SOUNDING OFF:

Wars contribute to the natural perfidy of life, whether the battles are fought in Gaza, Gallipoli or Gettysburg.

World War I trench warfare on the Western Front was particularly malevolent and unpredictable. On a line snaking some 400 miles through northern France and southwestern Belgium — from France’s Swiss border to the North Sea — more than a million troops from 1914 to 1918 faced each other at any given moment.

The Germans, on the northern side of the trench line, confronted the British, French and late-arriving (1918) Americans to the south. More than 3 million men perished during the four years of fighting on that line, an average of 2,250 per day.

During a single day of fighting in the Somme Offensive of 1916, 20,000 British troops were slaughtered.

Many Brits who died that day, and throughout the war, were so badly disfigured that they went unidentified and were buried with the words of Rudyard Kipling affixed to their grave markers: ”A Soldier of the Great War Known Unto God.”

Life was cheap in the trenches. A mere inch — like choosing to cock one’s head to the left rather than the right — could make the difference between the death of a 20-year-old in the muck and slop of a trench, or living half a century longer to sire children and grandchildren.

A Canadian sniper methodically took out four German troops one day in 1917 from his forward post along the line. He then drew a bead on a fifth. With the German in his crosshairs, he developed second thoughts. The Canadian slowly lowered his weapon, never to snipe again. Presumably, the German never knew just how close he’d come to eternity at that moment. Perhaps he went on to live another 50 or 60 productive years. Or, maybe, he was Adolf Hitler.

We’re offended by the fact that life is so arbitrary. We ask ourselves: “Who’s in charge here? Can no sense be made of this?”

Followers of Christ contend that there exists a transcendent, ultimate being — God — who is concerned about the affairs of humans. But we’re caught in a moral dilemma: wars are fought; injustice reigns; and disease rages and kills. Where is he?

This God, who’s but a whispered prayer away, has made provision for our rescue. He placed upon the shoulders of his own perfect son our transgressions, and we’ve been redeemed. Terms like “capricious” and “arbitrary” no longer apply to the universe we inhabit, not after we’ve accepted his grace.

Paul, a first century evangelist, wrote: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”

That’s reassuring news. Someone’s in control, and cares.

Better yet, we can know him.

JIM CARNETT is a resident of Costa Mesa.