Christ for TSA

TSA employees and opposing worldviews 

My friends there are two major worldviews about life and who we are in this world. One worldview is sometimes called the spiritual worldview, and those who hold this view may be called believers. According to the spiritual worldview there is a trancendence to this world and our existence in it. There is a force, a higher power that goes beyond the physical, which even though unseen still exists.

The other worldview is the materialist, the belief that nothing exists beyond that which can be touched, seen, smelled, tasted, or heard. There is nothing spiritual. Only the physical exists. Those who hold this view may be called atheist.

TSA employees; WHO ARE YOU?

According to the spiritual worldview:

• You are a special creation of the higher power, you are in fact made in the image of that higher power.
• You are unique, no one else is like you
• You have a quality that you share with the higher power that will outlive your physical body
• Your life is sacred
• The higher power loves you, has your best interests at heart, and wants a relationship with you like that of a friend and a father
• Your individuality is sacred
• Your physical body is a special creation and is sacred. It can even be the dwelling place of the higher power
• Those you love are sacred. Your love for them is a reflection of the love of the higher power
• You are a person of significance in the higher power's eyes
• Everything you do matters now and beyond the life of your physical body. You are such an important person your actions impact eternity
• The higher power offers to carry you through the pain and sorrows that come with this life. The higher power also offers a life of happiness in this world in spite of the troubles that may come your way
• The higher power offers you a life free of pain and sorrow; a life of joy, after your existence on earth is over
• Reunification with loved ones who have died
• The higher power has a plan for you if you are interested. This plan gives meaning and purpose to your life. It offers you the best life you can ever hope to have
• The higher power opposes evil and is on the side of the good. This power will one day take vengence on the evil, including those who have done you wrong. You can forgive them and leave it to the higher power to administer justice
• For all the bad things you have done, the harm you have done to people; the higher power offers forgiveness
• The higher power respects your right to choose. If you're not interested, this transcendence will leave you alone. However, you will experience the consequences of your choices, for better or worse

According to the materialist/atheist worldview:

• The world is an accident. It is simply the result of chance plus time by unthinking and uncaring forces
• You are an accident, your existence is simply the result of impersonal and uncaring forces
• You and your loved ones are nothing more than a mass of atoms
• You and your loved ones have no more significance than any random collection of atoms/molecules
• Since the world is an accident it is meaningless
• Your life is meaningless; what you and all people do does not matter
• Those you love who have died were nothing more than atoms. Their existence is over and you will never see them again. The affection you had for them is meaningless since you and they are just chemicals.
• Whatever enjoyment you have in this life will end soon
• Whatever wrongs you have suffered is your tough luck. There is no higher power to take vengence against those who have harmed you
• There is no good or evil. For there to be evil there must be a standard by which to judge acts as being good or evil. For there to be a standard there must be a standard giver, one above mankind. If a man is the standard giver, then it's just his opinion which is no better than yours. If there is no higher power to act as a standard giver then there's no good or evil and whatever people do to you, you can't complain and call it wrong. There is also not a higher power to avenge whatever wrongs you suffer from others.

Here is a hypothetical situation to demonstrate how one's worldview can impact one's actions. For example, a person is angry over how he or she, or their spouse, children, parents, or friend, were treated at a TSA checkpoint. They may have objected to being forced to go through the advanced imaging technology scanners or an enhanced pat down; they may believe their dignity and civil rights were violated by the TSA.  They may feel they were verbally abused or threatened by TSA employees while seeking to travel. They seek justice from the government but are told nothing will be done to right the wrong he/she believes has been done..

Now, in this hypothetical example, this person has a weapon and wants revenge and will get justice for himself. He may be willing to take it out on those TSA employees involved in the incident, or anyone associated with the TSA. This person may seek to strike at your workplace, as you go to work, or where you live (one TSA employee after a Tennessee airport incident had her address put on facebook). This person may want to take it out on your spouse as she goes to work or shop, or even your child as he is waiting for the school bus.

Or, perhaps there is a fellow TSA employee at your checkpoint or office. Perhaps this person is angry over something that happened at home, perhaps something at work (think of the TSA on TSA murder in Mississippi). Maybe this fellow employee is someone you've always felt uneasy about. Or maybe he or she is the quiet type, doesn't bother anyone, keeps to himself, just the way the neighbors on the evening news typically describe the killer who's just gone on a murderous rampage.

Now the person is in position to strike; the weapon is concealed but ready to be used. He pauses to think again about what he's about to do.

What would the two worldviews say to this person

The spiritual worldview, which I'm proclaiming, would say:

• You are commiting a great evil, you are becoming an evil person, you are killing someone made in the image of the higher power and making yourself an enemy of the higher power
• You will be punished. Even if you escape the police, the higher power will someday impose a terrible eternal punishment on you
• In the ancient writings the higher power has stated that it will take vengence for you, you do not have to do this terrible deed to get justice. Let the higher power decide what to do about the wrong you believe you have suffered at the hands of TSA employees
• The higher power promises to relieve the anger you feel. You do not have to take this violent action to feel better
• The higher power will make right whatever wrongs you have suffered. But you will force the higher power to take vengence on you if you commit this deed.

The materialist/atheist worldview would say:

• Since there is no higher power, there is no good or evil. Therefore your violent action is neither good nor evil
• If there is no higher power to impose punishment on you, if you can escape from the authorities, you don't have to fear any punishment.
• There is no higher power to relieve whatever anger you may feel. It's up to you to take action to relieve it
• There is no higher power to avenge you for wrongs you have suffered. If you don't take action there won't be any justice and those whom you believe did you or your loved ones wrong will get away with it.
• If after harming TSA employees, or their family,  and while attempting to escape, you find that you are about to be captured and you don't want to suffer imprisonment, just shoot yourself. There is no existence, no punishment after death for what you've done. You won't miss life because you won't have any awareness after death. You've gotten your revenge and can avoid any pain for what you've done by ending your life

As a TSA employee which worldview works for you? Which one would you want this potential attacker to consider?

• The spiritual worldview that tells this hypothetical violent person that he will not escape punishment no matter what he does?
• Or the materialist/atheist worldview that tells her that she can take her revenge and avoid punishment, maybe in this life, and definitely the next one since there is no existence after death?

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