More Friday Musings

So which is it? What does God want us to do? Does He want us to be the type of Christians that tell other Christians how to behave? What is or isn't a sin? Does He want us to be the types of Christians that villify those who do not follow our way, calling them murderers and devils and other nasty things? Or does God want us to be nice to everyone, no matter who they are, no matter what they do, no matter what they believe, because in doing so, we will show them the way?

First law of Christianity according to Will: If someone claims that they know what God wants you to do in your life... run far away as fast as you can.

Okay, maybe not the first law... but certainly not the last either.

When I was in the Navy, I looked at this very small island one day and thought I saw a missile battery. Fortunately, I took this to my good friend who'd been working on this area for years and he told me that it was just an abandoned oil rig. But he also told me that another guy, my age, had called it a missile battery and sent out that information to the fleet. An entire U.S. Naval fleet turned right around because of the threat this "missile battery" posed. I learned very early on that my mistakes could have huge consequences for myself and my shipmates and possibly for my nation. After that, I worked very very hard to never make a mistake.

Compared with that, it's hard to take any other job seriously. Loss of money, no big deal. Pissed off customer, so what? Taking an extra five minutes for lunch, not a federal crime. But make a mistake in the Navy and someone could die.

It always helps to put things in perspective. I don't like the war in Iraq and I don't know why we still have troops in Afghanistan. We started this war to stop terrorism, and there's more terrorism now than there was before. I completely suspect the President's motives and I am absolutely certain that he lied to the American people about WMD's in Iraq. That said, we must support our troops overseas and do everything in our power to bring them home safely and quickly - even if it means winning a war we have no business being involved in. Even if it means losing it.

My perspective on war is a little different than most - having been involved with one. First, bring home as many of your men as you can alive and in one piece. Second, accomplish the clearly stated objective and then get out. Third, if either of the first two goals can not be accomplished, don't go to war.

War is hell. Its the only time "civilized" society allows for the murder of young men and women in pursuit of a goal. We murdered thousands of Iraqis to capture 52 men and to protect the United States from WMD's that never existed. As a society, that is a sin we have to live with. And yet, I am saddened at the lack of outrage. We have murdered thousands of innocent people and our common response is, oh well, they probably had it coming.

Okay, I could talk about our so called President for days if you get me started, but I wanted to end on a lighter note.

God loves you. He really does. And if you ever have a Christian in your face telling you to change your ways or go to hell, just tell them that God loves you. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. If that doesn't stop them in their tracks, well, give 'em a good swift kick. Its okay. God told me that that was what He wanted you to do. ;)

Have a great weekend.