Hi Terry, Sorry to butt in here, but just had to add my 2 cents worth (if it's worth that!). I appreciate your sincere desire to follow the teachings of Jesus. But I think you are missing this: Jesus was teaching us how to live as individual followers of the Lord. National governments are under a whole different set of rules. God instituted our government to protect the governed from harm and to enforce civil laws.
People get all confused about it not being right for the government to put murderers to death because Jesus taught us to forgive our enemies. They are confusing individual laws from government laws. GOD is the one who said the government (which used to be carried out by the Jewish people in charge) is to put certain violators of the laws to death. GOD is the one who said there were times to kill enemies. At the time God laid down these rules, His people lived in a Theocracy. So the civil government laws and the moral individual laws were all mixed up together. Today the civil role of the government (no longer being a Theocracy, but a Democracy) is separate from our individual, moral, laws. I am to forgive my enemies. However, if my enemy has violated the government laws, the government has a responsibility to me and all the governed to punish that person. I, as an individual, am forbidden by Jesus to avenge a murder personally. However, the government has every right to do that. The same goes for wars: the government decides what is best to protect our nation, and godly men obey the government. Godly men serve in the military, as well. My son, Todd, is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, and a jet pilot. (His wife, Shirley, is a Naval Academy graduate, no longer enlisted.) We have a US flag that Todd gave us, which was in the cockpit with him when he flew his 14th mission over the Iraq "No-Fly" zone. We display it proudly. He is now in the Reserves, training new jet pilots. Todd and Shirley are the finest pair of Christians you would ever want to meet, and have no doubts about serving God in military. I pray daily for our President, and for everyone in our military services. They are not afraid that they are disobeying God in carrying out war; just as our Founding Fathers were not. God Bless them all. Were it not for people like them, you and I would not have our religious freedom, and would not be able to spread the gospel. Look at the religion you would be forced to live under if you were under the authority of Saddam Hussein today. Perhaps one side effect of this coming war is that God wants more freedom to spread the gospel to Arab nations before He returns. I know I have babbled. Does anyone else think this way? I wish I could find someone smarter than I who has written about these differences between individual and government laws and roles. Izzy -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Terry Clifton Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 7:10 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] God and war David: Thanks for your thoughts. What you suggest is obviously the most effective way to eliminate what we perceive to be a threat. I personally would not miss New York city but I suppose many people would. It seems, however, that following that logic, we would lock up everyone who might steal, take the licenses of those who might speed, and make those who may divorce pay alimony. Is this nation so Godly that we can now tell others/force others to do as we say? Can we see clearly that this is what Jesus would have us do? How do we justify our behavior based on the Sermon on the mount? What am I missing? Terry ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Miller" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 1:08 AM Subject: Re: [TruthTalk] God and war > Terry wrote: > > Will someone who has thought this > > through please give me your findings? > > Hi Terry. > > >From my perspective, the options appear straight forward. Saddam Hussein is > working toward obtaining nuclear weapons in a secretive manner. Given the > history he has had with invading Kuwait, and given his history of violations > against the weapons inspectors, and given his hatred for the U.S., and > remembering the 9/11 incident and his links to terrorism and support for it, > it is very clear to me that if we don't deal with him now, we will have to > deal with him after he has nuked New York city and perhaps other cities as > well. > > >From my perspective, it's kind of like a guy you know who is about to murder > your family. As he is gathering his weapons together to do the job, do you > passively sit by and watch him kill your family, or do you shoot him down > first? > > Perhaps the peaceful solution would be for us to elect Saddam as our > President and let him lead our country. In this case, maybe we would not > have to worry about him nuking our cities, but is that really the more > peaceful solution? > > Peace be with you. > David Miller, Beverly Hills, Florida USA > > ---------- > "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org > > If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed. > ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
