The Kony 2012 campaign has been flooding the Internet for a couple of days now. Even people I know who rarely take an interest in current affairs are facebooking, tweeting and +1'ing it. For those of you who have no idea what the campaign is about, watch this video:
Joseph Kony is the leader of the 'Lord's Resistance Army' or LRC. His aim is to overthrow the Ugandan government and establish a theocracy based upon the 10 commandments. His methods, according to the above video, heavily include abducting children and forcing them to fight for his army. He has attracted attention from the International Criminal Court, the US Government, Interpol, and millions of facebook and twitter users across the world. His crimes against humanity are heinous and vile.
According to the Notable Names Database, Kony believes himself to be a good Christian. Herein lies my concern. With Kony publicly claiming to serve the Lord and be following His instruction, my fear is that normal, true Christian's will be vilified as the campaign picks up steam. Personally, I believe that Kony is either insane, or using the name of God to fulfil his own desires for power. I do not believe that he is receiving special instruction from God, or acting in a manner that Christ would approve of.
Kony say's he wishes to establish Uganda as a Christian nation, with laws based upon the 10 Commandments, as given to Moses by God in the book of Exodus, Chapter 20. Yet his actions and what's reported about him tell a different story. Looking at some of these commandments, we can define clear non-biblical actions either committed by Kony, or committed under duress by his child soldiers.
Honour Your Father and Your Mother
This commandment tells the people of Israel that they are to obey the command of their parents, and honour them. Kony abducts young children, and as an initiation, many are ordered to murder their own parents. This is hardly the action of a man who believes we should honour our parents!
You Shall Not Kill
Given the number of murders that Kony is directly responsible for, he has certainly acted in discordance with this commandment.
You Shall Not Commit Adultery
A standard Christian understanding of marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Most Christians do not accept polygamy as correct. Therefore, a man who is already married, and takes another 'wife', would logically be guilty of adultery. Kony is rumoured to have as many as 60 wives, many of which are very young female captives. Therefore, Kony is guilty of breaking this commandment.
You Shall Not Steal
I'm fairly sure this commandment would cover the stealing of young children from their homes!
I'm sure that Kony is breaking some of the other Commandments also. As a Christian, we can be forgiven of all sins - the only unforgivable sin is to reject Jesus's sacrifice. Therefore, a rapist/murderer/adulterer can be accepted into God's kingdom, if they truly repent of their sins. Logically, if Kony is a true Christian, he would still be accepted into Heaven because he has accepted Christ. However, Kony isn't looking for acceptance. He's looking to rule Uganda and establish a nation built upon these rules. These same rules that he is breaking. Furthermore, whilst all Christians still sin, repentance means to turn away from, not to continue doing, sinful actions. Kony shows no remorse for his actions, and claims that he carries them out under instruction from God. This is not the God I know and love!
Some sites claim that Kony is acting upon instruction from 8 angels - one site even quotes an ex-child soldier:
"Everything they did was because of the malaikas (angels). For an example: there was a malaika from Sudan" (HRW).Apart from the fact that all sane Christians I know do not claim to communicate with angels, The Bible is clear in it's description of angels. They were created by God and occupy Heaven. They are not from Earth. Therefore, they cannot be of any nationality! Kony's claim to receive instruction from a Sudanese angel has to be false.
In summary, the crimes of Kony are disgusting and cruel. I am glad that Jason Russell has been so moved by the plight of people in Uganda to create this video and start this campaign. The way the Internet community has united in support of this campaign is both astonishing and wonderful.
I just want to stress that Kony's actions are not supported by Christians. Hitler and Stalin were both staunch atheists, but to link all atheists to the actions of either of these two would be grossly incorrect. As it would be to link Christians to the actions of Joseph Kony.
M :)
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