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A simple question.

NightSwimmer

NightSwimmer

Senator
Is it appropriate for Christians to glorify war?

[video=youtube;DgRVNjsuycQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DgRVNjsuycQ[/video]

WWJD?
 
gigi said:
As was my post. I thought you had something in mind.
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Well yes. What I had in mind was the question of whether other posters thought it inappropriate for a follower of Christ to glorify war.

So then, in your opinion, that would be inappropriate behavior for a Christian? I suppose I could have added a poll, but I was hoping for discussion.
 
My late father was a veteran of Korea. He was about the most devout Catholic I've ever met. He's the one who taught me that the 5th Commandment is "thou shalt not kill", not some sorta weenie-assed ass-covering around not "murdering", or whatever.

So anyway...he was devout, yet he served as a USN deck officer in Korea. He requested service on a tanker - really dangerous service as it turns out. But, he was precluded thereon, from wearing a sidearm. Deck officers on board every other sort of ship were required to wear one. His thinking was that by serving on a tanker, his odds of having to kill a man were minimized.

So....being devout and all...why didn't he beg off entirely?...with some sorta concientuos objector type thing? Well...he was a man, and an American, and a Catholic...and had he begged off, another man would've had to've stood in his stead.
 
fairsheet, I think our fathers would have gotten along very well, although mine is older...... WWII.


NS, I don't think most people-Christian or not-glorify war. I think we as a nation tend to show pride and gratitude for the people who serve in our military because of the sacrifices they and their families make, and the risk they put themselves in for us. I don't know....that's what I see.

Although, when bin Laden was killed, watching all those people chant U S A was disturbing.
 
gigi said:
NS, I don't think most people-Christian or not-glorify war. I think we as a nation tend to show pride and gratitude for the people who serve in our military because of the sacrifices they and their families make, and the risk they put themselves in for us. I don't know....that's what I see.
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Well what you "see" is highly biased. There are lots professions in which the people who serve and the families make great sacrifices. But we don't glorify those. We glorify the Military. Our highest awards are for military service. We have holidays for the military even though firefighters and cops and the USCG have much more to do with our security.

We glorify war.
 
degsme said:
Well what you "see" is highly biased. There are lots professions in which the people who serve and the families make great sacrifices. But we don't glorify those. We glorify the Military. Our highest awards are for military service. We have holidays for the military even though firefighters and cops and the USCG have much more to do with our security.

We glorify war.
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I don't give out awards, nor do I create holidays.

Please refer to NS's original question.
 
NightSwimmer said:
Well yes. What I had in mind was the question of whether other posters thought it inappropriate for a follower of Christ to glorify war.

So then, in your opinion, that would be inappropriate behavior for a Christian? I suppose I could have added a poll, but I was hoping for discussion.
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Nightswimmer,those who glorify war are tring to hide behind Religion.They are not following the words of Christ.

Is there a specific person you have in mind? We need a little more detail on what you are asking. The Words,"Thou shalt Not Kill," Come to mind. Are you referring to those in Government who pretend to be great Christians,yet are so blood thirsty as to attack a country that did not harm us in any way,killing hundreds of thousands of the people,yet posed as pious Christians?
 
No, MaryAnne. I had no specific person in mind, although I have witnessed both individuals and religious organizations engaging in behavior that could only be construed as glorification of war.

I would say that it is appropriate for followers of Odin to glorify war. Celebrating military conquest aligns with their dogma.
 
Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, et al, don't make the decision to fight our wars. WE make those decisions. Our service people are the ones who put their lives on the line for us, to do OUR dirty work. For THAT - independent of the wars themselves, they SHOULD be glorified.

I picked up an interesting book name of, "The Hangman's Daughter". It's set in a 17th-Century Bavarian village. "Hangman" is a hereditary position, passed down from generation to generation. The hangman is the village's designee, for meting out the torture and executions that were part n' parcel of the legal systems of the time.

Yet, per this particular story and this particular hangman, he's perhaps the most enlightened and compassionate man in the village, even as he performs his duties efficiently and with diligence.
 
fairsheet said:
Our soldiers, sailors, airmen, et al, don't make the decision to fight our wars. WE make those decisions. Our service people are the ones who put their lives on the line for us, to do OUR dirty work. For THAT - independent of the wars themselves, they SHOULD be glorified.
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Since 1973, no American has been forced to join the military. If one makes a personal decision to join the military, they should be well aware of the probable consequences of that decision. Working people put their lives on the line every day to do the "dirty work" of catching our seafood and building our infrastructure, among other things. I know plenty of iron-workers, electricians, pipe-fitters and factory equipment operators who have died or been seriously injured in the line of duty. Do their lives have no meaning?

Since when should doing "dirty work" be glorified? And why?
 
NightSwimmer said:
Since 1973, no American has been forced to join the military. If one makes a personal decision to join the military, they should be well aware of the probable consequences of that decision. Working people put their lives on the line every day to do the "dirty work" of catching our seafood and building our infrastructure, among other things. I know plenty of iron-workers, electricians, pipe-fitters and factory equipment operators who have died or been seriously injured in the line of duty. Do their lives have no meaning?

Since when should doing "dirty work" be glorified? And why?
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Both are mythologized. Both for political reasons.

"dirty work" is glorified as a consequence of the labor movements of the early 20th century. As a response to the Pullman and Pinkerton strikes and the Ludlow Massacre where workers were basically seen as slightly higher than draft animals but definately subhuman.

Military has been glorified by the GOP from Reagan onwards as a way of distinguishing himself from the more moderate and non-aggressor Carter. And from the Dems like Clinton and Obama as a bulwark against accusations of being "soft on defense".

Its political spin - it has no actual moral nor ethical basis.
 
NightSwimmer said:
It appears to me that Christian ethics and morals should stand in opposition to war as a general principle. Where am I in error in believing this?
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I was agreeing with you. Sorry for being less than clear in my writing. I was trying to point out the genesis of the modern hagiographies about both "dirty work" and "the military" and how both were created to serve POLITICAL rather than moral purposes.
 
degsme said:
I was agreeing with you. Sorry for being less than clear in my writing. I was trying to point out the genesis of the modern hagiographies about both "dirty work" and "the military" and how both were created to serve POLITICAL rather than moral purposes.
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I understand. Mine was a rhetorical question, I suppose.
 
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