True Peace Through Forgiveness

by Rolaant McKenzie

In the Star Trek: The Original Series episode Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (Season 3, Episode 15, 1/10/1969), the USS Enterprise is on the way to the Federation planet Ariannus to assist its ministry of health with decontaminating the atmosphere, which had taken on a bacterial infection that threatened the lives of its one billion inhabitants. Ship sensors detected a Federation shuttlecraft reported stolen from Starbase 4. The Enterprise pursued and brought aboard the shuttlecraft along with its pilot, Lokai, a political dissident from a planet outside of the Federation called Cheron. His most notable feature was that the right half of his face was chalk white, while the left half was charcoal black.

Shortly after, ship sensors detected another space vessel on an interception course. It disintegrated as it approached, but not before its pilot transported himself to the bridge of the Enterprise. He identified himself as Commissioner Bele of Cheron, Chief Officer of the Commission on Political Traitors. He tells Captain Kirk that he has come to apprehend Lokai, whom he had been pursuing for 50,000 years, and demands that they be taken to Cheron so that Lokai can be punished for leading a revolt against the ruling authorities. Bele openly disdains Lokai and his people as inferior and worthy only of being made to serve the Cheron's ruling class. His appearance was similar to Lokai's, but the right half of his face was charcoal black, while the left half was chalk white.

Lokai requests political asylum with the Federation, asserting that the ruling class (those with faces like Bele) had for generations enslaved his people (those with faces like him) and oppressed them. Refusing to go to Cheron, Kirk states his intention to complete his urgent mission at Ariannus, then take them to Starbase 4 to make their cases to the Federation authorities. In the meanwhile, he transmits a report of the situation to Starfleet Command and Bele's request to extradite Lokai to Cheron.

With the mission to Ariannus completed, a response was received from Starfleet Command rejecting Bele's request since no diplomatic treaty existed between the Federation and Cheron. Kirk orders the Enterprise to Starbase 4; however, Bele, using his telekinetic powers, takes control of the ship and directs it to Cheron.

Arriving in orbit around Cheron, a scan of the planet revealed no sign of intelligent life and all major cities in ruins and being overtaken by nature. Lokai and Bele realize that they are the only ones left of their people, who have completely destroyed themselves in a civil war. Rejecting Kirk's appeal to them to let go of their hate for each other and live in peace in the Federation, Lokai flees the bridge with Bele in pursuit. They chase each other throughout the ship, with both of them eventually finding the transporter room and returning to the surface to continue their fight as the last two people on a dead world. As they depart for Starbase 4, Kirk sadly notes their unwillingness to relinquish their hatred, set aside their grievances, and live in peace, even as they can see that implacable mutual animosity destroyed their world.

Near the end of World War II in Europe, partisans led by Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980) helped to end the occupation of Yugoslavia by Nazi Germany and turn the country into a multi-ethnic socialist state made up primarily of Bosnian-Herzegovinians, Croatians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Serbians, and Slovenians. As leader of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, Tito ruled the country from 1945 until his death in 1980.

Tito's iron grip on power involved the suppression of anyone who opposed his policies, the use of secret police, and mass imprisonment and executions. Though authoritarian, Tito's government was seen by many as instrumental in keeping the diverse ethnic groups of the country together in spite of the deep rivalries they had with each other.

After Tito's death, the unity of the country started to unravel. Ethnic rivalries and grievances, sometimes going back decades or even centuries, erupted between the various people groups that made up Yugoslavia. Ethnic and religious animosity was exacerbated by unscrupulous politicians and military leaders in order to increase their own power. The amplification of long-held grudges led to the Yugoslav Wars (1991-2001), a series of armed conflicts causing among the greatest amounts of bloodshed in Europe since World War II. Massacres, ethnic cleansing, genocide, and crimes against humanity marked this period of time. It resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 people and a refugee and humanitarian crisis that displaced several million.

Though diplomatic efforts and international intervention brought an end to widespread armed conflict, it led to the dissolution of Yugoslavia into six independent successor states: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. These conflicts left a tragic legacy of ethnic and religious tensions, political instability, and economic hardship. Organizations such as the International Institute for Peace (IIP) have been working to help resolve these difficult issues by promoting forgiveness, reconciliation, and cooperation as a way of life in and among these new independent nations.

Lokai and Bele in the Star Trek episode and the various ethnic and religious groups of the former Yugoslavia illustrate the terrible consequences of stewing over past wrongs between individuals, but especially when passed down from one generation to the next. Resentment grows and poisons the mind like a toxic weed. It creates an undercurrent of hostility and distrust between people that too often leads to hatred, the seeking of revenge, and violence.

The antidote to this is adopting an attitude of forgiveness. This does not mean ignoring what was done in the past or condoning the hurt it has caused, but choosing to release the hold of bitterness, anger, and hate, creating the conditions for healing and for peace and reconciliation to take place.

Remember that all of us stood guilty before God for the sins we committed against Him, against others, and against ourselves (Romans 1-3). What if He held a grudge against us and justly brought judgment on us for all we had done? Instead, God showed His love for us in that while we were His enemies, He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross, bearing God's wrath in our place, and paying in full our sin debt (Romans 5:6-11).

While the efforts of the IIP to promote peace in the Balkans are commendable, they fall short of bringing about the kind of lasting peace that only Jesus Christ can bring. All who trust in Him receive forgiveness and true peace and reconciliation with God and with each other. As God has provided us forgiveness in Christ Jesus, those of us who have received this gracious gift should not maintain chips on our shoulders or hold grudges.

"So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you." (Colossians 3:12-13)