Because it is getting harder to meet recruiting goals, the Marines are looking for a few good women–literally. The Marine Corps is marketing itself to women in magazines like Shape and Self and Fitness. The latest ad campaign shows a female marine in front of some men, captioned with: “There are no female marines. Only marines.â€
The U.S. Military Academy now has gender-neutral lyrics in West Point’s Alma Mater and The Corps. For example, the line “The men of the Corps long dead” has been replaced with “The ranks of the Corps long dead.” Said Superintendent Lt. Gen. Franklin “Buster” Hagenbeck, singing “Guide us, thy sons, aright” at the funerals of two dead female soldiers was “unacceptable.” Preserving the words for the sake of tradition “disrespects the West Point women who serve,” said the Superintendent.
These are disturbing trends. As more women join the military, more women will die for a lie while in the military. It is bad enough that young men continue to join the military, but it is tragic that families are raising their girls to be soldiers. Yes, these young women are joining of their own free will, but it is tragic nonetheless.
Secularist value-free society kills the soul before the body. First you loose your gender, then your life.
Then why the hell do most Christians want to keep this sham of a war going?
Because most "Christians", I'm sorry to say, worship the State before they worship God, DK.
Precisely. These are “Constantinian” Christians, a breed that has co-opted the church as a body and all but completely replaced the real faith over the last seventeen hundred years. Their defining characteristics are: 1) worship of the State and its leader figures, along with a covetousness of the power they hold, all of which is painted with a faux veneer of “Christianity” to lend this idol worship some facade of moral authority; and 2) the abdication of rational, critical thought or tents of the faith as contained in the Gospels, along with the the adoption of self-righteous belligerence in pursuit of temporal power and prestige.
Jesus Christ and His disciples would be hard-pressed to recognize the abomination that has morphed in the wake of what they started.
Make that “tenets” of the faith.
liberranter —
Was Paul one of those “Constantinian” Christians when he advised Christians to “submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.” (Romans 13:1)? And what did Jesus Christ tell the soldier — not to serve in the Roman Army? No– just “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.” (Luke 3:14).
Radical Christian anti-Statism is contrary to the teachings of both Christ and, less importantly, St. Paul.
http://www.Romans13.com
Matt K-
Here’s a Roman’s 12:21 to your Roman’s 13:1 “do not become overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” In Paul’s time there was no pretense in regards to “freedom” and “self governance” you were subject to whoever you were subject to (Rome), period– in other words the whole idea (delusion) that you were an individual and collectively “you” are the government which does things for “you” had not yet been widely accepted. The question remains how one is to participate politically without being overcome by evil
In just 9 words, Paul Alexander describes the major US societal problem in 2008:
Because most “Christians” worship the State before they worship God
Add another five words from Noam Chomsky explaining what logic can rationalize the US support of a dictator here and there, and the US acting like a dictatorship here and there, but not everywhere: "Because we own the world."
That's it, in 14 words, the disastrous way the US has evolved is described and those words can explain, Guantanamo, Abu Gharib, Scalia, and every CIA black op.
Matt K:
Romans 13:1 “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” (NIV)
That said, are you willing to espouse the belief that Paul was telling the faithful that God established this temporal “authority” with complete license for secular rulers to wantonly violate the tenets of the faith as set forth in both Old Testament law and the teachings of Christ Himself as recorded in the Gospels? If so, then an awful lot of Christians have met unnecessary –indeed, sinful– martyrdom at the hands of the State over the last two millenia by not renouncing their faith or by refusing to committing evil in defiance of it.
