be a disciple.

            I also want to say that compared to many in the world each and every one of us in this room today is incredibly rich.  Even the poorest of the poor in this country often have more than other world citizens. 

            There is a theory called “Six Degrees of Separation” and a game called “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”.  The idea of the Kevin Bacon game is that an actor through their work can be linked to Kevin Bacon within 6 moves.  The “Six Degrees of Separation” is a theory that people anywhere can be linked within 6 moves.  For many people this is true, and it shows the interconnectedness of our world.  In the world of money and social holiness there are similarities as well in the interconnectedness between issues of social holiness and the quest for money.

            In the quest for money people will often go to great lengths to gain it.  For some it may be being a mule and carrying drugs for a drug runner.  Others will lie, cheat and steal to get into positions to make money.  Still others will abuse the image of God, and this is how the interconnectedness comes into play with other social holiness issues.  There are those who traffic in human beings who beat and tear down the individuals so that others may use them.  There are those who use slave labor to keep costs down.  People immigrate and some employers will hire them knowing they will take lower wages or with the belief they can defraud them of their wages  We need to remember that all people are made in the image of God, and when we mistreat the image of God we mistreat God himself. 

            The mistreatment of the image of God may not always take place with strangers when the love of money is involved.  I understand there are times when people have to work over-time-it may be a busy time at work, emergencies come up, fields have to be plowed, crops have to be gotten in before the weather turns bad.  However, there are those who consistently let work and the chasing of the almighty dollar take precedence over their marriage, their kids, and other relationships.  As I follow the news on the millineal and X generations what I see is a group who are trying not to lose themselves in work.  They are, in a way, rebelling against the demands of jobs and careers that demand allegiance to the employer before allegiance to the family.  They are the generation who does not want to have their kids grow up like the kid did in Harry Chapin’s “The Cat’s in the Cradle”

            And, while we have not dedicated a Sunday to it, there is the issue of stewardship of the environment.  In the passage we read today from Genesis not only do we here about humanity being in the image of God but humanity was given dominion over the Earth.  This dominion is more along the lines of being stewards of it much like the stewards of Gondor in Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy were entrusted with the throne until the king returned.  How often have you seen, heard, or read about companies moving to other states or other countries because the environmental regulations are laxer or non-existent?  This is either to save money or maximize profits.  Often the price that is paid is years in the making.

            So what we can see from all of this is that it is difficult for us to focus just on one issue of social holiness because they are connected to each other.  I would say that the love of money might be the common factor or primary cause of most of the social holiness issues we face.

            So how are we responsible for the rise and fall of people and nations?  Directly we probably are not, but because of our lifestyles and our nation’s choices we have an effect on people throughout the world.  We want cheap oil so we will support regimes who are friendly to our nation even though rights endowed by our Creator are quashed or non-existent.  We want higher stock returns on our investments so we do not care if there are laxer standards or items we would not want in our backyard are built someplace else.  We often are ignorant or turn a blind eye to what is going on as long as we get our money.  If companies move we don’t ask for them to treat their employees as we would want to be treated or for them to follow the same/best environmental rules. 

            What can we do?  We can understand that we do have some culpability in the rise and fall of people.  We can also make it a point to re-order our priorities where God and then family comes before the job, career, and the dollar.  When it comes to other people we need to remember that our choices when it comes to the quest for profit or the dollar does impact them.  It may be indirectly through corporations or directly by missing much in their lives. 

            Money is essential to the running of our society.  It is not evil, and there is nothing wrong with having it.  It is when we begin to love money that we begin to get into trouble.  The money changers and the priests in the temple probably had let their love for money over ride the Lord’s desire for the temple area to be a place of worship.  The commerce was not always honest and it distracted those who came to worship God and could not go further into the temple.  Is your love for money distracting you or others from worshipping your Savior?

Outcomes in Search of a Report: Reaction to Ministry Commission Report 2-2011

            I am a United Methodist licensed local pastor who eventually hopes to be both an associate member and an ordained elder in the denomination.  As such I try to follow the news items that deal with ordination and ministry.  Recently there has been a report issued by The Study of Ministry Commission and/or General Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM) with recommendations for the General Conference to examine and vote on at the 2012 General Conference being held in Tampa, Florida.  Today as I looked at the news release and read the items the links led me to I had a range of reactions.

