Folks I'm a little worried, a little disenchanted. Apparently I have it wrong. I should be justified when I want to support my country and it's Government as it sets policies that condone war. Apparently it is condoned even by God to invade foreign sovereign countries in the name of "they started it!"
It must be true. A soldier who fought on the ground in one of those foreign countries said so.
This is what he said:
I am a Special Forces Officer and veteran of combat in Afghanistan.
The 6th Commandment of the Christian Bible (and Jewish Torah) is "Thou Shall Not Kill" or "Thou Shall Not Murder" depending on the translation of ancient Hebrew.
I prefer the "Thou Shall Not Murder" as it is the more accurate translation.
I would like to stop it there a moment and mention the convenience of the alteration in interpretation of just one word from "Kill" to "Murder" and the implications of that.
Removal of the word kill which is a blanketing word that encompasses all forms of violence against another causing death leaves no real room for movement and we can't exclude warfare that causes death and begin our justification of that.
Murder is a legal word in our current English language and according to most Western legal systems one must have intended beyond a reasonable doubt to have taken another's life. There are reasonable defenses to the charge - the main being self defense or defense of another under serious threat from the person killed.
So the implications here are that one "is justified" in killing another with some specific conditions.
Let's hear some more:
Becoming a Christian is not a suicide pact. It does not mean that now as I am a Christian that anyone can come and beat me or kill me, rape women in my house and take anything you want from me and I will not fight back. That I will just lay there as a slug (or run away) because of my religion.
Interesting first sentence because Jesus has called many to serve him who have died in his name many quite violently as is attested by the accounts of Christian martyrs through history. I bring to the fore a recent martyr's (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) prophetic words regarding this "when Christ calls a man he bids him come and die."
The rest of this paragraph paints a noble, male supremist picture and builds with it a narrative of the 'enemy that is not in my home' which conveniently slots into that wider narrative of 'the enemy that is not in my country or doesn't follow my superior belief system'.
Let's go on:
Defending yourself is not murder. This is very clear in the Bible.
Also, "Thou Shall Not Murder" ties in completely when Jesus was asked what he thought was the greatest of the 10 Commandments
Matthew 22:37-40 -- Jesus replied: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
And Jesus also said "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." (Luke 6:31; Luke 10:27 (affirming of Moses) and Matthew 7:12)
If I saw "bad men" breaking into my neighbor's house, I would go and defend my neighbor. I would willingly put my life in danger to prevent my neighbor from getting murdered, raped or beaten. That is also the way I would want my neighbor to treat me. I would be a coward and a very bad neighbor if I knew bad men were killing my neighbor and raping his wife and I did nothing. I would be evil if I justified "doing nothing" because I am a Christian.
I am still scratching my head at the twist of logic here. The scriptures are plainly pointing me in a direction and clearly telling me how to treat my neighbour and how to situate myself in relation to God.
The scenario after the scriptures is going back to the White Night narrative we saw earlier where he is identifying an enemy 'bad men' (obviously pigeon holing a type of person) putting them on a different level to his 'good' neighbour that most likely shares his values and beliefs. He then goes on to paint an unlikely picture that nowhere near fits into the wider scenario he is attempting to justify. Lets not kid ourselves he is attempting to fit this narrative into the invasion of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
If my neighbour America is such a good neighbour I would be expecting that he would not invade me and my home. I would expect that he would consult me on who is and isn't my enemy. I would ask him to assist me in restraining my enemy instead of thrusting his superior beliefs on me and tearing my loved ones and home apart in a vendetta against his self made enemies.
There's more:
What makes murder inherently wrong is not that it feels wrong, but that a transcendent Creator to whom we are answerable commands: "Thou shalt not murder." What makes kindness to others inherently right is not that human reason says so, but that God does: "Love thy neighbor as thyself; I am the Lord."
This doesn't do much for the argument. I would just say that an inner conscience would reflect the Creator's commands of though shalt not kill and usher us toward kindness.
As far as being a soldier in the American Army. The American Army and the American solider does not invade countries for money or booty or for power (as most armies do). We go (and fight and die) in hard places around this brutal world to liberate people and to bring freedom. This is what good neighbors do. I would leave the American Army if we invaded Iraq just to kill or Iraqis or invaded Afghanistan to take all their gold and make them slaves.
We were attacked on 9-11. 3,000 American died. More Americans will die if the terrorists are not confronted. We either go after them or surrender to them. Again, being a Christian or a Christian nation is not a suicide pact. It does not mean you just lay there and let people do whatever evil they want to you without fighting back.
Self defense is not immoral - not by an individual or by a nation.
God sent David to slay Goliath. Did God break his own Commandment?
Just the way I see it.
Best Regards,
The first paragraph reads like a narrative of one who is working against their conscience and needs to somehow justify the actions of their country. I am glad that many are beginning to see America for what it is and the motives behind it's Government's policies. Every aspect that this soldier says that America doesn't do, IT DOES DO!
I don't want to play down the fact that American and other country's soldiers don't go into difficult, horrific situations overseas. They do an extremely hard job under difficult circumstances and often die for that cause.
What I do want to question and oppose is the idea that the soldiers in these places need to be where they are and specifically doing what they are doing. Driven by questionable policies that are in place for the profit of a few and the detriment of many.
I would also question the automatic notion that Terrorists will flourish if not confronted. If internal American and Western policies were to shift away from accelerated corporate gain at the expense of neighbouring countries I don't believe these minority groups would have a reason to attack us.
But hey that's just the way I see it!