“Submission” to temporal authority does not mean blind, unquestioning obedience or, worse yet, wholehearted, enthusiastic devotion to the State when that authority acts contrary to the teachings of the Scriptures. Sadly, this is exactly what “Christians” have been doing, with sickeningly few exceptions, since the Emperor Constantine successfully welded “Christianity” to the Roman Empire by regal fiat, conflating his megalomaniac and profoundly unscriptural dictates and actions with the Word. Sadly, rather than seeing this is the political power ploy that it clearly was (if Caesar were to seek Christ’s guidance, would Christ have him kill his political enemies and burn their cities?), most believers were either insufficiently grounded in the faith to see through the ruse, overjoyed at the idea that “he who hath persecuted us is now one among us and our sufferings shall cease”, simply too afraid to speak truth to power, or, more likely and directly related to the first possibility, were devoted more to the temptations of temporal power and reward than spiritual fruit. As Jesus Himself said, give to Caesar what is rightfully Caesar’s, but give to God what is God’s. Temporal political power, Jesus made clear, is of Caesar, not of God.
As for And what did Jesus Christ tell the soldier — not to serve in the Roman Army? No– just “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.†(Luke 3:1, since the State has always, throughout human history, been in the business of plunder and lethal violence, two things in direct violation of the Scriptures, the soldier in question had basically the following choices: 1) Continue serving as a soldier, obeying every order from his superiors, no matter how clearly these violated Christ’s teachings; 2) Remain a soldier, but refuse to kill or steal or violate any other of Christ’s teachings, in which case he would have either been kicked out of the legion, or, more likely, put to death for disobeying an order, thus putting his military career to an abrupt end; or 3) Change professions after realizing that to remain a soldier is to remain a thrall to the State, a body that will demand that he violate his faith (if not his conscience) on a continuing basis.
As you’ll notce, Matt, Jesus didn’t merely issue simple fiats to His followers in response to their questions about how to obey God’s word. Nor did He provide them with simple, cut-and-dried answers, as would befit mindless, souless automatons that many “faithful” in His own day believed God expected His people to be. His guidance caused one to give pause, think, reflect, and absorb complex moral and spiritual lessons that made the believer draw His own conclusions and see a clear purpose for their lives. This is behavior anathema to temporal rulers, whose greatest quest in exercise of power is for a population of compliant, thoughtless sheep who will bow and scrape to and obey their every dictate. For this reason alone, what you call “radical Christian anti-statism” (define “radical”, please) is not only NOT contrary to Christian teaching, but a central part of it.
First – most of US population worship State and don’t worship God at all, but they worship the Money and/or Power, thus they worship State.
Second – “US believes that it owns the World” – for one – only God owns the Universe, as well as this little Planet.
Who the hell was Paul anyways? Some guy who claimed to have seen Jesus? The man who doesn’t shower on the local street corner says the same thing, but I don’t see his books in the New Testament. “Saint” my ass.
I “served” in the Marines during Vietnam. Then Women Marines were not Marines, they were Women Marines. Women did not command men. As to why Christians support this war. It is all about Isreal. We will scrifice our daughters as well as our sons at the great shrine of the evangelicals at Jerusalem. God does not like shrines, evangelical or otherwise. Idolitry is Idolitry and today’s Christians are as Idolitrous as any pagan.
It is inaccurate to speak of Christians is this context. We are talking about
Heretics who do not submit to the true church of Christ, the Roman Catholic Church.
Protestants in their myriad varieties agree on only one thing, their rejection
of The Church. Essentially Protestants are agents of the Enlightenment and spread
its spoor of insanity. The inversion of reality which is vain attempt to make
women men, a laughable absurdity which would have marked anyone as mad in the
military history of the world, can only lead to eventual collapse through
military defeat. An amazing comedy of human folly which derives from trying
to make the self God. BTW, Paul spoke of the ‘princes of the world’, not
‘government authorities’. As protestants worship in the synagogues of Satan,
so government authorities in democracies bow to the same Satan. The game
can only end in tears.
Religion is probably the quickest way to fill ones or someone elses head with nonsense.
The middle-east has a lot of values and it is largely messed up. This is why they’re “better” at it.
One hears a lot about the American way and the American values and one sees the unbleivable mess the world is now.Nationalism is biggest cause of the mess in middle-east!
The last two world wars were caused by extreme nationalism!People of the same sect fought each other.It has become very convenient to blame religion for every problem. More killings were done in name of nationalism,socialism,democracy. freedom,and nationalistic egotism!,and not to forget national interests
I disagree. For many fundamentalist muslims it is beyond borders as many of them are quick to denounce what palestinians have to put up with… muslims become an entity to be protected from outside intruders, despite some of their differences.