            A few of the recommendations are not so bad such as separating ordination and full conference membership or trying to educate and build up the different ministry orders.  Some didn’t illicit much of a response, and several just made my blood pressure rise.  I also believe that some of the recommendations, while couched in “reality”, are included out of fear or desire to make things easier for those in supervisory positions.  And, if what I saw where the links took me is the totality of the report, I am irate as there is nothing new.  Instead it is a re-hash of many news bites and previous reports but it now seemingly bears the seal of approval of the GBHEM.  To me it comes across as the outcomes were in need of meetings to be approved.

            Some of the more onerous items:

1.  Local, licensed pastors are still treated as second class citizens even if they continue onto associate membership.  Associate membership is essentially a glorified local pastor who agrees to itinerancy, and currently, is guaranteed an appointment in the annual conference.  They are not allowed to practice ministry to the world as they are licensed to the community.  When they retire they are stripped of their ministerial authority and privileges.  There is no discussion about ordaining associate members or doing away with the probationary period if the associate member applies for full connection and ordination as an elder.  Even though an associate member has completed extensive educational requirements and served at least two years or the equivalent of in full time appointments and often many more, and agrees to live in the itinerancy system the requirements to become an elder from associate membership are the same as someone who is just graduating from seminary.  I also believe there is some educational snobbery involved in the recommendation in keeping the associate membership category and encouraging LPs to become AMs.  The reason for my thinking is that many see the Course of Study (COS) as being inferior to actually going to seminary.  Notice in the report there is no push for LPs or AMs to be ordained even after completing the educational requirements.

2.  The call for the elimination of the “guaranteed” appointment.  Pure and simple this is a reaction out of fear couched in the terms of reality.  If we were out making disciples and winning souls for Christ then this would not be an issue.  There is also no talk in the report what so ever about ineffective churches or supervisors (district superintendents and bishops).  Bishops and district superintendents are still members of the Order of Elders.  The blame for the denomination not meeting its missional goals is laid solely at the feet of the pastors who are serving faithfully in the local congregations.  There is little or no discussion on how or why pastors become ineffective, how to support those who are in difficulty, or the issue that there may be other factors involved that are not church related that are making a pastor seem ineffective. 

Once again a report coming from a General Board or a group commissioned by the General Conference calls for effective pastors but fails to define what an effective pastor is.  The report calls for limited, standard fitness standards and then leaves it up to the annual conference and Boards of Ordained Ministries to define effective.  This might be acceptable, but it does not take into account the difference between each appointment, the fact many times the DSs do not know the whole story or dynamics in a congregation, or the fact that it opens the door to having many different missions in the denomination.  It potentially has the ability to make it more difficult for pastors to transfer from one annual conference to another by having different definition of what is effective, i.e. one annual conference may insist that to be effective a pastor has to be in a certain type of ministry while a minister who is led to go the geographic area of the annual conference may not be able to participate in good conscience thus limiting the effectiveness of ordination to the world.

            I also believe doing away with the guaranteed appointment will hinder the prophetic voice of the local pastor and concentrate too much power in the hands of district superintendents and bishops.  As a local pastor who is not guaranteed an appointment there are subjects I do not willingly bring up because I am afraid of what may happen to my appointment.  I have been told I should not be very visible or should be seen and not heard.  I have heard of a bishop who kept a little black book in his office of those who had disagreed with him.  Whether or not this is true, but just the rumor of it is disconcerting.  A pastor could be set up to fail, and while this may not be likely the church is made up of people and it is a political organization, and be eased out.  There is also the possibility of the older ministers being forced out before becoming eligible for retirement or the medical bills become too high.  Some may call these ideas too conspiratorial, but we have been moving more toward a business model instead of a spiritual model. 

            As I mentioned earlier there are a few items that are good.  I wish there was more.  I also wish there was more meat to it and there was a call for more study on exactly what ordination is and our understanding or it.  While there is a call to integrate theology and practice of ordination I believe we need to figure out what we believe about ordination.  It will be interesting to see what the reaction will be to the report.

