Tuesday, December 22, 2009

'Gott Mit Uns': Christians Excusing War

By Gary G. Kohls MD
December 22, 2009

When Gulf War I ended (during George Bush the Elder’s presidency), General Norman Schwartzkopf, the field commander, triumphantly proclaimed, “God must have been on our side!”

Read on.

5 comments:

Atkinsopht said...

During WWI- in the winter- the Germans displayed signs visible to the doughboys across no-man's-land reading: "Gott mit Uns".
To which the logical reply was: "We got mittens too."

Jeremy said...

Jesus was preaching and teaching among people who were-- mostly-- tribal people, peoplr who enjoyed fighting and killing people in other tribes, feeling that THEY were the only real people. What is surprising is that so many over the centuries were able to reject the tribe in favor of a more advanced way of living. There are more and more every year who have evolved to a more appropriate way of living.

Chris said...

Justifying killing others by using Scripture... how "Scriptural"..

The State and the Church...in an unholy symbiosis....nowadays the Government Flag is on the altar....and days of worship of the Lord have been replaced with days of honoring(nee "worshipping") the State and its military machine.

We know the conditioning of Americans to think that rights are GIVEN to us "citizens" by the Government and/or a piece of paper with ink on it(The Constitution)....but the Church/State linkage-heresy is largely due to the deification of Romans 13(not challenging let alone questioning the State or its actions) instead of the words of Christ...THROUGHOUT the Gospels....who says "Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called the Children of God"

NOT the State idolators, the Military idolators, Government idolators, Political Idolators and "Church" idolators.

the unholy shotgun marriage of Church and State/Military is leading to the State Church of Europe and the Holy Roman Empire....

look what THAT led/leads to....

Morton Kurzweil said...

Beliefs are what people are willing to die for. There are no moral or ethical teachings in the Old or New Testaments, and certainly not in the Qur'an, that claim war to be a sin.
The commandments are instructions in the means to obey God, a Parent who leaves much to be desired if we were to do what He does, not what He says.
The purpose of religion is to convince a people of a certainty, something counterintuitive and the source of emotional instability and xenophobia. One certainty becomes the contradiction of another. The personal identity of a moral edifice is challenged. Violence is necessary to sustain a belief.

Skookum1 said...

I came across the following book by accident in a used bookstore several years ago.....I don't have my copy anymore, gave it to a devout Christian friend/professor who'd been using St. Paul to teach me Ancient Greek....written during the height of World War I by a British archbishop:

http://www.amazon.com/Rival-Philosophies-Jesus-Paul-Christianity/dp/1112165975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263701320&sr=8-1