I have visited feminine dominant societies several times, and male dominated societies many times. All of the matriarchies that I have ever seen are in isolated areas of the Himalayas, but I understand there were also such places on isolated islands in the Pacific at one time. All of the great historical civilizations have been patriarchies. This is the plan that works. Modern science has shown us that this cosmos was not designed to reveal itself to man’s mind alone through reflection on principles, he has only history to go by, be that the history of a particle’s path or the history of peoples. This phenomenon in the West and in other “developed” countries is but natures way of evening things out, bringing down the mighty. The rise of the subjective over the objective. This is what the end of an age looks like. European women are not replacing their own kind. It is the Mormons, the Muslims, and the Pentecostals who are growing in numbers while the Europeans, the main-line Protestants, and Reformed Jews are taking the path of the Shakers.
Funny how that works. It isn’t women marines being raped, but just marines. How do they know the difference if gender no longer exists?
When do you know that ideology has displaced intelligence? When universally discernible fact is rejected, or turned on its head.
Tim, it is the military that fights the wars, that's why. Speaking German? Hitler couldn't cross the channel and make the British speak German. How in the world could he have crossed the ocean and made us speak German?
It seems it is only in the US that the military is given God-like status unmatched any where else and no one should besmirch its status,nor hold them responsible for their actions.
Ja and what kind of people would sprechen auf Deutsch?
Personally I think maybe some real Deutsche Kultur(maybe minus Oktoberfest) would be good for Amerikanerland.
As far as the US Military, you are required to use the word “heroes” or “hero” whenever talking about it in the US. Even when they are going around butchering defenseless civilians. This kind of “hero worship” started a long time ago, during the Filipino War few people in the US public seemed to mind the fact that the US was committing genocide in the Philippines.
Um, why is it more tragic for a woman to die for a lie than it is for a man to die for the same lie?
Eric, your point is correct, and I think that Laurence Vance’s initial comment may be saying the same thing. I’ve interpreted it to mean that the mindless “join-the-gang” mindset of pack-men (and their herd instinct to joint the mass-murder party hosted by the military) has now metastasized and infests women as well as men. Consequently, the pool of potential participants in state-worship-through death has doubled. What’s a mother to do?
Agree with you both but read it slightly different.
It is disturbing that: traditions are being changed to show respect for soldiers.
It is tragic that: people are becoming soldiers.
The only way this makes sense is: Women serving in the military force us to show them respect, and he finds this tragic and disturbing.
Freedom and equality are always disturbing trends to some people.
Yeeeeaaaahhh, I think not.
I think that whether you are a man or a woman(does not matter) and you participate in an Illegal War of Aggression by choice, you are a War Criminal.
Therefore it is best that NO ONE would participate in it. Not like the Elites care, everyone but themselves is expendable. And now that they are seeing shortages of recruits they are pushing for Female Cannon Fodder.
But then again, you may just be deliberately missing the point to agitate against the anti-war view.
Sorry; I’m anything but pro-war. I meant that it’s a good thing that women are free to join and demand equal treatment. Vance seems less willing to send them off to be cannon fodder, and that’s good trend.
You’re right about the war criminals though.
Mr. Vance,
I respectfully disagree. Britain was being bombarded daily. She was on her last legs, Churchill begging FDR for more supplies. In less than one year, between September of 1939 and June of 1940,France and most of Europe had already collapsed under the Nazi blitzkrieg. The harsh Russsian winter may have stopped the Nazis, as it did Napolean, but the Soviets would have never been able to defeat them alone. On the other side of the world Japan had invaded China, the Philipines, and Australia fully expected to be invaded in the near future. Is it so far-fetched to think that Hitler and the Axis powers (if not stopped by the great courage of the United States military and my relatives landing at Normandy) would have sooner or later set their sights on the US mainland?
