"God bless our troops"

Spirituality

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p

tinyurl.com/ywohm

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I saw this on a billboard today, paid for by some church in town. The thing is, I found it rather creepy. Now I get annoyed when people seem focused on the few (relatively speaking) priests who've committed horrendous acts, but I get it because my first thought wasn't about the guys who are over there trying to do the best they can. Rather my first thought was about the ones who work in the prisons there and/or conduct interrogations, the ones who planned and carried out horrendous crimes against a child and her family, etc. Maybe if the billboard had an asterisk or something...

V

Earth

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Originally posted by pawnhandler
I saw this on a billboard today, paid for by some church in town. The thing is, I found it rather creepy. Now I get annoyed when people seem focused on the few (relatively speaking) priests who've committed horrendous acts, but I get it because my first thought wasn't about the guys who are over there trying to do the best they can. Rather my first th ...[text shortened]... s against a child and her family, etc. Maybe if the billboard had an asterisk or something...
I believe you are making a great realization: Simply being an American does not make one the good guy, and by the same token, being an Iraqi does not make one a bad guy. In every group there are those who by their ill actions make the rest of the group look bad.

w
Chocolate Expert

Cocoa Mountains

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Originally posted by pawnhandler
I saw this on a billboard today, paid for by some church in town. The thing is, I found it rather creepy. Now I get annoyed when people seem focused on the few (relatively speaking) priests who've committed horrendous acts, but I get it because my first thought wasn't about the guys who are over there trying to do the best they can. Rather my first th ...[text shortened]... s against a child and her family, etc. Maybe if the billboard had an asterisk or something...
I sometimes cringe when I see similar, always asking myself, "Would God really want to 'take sides' in a war?"

Throwing some additional food for thought...

s

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Originally posted by Varqa
In every group there are those who by their ill actions make the rest of the group look bad...
...and the ocassional person making the rest of the group look good. People
in general are simple that way.

s

England

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Originally posted by wittywonka
I sometimes cringe when I see similar, always asking myself, "Would God really want to 'take sides' in a war?"

Throwing some additional food for thought...
yes god takes sides in war, but not that the side he takes is true to his word only that the other side more sinful. He did this in the old testerment,

w
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Originally posted by stoker
Yes God takes sides in war, but [it's] not that the side he takes is [more] true to his word [but] only that the other side more sinful. He did this in the old testament.
Can one sin be weighed differently from another? If so, how would God "calculate" the side with whom he "sided"?

g

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A bumpersticker on a friend's car: "God Bless the Whole Wide World - No Exceptions!"

k
knightmeister

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Originally posted by wittywonka
I sometimes cringe when I see similar, always asking myself, "Would God really want to 'take sides' in a war?"

Throwing some additional food for thought...
I sometimes cringe when I see similar, always asking myself, "Would God really want to 'take sides' in a war?" WITTY

Would God even condone any war let alone take sides? The answer is emphatically no.

Daniel

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16 Sep 07

Originally posted by knightmeister
I sometimes cringe when I see similar, always asking myself, "Would God really want to 'take sides' in a war?" WITTY

Would God even condone any war let alone take sides? The answer is emphatically no.
what do you mean? of course god condones war. read the bloody old testament! (or maybe the entire bible is irrelevant?)

Insanity at Masada

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1 edit

Originally posted by Stregone
what do you mean? of course god condones war. read the bloody old testament! (or maybe the entire bible is irrelevant?)
When knightmeister finds something distasteful in the Bible, he declares it metaphorical. Thus his faith is protected.

w

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Originally posted by AThousandYoung
When knightmeister finds something distasteful in the Bible, he declares it metaphorical. Thus his faith is protected.
I don't. You have to admitt one thing and that is I take the good the bad and the ugly concerning the Biblical teachings. I take my lumps!! Just because something is found to be "distasteful" in no way means that Biblical teachings are "bad", rather, it is only an indication to me that in a world of sin distasteful things are a direct result. What would trouble me is if the Bible seemed at peace with this current worldly system.

Insanity at Masada

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Originally posted by whodey
I don't. You have to admitt one thing and that is I take the good the bad and the ugly concerning the Biblical teachings. I take my lumps!! Just because something is found to be "distasteful" in no way means that Biblical teachings are "bad", rather, it is only an indication to me that in a world of sin distasteful things are a direct result. What would trouble me is if the Bible seemed at peace with this current worldly system.
Yeah, you're intellectually legit.

w

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4 edits

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Yeah, you're intellectually legit.
Thanks. What I find interesting is that both believers and nonbelievers say that distasteful teachings in the Bible are metaphorical. The question then becomes, why do we have distasteful metaphorical issues in the Bible? It really seems like a no win situation.

If some of the teachings in the Bible did not make me uncomfortable or if I could intellectually see myself acting in the exact same way God had acted in the Bible every time, I would be very worried to say the least. That is because my intellect is finite and I have a sinful nature as where God's intellect is infinite and his nature is holy. It would be akin to me watching Bobby Fischer play chess and say, "Yea, I would have moved the exact same way." 😉

t
True X X Xian

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Originally posted by stoker
yes god takes sides in war, but not that the side he takes is true to his word only that the other side more sinful. He did this in the old testerment,
Is the least sinful nation always the victor of every war?

Or does God's side sometimes lose wars?

t
True X X Xian

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1 edit

Originally posted by whodey
Thanks. What I find interesting is that both believers and nonbelievers say that distasteful teachings in the Bible are metaphorical. The question then becomes, why do we have distasteful metaphorical issues in the Bible? It really seems like a no win situation.

If some of the teachings in the Bible did not make me uncomfortable or if I could intellectu watching Bobby Fischer play chess and say, "Yea, I would have moved the exact same way." 😉
Bah . . . don't stress. Just make up a clever interpretation. Like Mary always said, "Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down in the most delightful way!