See my previous post and you will see why Biblically I oppose this line of thought. See most of my post and you will see why I appose this line of reasoning. Soldier = _____(Fill in whatever adjective best describes a murderer that is worse than a mafia hit man) Nice.
Really? They are all brainwashed and don't really mean to do what they are doing? I think that you have seen to many sci-fi movies. But, okay, I'll go ahead and play along. The purpose of the military is to defend the nation. It does so by taking out the enemy. You do that by killing people (the bad people) and destroying things (the bad people's things). You make it sound as if there is a band of brainwashed mercs running around burning and killing anything in its way.
Yes, EEWRED, in a way they are brainwashed. That's the purpose of boot camp, to erase the normal reticence and situational analysis that keeps society peaceful but would be crippling on the battlefield. As far as the military's purpose, it is to project state power, to compel submission, usually for economic reasons. The US hasn't needed defense since 1812, and even then it was not just a war of defense, but a war of expansion -- into Florida, Canada, and Indian Territory. As far as "taking out the enemy," what makes these people my enemy? I never even met them and I have no beef with them. Are the > 100,000 Iraqi civilians killed in the past couple years "bad people?" How were the Vietnamese "the enemy?" France finally throws in the towel and the US jumps into an obscure country's civil war in an effort to suppress the results of a democratic election. Was that defending the US? And I won't embarrass you by asking how the present middle Eastern fiasco is defending us.
Where is this quote from? Or did you make it up like everything else in this post?
Yes, I made it up to illustrate a point. It is not inaccurate. Ask any soldier.
If you would like to start a thread that discusses the Christians responsibility to obey those that God has put in command, unless those commands oppose those of Christ, we certainly can. That is where this kind of belongs. The Christian is to obey those who have rule over us, unless it is over things that God condemns. That applies to the soldier as well. If you are commanded to do something that is in opposition to God's will, then you are not to do it.
I thought "the divine right of kings" was a historical curiosity. Apparently the concept is still alive and well.
In war you are routinely commanded to do that which God condemns. But as I mentioned previously, soldiers are psychologically conditioned not to Analyse every command; not to think back on last Sunday's sermon. Although the Military Code of Justice states that a soldier may refuse an unlawful command, soldiers are carefully conditioned not to question, not to analyse. It would create chaos on the battlefield. And the code says nothing of immoral commands. If you are commanded to do something in opposition to god's will you will be court marshalled for not doing it.
The military are peacemakers because they stop the warriors. (Of course depends on what military you are referring to.)
The military are a protection racket -- they create their own need. If they gave a war and nobody came, there would be no need for protection.
I have to stop at this point. I could keep getting angry at your hatred and go into a rant about how the "peacemakers" like to sit back, smoke pot, make love and decry the military, while young men and women sacrifice themselves because they want you to have that right, but, you have heard it all before and still are convinced that the military and the soldier is evil, so what's the point.
My hatred?! -- Words fail me....
The "young men and women sacrificing themselves," on both sides, are the sole threat to my freedom to sit back and smoke pot (and, FYI, despite my defense of pot on another thread, I do not, myself, use it).
I really hope that you will learn some compassion and love for the soldiers who defend you Seynori. Peace.