Yes. I said it before and I will say it again: Thank God for the Armed Forces of the United States!
Tim, you accused me of rudeness, but since when is taking god’s name in vain (God bless…) any less offensive? Further, the Germans had old men and children working their factories, which were bereft of supplies. Their economy had been in free-fall within two years of beginning the war. You forget that socialism and warmaking cause bankruptcy and implosion, not strength. Furthermore, the Blitz in England was nowhere near the devastation suffered in Germany. Further, the Germans had to stop because (guess what?) they couldn’t keep it up. Had the U.S. remained out of the war, Germany would have imploded much as the Soviet Union did and for the same reasons. Further, the Soviets would have destroyed the Germans. You forget that they did 90% of the clean-up without our help. Again, you put out fantasy as fact and wish to be taken seriously. This is not possible. You appear to be repeating “radio university” material. This exposes you terribly.
Timmy
Hitler’s best chance to defeat the UK was not in bombing raids in the UK but to cut it off from its colonies and a constant flow of oil. This is why German General Rommel went on the offensive in North Africa to get rid of the British Army in the Middle East. With Rommel’s defeat in the battle of El Alamein Hitler’s plans against the UK collapsed, as long as supplies flowed into the UK the UK was in the war.
Second point, you seem to think that Russia is a Frozen Wasteland 365 days a year(it’s not, even the northern most city Murmansk right now has temperatures averaging 40-60 degrees F and this is near the Arctic Circle southern Russia has sub-tropical areas). Are you aware that the USSR’s most effective offensive(Operation Bagration) was in the middle of Summer? Your “Russian Winter” excuse does not hold water. The Soviet T-34 tanks, Assault Infantry with PPSh automatic sub-machineguns, Shturmovik bombers, 1,000’s of well trained Snipers, and Katusha rockets were what won the Eastern Front for the Soviets and killed most of the Axis troops during the war. If the Soviet General Zshukov could defeat the Japanese in 1939 then I think the Australians could have also.
Tim R,
I assume that you were never in the Armed Forces of the United States that you feel God so lovinly gave to the World. I was in the Navy at the start of the Viet-Nam War (the Navy got me out of the San Diego County jail where I was facing 3 months on charges of vagrancy – they still had the old anti-Okie law). Anyway, I got sent to a ship, the USS Hancock that was “lucky” enough to conduct the first aerial bombardment of North Viet-Nam. As a flightdeck crewman, I was asked to chalk my name on some 500 lb bomb under the salutation – “Sorry about that, Ho Chi Minh”. I refused as I said that that bomb wasn’t going to hit old Ho, it was probably going to hit some poor innocent slob on a water buffalo. Later our senior petty officer provided us a “leadership” lecture on why these people were all “gooks” and we shouldn’t give a sh-t about them. Again I dissented and made the statement that they were also human. I got threatened with a “blanket party” for that same evening. Anyway, all I carried away from my 4 year, 4 month stint was memories of callous, racist, swineish behavior (the bar fights, the puke and blood, the whoremongering, the VD). My shipmates included good people as well as barracks thieves, homosexual prostitutes, and deadbeats. To tell the truth, I met the same class of people in the military as in jail. You ought to try either and broaden your mind.
These are “Constantinian†Christians, a breed that has co-opted the church as a body and all but completely replaced the real faith over the last seventeen hundred years. Their defining characteristics are: 1) worship of the State and its leader figures, along with a covetousness of the power they hold, all of which is painted with a faux veneer of “Christianity†to lend this idol worship some facade of moral authority; and 2) the abdication of rational, critical thought or tents of the faith as contained in the Gospels, along with the the adoption of self-righteous belligerence in pursuit of temporal power and prestige.
Seventeen hundred years? Jesus, what a bunch of nudniks. C’mon people, we Jews did the same thing to ourselves with Zionism, and it only took a little over a hundred years!
But will you acknowledge that? Nooooo!! Typical crypto-anti-semitism, fer shoor! (that’s “for sure” in Yiddish).
