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You make a good point Clyde. Maybe Bush, Saddam, Osama and all the other bad boys need to just order a pizza and pass around a big fat joint.
They'll be smiling all squinty-eyed at one another saying "I love you man!" in less than an hour. :nuts:
Problem solved.
Sorry you didn't want to read what Peggy wrote. I posted it to offer the view of a very intelligent woman who does not drink or smoke or skip church or miss work except for a real family emergency.
The people who hold signs against the war are as diverse as those who support the war.
A common thread is that war kills people and they don't believe THIS WAR will stop terrorism or even put Saddam or anyone else of his sort out of business.
I support our president's effort to maintain a position of strength and force needed changes in Iraq. I also seriously doubt that he wants war. He simply can't say all the positive things about American principles and his Christianity and really want to start a war.
Protesters may irritate people who like to see only one side of an issue, but they don't threaten our nation in any way.
My main reason for involving myself in such discussions is to convince as many people as possible to listen and discuss major issues. Everyone involved in a serious discussion has an opportunity to change someone else's mind. Only full participation, however, allows for that possibility. That's the American way.
Peggy has as much right to be misguided and wrong as a dope smoking hippie.
Good for her!
Clyde, please go over her column point by point and analyze each part.
I'll share your evaluation with her next week. I didn't say her view was perfect.
Sorry, Aub, but read the Old Testament. Its full of war and the Lord instructed the Israelites often to utterly and completely destroy the opposition. God's character has not changes throughout all of time - there is a time for war. Obviously nobody wants war if its avoidable, but sitting around like pansies waiting for terrorists to come drop nukes on you is not a practical thing.Originally Posted by aubunique
Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2003 6:09 pm****Post subject:
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aubunique wrote:
I support our president's effort to maintain a position of strength and force needed changes in Iraq. I also seriously doubt that he wants war. He simply can't say all the positive things about American principles and his Christianity and really want to start a war.
Markay wrote:
Sorry, Aub, but read the Old Testament. Its full of war and the Lord instructed the Israelites often to utterly and completely destroy the opposition. God's character has not changes throughout all of time - there is a time for war. Obviously nobody wants war if its avoidable, but sitting around like pansies waiting for terrorists to come drop nukes on you is not a practical thing.
Markay, isn't there a lot of space between going to war nearly halfway around the world and sitting home like pansies? Is attacking Iraq or giving in to terrorism an either-or thing?
I am all for supporting the strong position of our president. However, my Methodist upbringing didn't include being pro-war. It allowed a person to fight to protect himself and his country, but there was powerful justification for WWI and WWII. The Korean and Vietnam wars were based on anti-communist hysteria and were supported because people were led to believe that our intervention would save some people and free some people. Communism was made out to be anti-Christian and the economic differences were mentioned only in their contributing to the the lack of economic freedom of those people we were trying to save. No one came out and said that opening up markets in the far east were part of the purpose.
Even Paul Harvey eventually said that our effort in Vietnam was wrong. If we don't meet the announced objectives quickly and get out of the middle east without a lot of casualties, then this current effort also will come under serious scrutiny in the future.
What are our objectives?
1 Eliminating terrorism.
2 Removing nuclear, biological and chemical weapons from the hands of unfriendly powers.
3 Putting a new regime in power in Iraq.
If these objectives (and whatever others are added) are met, then the current effort will go down in history as worthwhile.
Markay, if the disciples whose writings survive in the New Testament quoted Jesus accurately, it is difficult to put Jesus' interpretation of God's character up against the things in the Old Testament that some people keep talking about as supporting this war and still believe there was no change in God's character.
Jesus was walking around in an actual human body and feeling its pain as well as its pleasure. He wasn't an abstract spirit that could value individual human lives as little as the Old Testament God purportedly did.
Obviously, we all choose to believe only part of everything we read or hear or see. That's what intelligent people do. That's what scholars and journalists and scientists are taught to do. It is difficult to change our beliefs to fit circumstances.
If THOU SHALT NOT KILL applies to a fetus, doesn't it apply to all existing human beings, even in foreign countries? Don't we at least have to acknowledge that war is wrong even as we support our president's war effort with a sad heart?
As I said on the other thread, this is a good discussion to take to Christian Chatter where some others will join in.
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