The recent bombings in London have forced me to think about war again. Being the white, male, Christian Republican that I am, you'd think that I'd be a monstrous war hawk. I suppose in a way that's true, compared to some. After all, I did serve for almost six years in the Army National Guard.
Despite all of that, I have done some serious soul and Bible searching on the subject of war. Honestly, I have waffled as to how a Christian can support a war. It is no cut and dried subject, Scripturally speaking. If you take the Old Testament approach, then we are fighting this war with one hand tied behind our backs. In the OT, Joshua and the Israelites killed everyone in Jericho. Men, women, children, babies, even the pets and farm animals, were slaughtered (Joshua 6:21).
This is tough to chew on. Especially since this destruction was ordained by God Himself. This was not just an overzealous execution by Joshua, this was Divine Judgment. However, I have not received a mandate from God to fight in such a way, and I do not believe that the President claims such a thing either. So, we'll fight a "just war" in a conventional, Geneva convention abiding way. For now, at least.
The reason I say for now is really quite simple, even if it isn't completely Biblical. The image that keeps coming to my mind is me fighting with my little brother when we were young. When he was seven, I could handle him with ease. I never punched him in the face; I never throttled him; honestly, I never even tried to harm him. Mostly, I aggravated him until he was so angry that his eyes would bug out, and then I would simply hold him at bay and laugh.
He, however, was no Geneva convention fighter. I know for certain that there were times where, if he had the upper hand or the means, he would have probably killed me. He would bite, pinch, punch, kick me in forbidden places, scream, spit, grab a weapon...Anything at all, just to knock me upside my head. Frankly, if justice had been done, he should have nailed me. I was a jerk. Sorry bro.
Here's how this relates to Al-Qaida and crew. When my brother was seven, it was easy for me to abide by the "rules of engagement." However, we once had a confrontation when my brother was nearly grown. He was about eighteen I guess. Guess what, this time, I tossed the rules of engagement out the window. The reason is simple, he had the capability of hurting me bad, and he wasn't going by no rules of engagement. He was looking for some payback folks. Fortunately, neither of us wound up hurting much except our pride. But still, for a minute there it was deadly serious.
We are now facing an enemy who is looking to hurt us. They are looking for payback. The terrorists hate our guts. They are not pulling any punches, and they will use forbidden tactics to hurt us. There will come a time when one of those blows lands hard enough to shake us out of our conventional style of fighting. At least, that is a sure possibility.
Honestly, war has always been horrible. Rarely has anyone been spared. The Allies carpet bombed Berlin so severely that people taking shelter in basements died because the flames sucked the oxygen out of the shelter. Playing by all the rules seems weird in comparison. It seems as foolish as a guy picking a fight in a bar, then proceeding to lay down ground rules for fisticuffs. "No biting, pinching, groin shots or eye gouging, got it?" Yeah, right.
I am not certain how to avoid more bloodshed and horror. But I know this, if the Muslim world does not begin to police these radicals, and if they do not shut up these Satanic clerics who are urging the slaughter of civilians, then when the gloves finally come off, it is going to be even uglier than it already is.
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Two Voices
12 years ago
1 comment:
You basically summed up what I've been thinking for a while. It completely disgusts me to hear some liberals talk about the "poor" treatment of some of the captives at Gitmo. These individuals would rip the eyes out of your children if given the opportunity. I want to ask these highly liberal Democrats how fair they would fight if someone broke into their house @ 2:00 a.m. in the morning and was threatening their family. The rules of engagement would quickly dissipate. That said, these terrorists have broken into our house (the USA and Britain) at 2:00 a.m. and are threatening our families (our way of life). It is time to do whatever is necessary to ensure that our children's children can worship freely as we have been privileged to do. Basically, I believe we need to defend ourselves by any means necessary at this point. These guys aren't going away quietly.
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