I have visited feminine dominant societies several times…
Luke Powell
Sure you have, Luke. Sure you have. Lemme tell you something- you can’t even begin to know the meaning of “feminine (sic) dominant societies” until you’ve spent some time at my house.
Yours too, huh? :)~
Why can’t people be against a war without bashing the military all the time? Unless you are a 100% pacifist(in which case go ahead and bash it all you want) you should quit bashing the military. As the saying goes, freedom is not free and we need our military to keep us free. Have we made terrible and often, inexcusable, mistakes in the use of our military might? Certainly. Has our government always used the military in a way that is just, humane and ethical? Certainly not. But with that being said, thank God for the military. If it was not for the military of the United States we would probably be speaking German now and I probably would have never been born. And how about the good things the military does? Recall that after those deadly tidal waves that killed hundreds of thousands of people, who was the first on the scene to bring in food, medicine, search and rescue equipment, etc? The US Military that’s who. Even today the US Military is waiting to bring aid to Burma but Burma won’t allow them in.
So bottom line: Either become a total pacifist or stop bashing the military all the time.
Tim, your forgetfulness (self-inflicted, deliberate, or blissful ignorance?) is simply breathtaking. It is a supreme understatement to say our government has not “always” used the military correctly. Perhaps in the war of 1812, in which freebooters eclipsed the efforts of the gov-co military, there was reasonable use. But all of the other military actions have been a travesty resulting in worse consequences (1896, WWI) or have been the result of political manipulation (WWI, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq I & 2). As the Framers understood, a standing military is the source of political manipulation and all the rest of the evils of tyranny. And please don’t repeat the silly cliche of statist apologists that “freedom isn’t free.” The standing military and its government-dependency monoculture and inbred dupayash mindset is the bulwark of socialism and the spearhead of tyranny–the opposite of freedom. I am amazed how easily people swallow the turd that we would be speaking German if… As anyone who has read any credible history of WW2 (and Tim hasn’t) knows, Hitler was over-extended the minute he attacked the Soviet Union, and he had no chance of even taking over the U.K. Please don’t try to frighten the children with your silly tales of impending Nazi doom, Tim. There are actually people who read books blogging on this site. And please, I do not wish to pay for a gang of wanna-be killers rendering assistance in the South Pacific. There are private organizations that do that–not the dependent military-welfare misfits who wear green and cammy. Furthermore, I am not a pacifist, but I know the distinction between legitimate self-defence, pacifism, and warmongering. Tim’s cranial tool needs sharpening if it exists at all (he may simply be a pipe through which the bilge of the neocons flows without hitting anything between ear and keyboard).
Lawrence, for a guy who thinks he is so smart and well-read, it is rather surprising that you can’t seem to have a polite and civil discusion without feeling the need to insult me with your ad hominem attacks. Thankfully, there are many other people on this site that are more mature and enjoy a vigourous debate that leads to the free and fair exchange of ideas. And unlike you, they can do so without petty insults that are better left in the school yard.
My apologies, Tim.
By Gar, Tim, are you the nut who wrote to my local paper saying that if not for the U.S. military we’d be speaking Japanese, Korean, Russian, German, Somali(!), Farsi, Arabic, and Vietnamese? The last time America fought a purely defensive war was 1776, and even that could possibly be interpreted otherwise. Sorry, WWII doesn’t count, since we started shooting at the Germans first in the Atlantic and, as Hoover put it, finally poked the Japanese snake enough to make it strike.
Incidentally, you need to get a better shtick than your worn-out “how can you be so mean to me” routine. Buck up and be a man, like Bush! When you spew your usual nonsense knowing you’ll get the usual, well-deserved putdown, just say “Bring ’em on!” or the equivalent.
And think of the horror if the US population knew more than 1 language like the “Eurotrash”! Imagine most Americans traveling to other countries(as tourists) and understanding local languages and cultures and not barricading themselves in “Fortress America” against imaginary threats, what a nightmare that would be!
“Yes. I said it before and I will say it again: Thank God for the Armed Forces of the United States!”