Link to General Board of Higher Education & Ministry Website article concerning Ministry Commission Report:  http://www.gbhem.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lsKSL3POLvF&b=6471015&ct=9105463&sms_ss=twitter&at_xt=4d53182d2a02faac%2C0

Pastor Dave

Should Christians Condone Torture

            Imagine you are the commander of a unit of combat troops.  Your unit has sustained multiple injuries and fatalities from various types of engagements with the enemy-being ambushed while on patrol or in convoy, snipers, fire-fights when you and the enemy come together unexpectedly, and in road side bombs.  Your men have captured someone they believe is an enemy combatant of informer, and you believe that this individual has information concerning movements, plans, and future attacks of the enemy on you or other friendly units.  You also believe an attack of some sort is imminent, days, maybe just hours away.  Traditional methods have not worked.  What do you do?  Do you threaten the individual with harm or death at all costs, or do you just tell your troops to be extra careful?  Do you pull out a 9mm pistol and fire it next to the individual’s head and tell him the next time it will be in the head, or do you send the prisoner to the Military Intelligence unit and let them work on extracting information and hope that it is in time to be of use to you and your troops?

            Now imagine that you are working inside a government agency miles away from any type of combat.  While not in the US, you may be inside the theater of operations still, or maybe you are in a different country.  Your responsibility is to oversee and gather information while interrogating prisoners who have been caught in combat operations, and because they seem to be more civilian than military, they are classified as enemy combatants instead of prisoners of war.  The treatment of enemy combatants is not covered under treaties that have been created to address how wars are to be fought and soldiers are to be treated.  The treaty on POW treatment has been ratified by your country, but you are not required to treat the prisoners the same way because they have been classified as enemy combatants instead of POWs by a higher authority.  This means that you are allowed to participate in forms of interrogation that would be illegal if the ones being held were classified POWs or inside the boundaries of the country in which you are a citizen.  There are hundreds and maybe thousands of people to interrogate, and as time has gone by it has become obvious that there are many who have information, but there is exponentially more who either have very little information, or no information at all about the enemy organization and/or plans.  However, you think that the big fish that is occasionally caught among the small fish justifies what you are doing and how you are doing it.  You have been told that you can humiliate the prisoners, put them into sexually compromising positions, physically hurt them, psychologically abuse them, hang them from the ceiling, rough them up to make them more compliant or cooperative, make them listen to Muzak all day and all night, or a combination of some or all of them.  There are other methods you would like to use, but cannot because they are illegal regardless of where you perform them.  Many of the acts you condone would be illegal inside the borders of your country, but you are not within them, even though the land is considered the country’s property.  You think you can get more out of an individual if some of the more extreme methods of interrogation are used, but because you cannot legally use them yourself you ask your supervisors to find an allied country that would use more extreme questioning and arrange for the ones that you want to be questioned to be turned over to that country.  This country is known to use techniques on prisoners that are brutal and even sometimes can be considered torture.  This is not the first time you have been faced with this type of situation.

            My question to you this morning is, which one of these scenarios has you acting in a correct manner as a Christian?   The answer is neither, although one could be excused as an impulsive act, and thus should not be punished as harshly.  We will be looking at a variety of Scriptures this morning to show that inhumane treatment or torture is unacceptable in any form.  Yes, there is a difference between torture and inhumane treatment according to at least some of the international law courts in Europe.  According to these judicial opinions torture may be inhumane, but all inhumane acts do not rise to the level of torture.    Some the passages we will look can apply to other situations besides torture, but we will focus on one subject.  Now you might be saying that there are American lives at stake, and anything is acceptable to save lives even participating or condoning torture.  This is not true as a Christian, and this morning we shall look at why this is so.  You may disagree with the conclusions that we reach, but I would ask that you look inside of yourself and see if your disagreement is because of the conditioning about anything the American government does is acceptable or Christian. 

            In Genesis 1 we read “Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.  Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.  And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so.  God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-- the sixth day.  (Gen 1:26-31,NIV).

            What we see here is that all of humanity is created in God’s image.  Many people say that we are made in the spiritual image of God because we know that God is spirit.  They will say we do not know for sure what the physical image of God looks like.  However, we do know that Jesus came in the form of a human being, and He is the second person of the Trinity, and that Jesus has been with God from the beginning and is God (John 1).  So we are, and bear, a physical image of God.  In the beginning it is only after God creates humanity that He gazes over Creation and says it is “very good”.  This is before the fall of humanity into sin, and one can say that, in the beginning, there was perfection in the image of God.  However, due to the abuse of the gift of free will the image has become marred physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. 