Yes, I am sure that is what the 1 million dead Iraqis and their families are saying…. as well as the hundreds of thousands of dead Japanese after cities were mercilessly carpet bombed. Get some perspective.
I am constnatly amazed by how little Americans are affected by the reality of what is going on in Iraq. Ancient cities have been destroyed, a million people killed, a country is seemingly forever occupied, and you can sit pretty in your McMansion and thank god for the american military???? Don’t you see how truly offensive that statement is to the rest of the world? The American military is now serving one purpose and one purpose only: it is making MONEY. Bottome line. If you think that the billion dollar contracts are going to stop any time soon, then you are truly naive. War with “terrorists” or “enemies” will continue until America fails.
Thank you, Ana. The crime of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are the civilian casualties. Those people did not have the power to affect their governments, yet they have been slaughtered by U.S. soldiers. Those soldiers will leave a stink on American citizens regardless of our opposition to their mass-murder rampage. As you probably know, Ana, the U.S. troops killed 2 million civilians in Vietnam, caused the death of 567,000 Iraqi babies by 1996 alone by enforcing sanctions and bombing infrastructure (which continued until the current war started), and as you say another 1 million since. The actions of the American military over the past 50 years disgusts any decent person. We will live with this shame much as the Germans had to live with the stain of Nazism.
I agree with you in that the actions of the US military in the last 50 years have been disgusting. Unfortunately this is the nature of humanity. There is not a single country/people on earth that if given the power of the US would not use it in an aggressive fashion. This is why I am for strong local militias and much less power in the hands of the federal government. They can maintain a Navy and Air Force to defend OUR coastlines only, but they should never have access to standing armies to send overseas. People should have military training to defend themselves in the form of a citizens army and be responsible for their freedom as they were 1776. But this concept of a huge professional army controlled by our elites always ends up in the same way. We will continue to find any reason to go everywhere to serve special interest, whether it be some perceived "threat" or some "humanitarian" mission. People who want to keep us out of these military conflicts are completely powerless to do anything about it.
Thank God for the war dissenters. My sisters, please don’t join the military as presently
sponsored by the Corporation of IsraelUSA.
Ana, I have long since believed as you that America must “fail”. That is total economic and societal collapse. The survivors, the remnant, will pick up the peices and start over again. That day has been put off by constant intervention by the Fed and the government, interfering with market forces. This will make the final debacle total and survivable by only those who have Prepared. It will happen suddenly. The only ingrediant needed for that day is fear. Revelation 18 discribes the event: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great(world’s monetary system based on bibically forbidden usuary banking), all this wealth in one hour has come to nothing”.
Oh, horrors! The military is using (gasp!) gender-neutral pronouns! Civilians in Iraq are being butchered, those who live are forced to watch the destruction of all they hold dear, but all the same, we should still be horrified that the military (shudder!) acknowledges its female members! If I had pearls, I’d be clutching them!
Deaths of female soldiers are as tragic as deaths of male soldiers. Neither are as tragic as the deaths of Iraqis, who have had absolutely no say in their fate.
If anyone is truly concerned about the plight of female soldiers and war resisters, help support an inquiry into the death of Pfc. LaVena Johnson (http://www.lavenajohnson.com/). You can also support female war resisters like Deidra Cobb who refused to fire her gun in Iraq for moral reasons, or Anuradha Bhagwati who left the Marines because of the war in Iraq, or Capt. Mary Hanna who received conscientious objector status over the war, or many others at http://www.couragetoresist.org.
Lawrence, I think it’s inaccurate to say that war-mania has been catching on amongst females. Rather, the increased recruitment of women is a sign of the poor state of the economy as well as the Army’s own desperation. The celebrated Jessica Lynch, let’s remember, joined the army because she wanted to be a teacher and thought the military could help her with that.
During the over ten years of the killing sanctions against Iraq,the constant justification of the sanctions offered by amny Americans was as follows:
“If the Iraqis do not want to see their children die from starvation and lack of medicine then they should overthrow their government!”
All Iraqis were held responsible for a government that did not choose.Americans would be outraged to have that standards applied to them!!
That also implies that the US can do nothing wrong and that all violence by the US Military is the fault of the victim nation. This kind of crazy logic will only end when the US Military gets a significant bloody nose from its adventures.
To this day many Americans still hold such a hostile attitude towards the Vietnamese as if the Vietnamese were the aggressors against the US.The US has played the victim for long enough!
“A compassionate Vietnamese civilian left his air raid shelter and swam out to McCain. McCain’s arm and leg were fractured and he was tangled up in his parachute underwater. He was drowning. The Vietnamese man saved McCain’s sorry ass, and yet McCain has nothing but hatred for “the gooks†who allegedly tortured him. As he told reporters on his campaign bus (The Straight Talk Express) in 2000, “I will hate them as long as I live.†(1) ”
http://www.counterpunch.org/valentine06132008.html
I so agree with Lawrence Vance, that it is tragic that many of my fellow inhabitants of the Corporation of IsraelUSA are raising their daughters to be soldiers, for the empire I add. Thanks for this great article and I so appreciate the comments posted here. Keep truth alive!
As for the theological discussion above…
I have seen no asterisk by the commandment “Thou shall not kill.” Why would there be an exception to that commandment and not to the others? Would any Judeo-Christian believer argue that given certain circumstances you should worship false idols or commit adultery? I’ve never heard it argued. Or that you should have other gods before God? No asterisks by any of the commandments. But it’s OK to commit state-sanctioned murder? Show me the asterisk.
When we talk about ‘sacrificing for one’s country’ we usually think that means dying in the line of duty for one’s country. But it can also mean sacrificing your innocence as a non-murderer by engaging in state-sanctioned murder – against the commandment of God. And we wonder why so many of our soldiers come home psychologically afflicted…
Romans 13:1 was mentioned earlier. You can follow the word of Paul when he says to “submit to the governing authorities” by refusing to commit state-sanctioned murder and then going straight to the authorities and “submitting” yourself to them as a conscientious objector and then “submitting” to the state-sanctioned consequences. These actions are in compliance with the text.
As for Luke 3:14, the passage “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages” confirms three commandments: do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not covet. And nowhere does the text explicitly command anyone to commit murder for the earthly authorities. To do so is a violation of the ten commandments. Are we to expect that we should have other gods before God because the state says so – in order to submit to the state? Bullocks! Nor will I commit murder for the state. And I am willing to submit to the authorities for refusing to do so.
Christians have to decide whether they will worship the Prince of Peace or the Masters of War.
So Tim R.
When are you enlisting? Maybe you will meet a nice girl and move back to the homeland.
Also,
Regarding the discussion of the Apostle Paul….when Paul was imprisoned illegally by the Roman authorities they were shocked to find out that he was indeed a Roman citizen with specific rights. The Roman authorities became fearful and proceeded to release him after Paul recited these rights to them. He was no wall flower and spoke boldly whenever given the opportunity.
Yes, I'm coming very late to the discussion, and the comment I am about to make has nothing specifically to do with the Feminization of the Military, but I just wanted to mention that the Lk 3 comment that keeps being batted about, both here and in comments on other subjects, comes not from the mouth of Jesus, but of his cousin John the Baptizer, who worked totally under the Mosaic law, and had no direct connection to Christianity except as a forerunner. Christians are called to a higher standard, and we need to quit engaging in polemics and simply follow the truth and the beauty of Jesus' teachings.
(continued in next message, since this one's too long)
(continued from previous comment)
Kudos, by the way, to Liberranter, who seems to have encapsulated the entire discussion (including many of the thoughts later added) in a lovely fashion.
One last thought (and I am sad to have to add this, since this is Mr. Vance's blog, and you really should do him and yourself a favor by buying a copy of his reprint of this), anyone with the slightest interest in the subject of temporal government vs. Christianity really DOES owe it to him or herself to read "On Civil Government," by David Lipscomb, available for free at http://www.mun.ca/rels/restmov/texts/dlipscomb/civgov.ht... or for just a few bucks at http://www.vancepublications.com