            When an art masterpiece is marred due to carelessness, vandalism, age, or some other reason people who care for art do not allow it to continue to be damaged if they can help it.  Instead they try to preserve, and if possible repair the piece of art.  A few years ago when Carolyn got back from DC she told me about this huge flag they are repairing in the Smithsonian.  It is going to take over seven years for it to be restored and mounted the way it should be so that it will stop deteriorating and will be preserved for years to come.  God has sent Jesus to repair humanity and start to per-fect us in all ways.  (The act of completely restoring us will occur when Christ returns in final victory).  When torture or inhumane acts are performed on people what we are doing is the equivalent of continuing the destruction of a wonderful piece of work.  Torture and other inhumane treatments continue the vandalism and destruction started by Satan in the Garden of Eden.  These type of actions hurt, scar, and even destroy people physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. 

            People who have been treated this way often have physical scars that one can see.  Sometimes torture leads to death.  When Jesus was whipped and scourged he was being physically tortured.  Many of the early Christians were tortured for their faith when they did not renounce their allegiance to Jesus.  We have heard about how they were used for lion bait in the Coliseum, but they were also abused in other ways.  The emperor Nero used them for human torches during one event.

            Emotionally and mentally, people who have been tortured carry around scars on the inside.  Sometimes these scars become visible to those on the outside when the victims of torture have a hard time trusting people, become visibly scared or incapacitated at certain sites, aromas, or even the atmosphere of the surrounding area.  It takes years for them to overcome these abuses that have been done on their psyche.

            Spiritually they can be damaged especially if they have nothing to lean on in their times of trouble.  They can ask, and not receive an adequate answer in their minds, where is God, or why does God allow this to happen.  Even if they have God to help them get through it, they will probably ask these questions, and some may even give up their belief in a loving God and the redemptive power of God and Jesus.  Depending on who is doing the torture, one may also decide that if the torturer is a Christian, then they want nothing to do with a God or allows people to be treated in such a way. 

            I do need to say this about our faith in Christ and what happens if we are faced with torture.  If our faith is firmly rooted in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we will have a better chance of coming out of being tortured less damaged.  A few years ago I heard about a report that said soldiers who had been POWs in Vietnamese POW camps who had a solid faith came out in better mental and emotional health.  Were they perfect?  By no means no, but God helped them through it.

            Some may say we are only images of God, and that there are many images so it would not be a problem to hurt to or to get rid of some of the images that have been damaged, or that may cause even more images of God to be damaged.  This reasoning is kind of like what Spock says in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”  With torture this line of thinking is flawed for a Christian.  Damaging any image of God should be avoided if at all possible.  In James, chapter three, the author talks about the power of the tongue in hurting people.  In the middle of the passage he writes, “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.  Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.  Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?  My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.  (James 3:9-12, NIV).

            You may be wondering “If we are talking about torture, why is Dave bringing in a discussion on the tongue?”  Well it is more for the background information than the actual tongue.  In the Ancient Near East and the Roman Empire it was believed that an image such as a marble bust, painting, etc, could actually be the real thing.  If one made a derogatory remark about Cesar in the presence of an image of Cesar it would be seen as actually insulting Cesar to his face.  It would be as if the image was actually Cesar himself.  James is telling his readers that when we curse a human being we are in effect cursing God.  Taking that analogy further, when one abuses another human being, who is made in the image of God, it is as if we are personally and physically or mentally abusing God.  Should we as Christians condone this type of behavior?  We all agree that what the Romans did to Jesus was wrong, and it hurt him immensely.  When we torture people or practice other inhumane acts on our fellow human beings we are, according to the Scriptures, treating God the same way.  Imagine if God treated us the way we treat other people so that we can gather information?

            Some people may say, “The Bible says ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and all we are doing is the same they have done to us”, and they would be correct.  However, what they are doing is taking the line out of context and out of the era in which it was written.  It is important to realize that “an eye for an eye ...” was actually implemented to make justice more just and not revengeful.  Before that it was ok for somebody to seek a life for acts such as maiming, cutting someone, etc.  The act of revenge was out of hand.  The law was to help people and to settle disputes quickly and justly.  If the law had not come about, then there would have been an ever increasing spiral of violence as family members sought revenge for harm done to their families and clans.  And, with few exceptions, there was always a way to settle the dispute without it being a literal human part.  Sometimes the judges and Pharisees had interpreted it as it being ok for an animal such as a bull to pay the price.  God also had it so that, with few exceptions, one could pay a price and not be harmed.

            In Leviticus 24 we read “If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death.  Anyone who takes the life of someone's animal must make restitution-- life for life.  If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.       Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death.  You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.'" (Leviticus 24:17-22, NIV).

            This section is involved with what to do with someone who is a blasphemer, who is born of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian father.  The Israelites had to figure out if this man was an alien or an Israeli, and how to treat him.  The Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites go out and stone the blasphemer, and to have the same law for the alien as for the citizens of the people.  Besides understanding that an eye for an eye is a moderating influence, the idea of having the same law and treatment for those who are not Israelis is important.  If we apply this today we should not be condoning the practice of sending people to other countries after they have been held on American or American held soil to those who will abuse them in the search for information.  We should not be saying that there is one set of rights and laws for American citizens and another set of laws for aliens.  Our government should not have two sets of standards for interrogation. 

            Some may say that Moses is implementing a religious law, but if we pay attention to the whole passage it deals not just with blasphemy, but with laws concerning personal interaction in society as well.  The law is for the well running of society and for the benefit of all.  We should have a law for all who are under the umbrella of the United States’ government, and it should be applied equally.  This includes those who have been captured by our armed services. 

            It is interesting that some scholars have mentioned that the whole assembly is to go out and stone the blasphemer, and the reason for this is that the actions of one against God affect the whole community of Israel.  We see in several other places of Scripture where the sin of an individual or a few affect the rest of the nation of Israel.  An example is in Joshua where Achan takes some plunder from the city of Jericho when the Lord had told all of Israel not to take any.  When the Israelis next go into battle they are routed.  All of Israel suffers.  While we may not officially be a Christian nation, the country, in poll after poll, identifies itself as being largely Christian.  We hear about how we are a Christian nation.  Now a days we do not send people out to the edge of camp and stone them because of the sins they have committed because Jesus paid the price for our sins.  However, there are consequences to our actions even if we have been forgiven.  Will our country pay a price or suffer the consequences for using proof texts from the Bible to justify torture and abusing the image of God?

            We have looked at some of the reasons why we should not use or condone torture.  They have been Scriptural, but they have also been kind of heady/intellectual.  Jesus gives us a very practical reason or command not to use torture.  When He is preaching the Sermon on the Mount he says not only to love our enemy, which we do not have time to address today in depth, he says “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets, (Matt 7:12, NIV).  We as Christians are commanded to love all people, and yes, I know that is very hard to do.  We are also told here in the same sermon to treat others as we want to be treated.  What type of message are we sending to the world if we as Americans are saying that it is ok to abuse people in the hunt for information?  One of the fears I have read is that allowing torture or condoning it in other countries our service men and women will face the same type of treatment.  There are many countries that do not recognize the international treaties such as the Geneva Convention, and there are ways to twist words and meanings to be able to avoid classifying a person or groups of people to avoid having to provide more protection for the prisoners.

            I would like you to think about the situation if it was you or your loved one that had been captured by the enemy.  How would you want to be treated?  I realize that the enemy does not always treat our people like we would prefer them to treat them.  I know that we have had people decapitated and abused.  However, Jesus does not say treat others like they are treating us.  He says do to others as we would like them to do to us.  He does not give exceptions if they are treating us badly or inhumanely.  He tells us that the Golden Rule sums up the Prophets and the Law, and that He has come to fulfill the Law.  Jesus loves all even if they are acting inhumanely against Him.  He does not strike down Pilate or the others who put Him on trial or whip Him.  Instead He loves them.  (This does not mean He enjoyed going through the punishment.)  How can we expect people, organizations, and countries to treat our people who they have captured for whatever reason if we are not willing to treat them as we would want to be treated?

            You may have noticed there was not a lot of discussion on the secular reasons; such studies have shown it is not very effective because people will say anything you want them to say so the pain will stop, for not using abuse and torture to gather information.  It is important to realize there are some very good reasons that come from the secular world to prohibit torture.  However, we need to understand the moral and theological underpinning for our case against using torture before we look at and use the secular information.  There are several more passages we could look at that would help us make a case against torture.  Unfortunately, we do not have time.  AS we leave let us remember that all humans in every part of the world are made in the image of God, and that when we abuse one we abuse God Himself.  Let us also remember that we are to treat others as we want to be treated, and that both citizens and aliens are to be treated fairly and the same.  Let us not have any doubt that torture is wrong for whatever reason!