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War and the Bible - How Pseudo-Christian Wimpologists Reinvent God to Suit their own Perverted Secular Humanist Views
Lewis
Goldberg
04/07/2003
I shall preface this column to
guard against what happened with the last
column I wrote that touched on the recent war with Iraq - which is that
many jumped to condemn me for supporting the war even though no where in
the essay did I state or even imply that I was 'gung-ho' for the war. I was
simply challenging the left's stock arguments against war, so as to say,
"if you're against the war, you've got to do better than that."
In the below effort, I seek to
show that many Christian arguments against the war don't stack up to
the pure truth of God's inspired Word, which they pretend to teach. In many
cases, we take our humanist philosophies to the Bible and make it conform
to something more palatable to the secular eye, whose approval so many of
us seek. Let us simply read and learn.
God is love?
Of course He is. God is the
epitome of everything righteous - however, he is also the epitome of wrath
[and were He not, there would be no need of a saviour.] Many people of a
Christian confession who are against the war assert that 'God is love' as
if to say He is nothing else. An assertion corollary to 'God is love' is
that 'God frowns on war.' Let us appeal to the scriptures to validate this
claim:
"And Jehovah said unto
Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his
people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon
king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon." [Num 21:34]
The response to the above [a
concern at the strength of Og, King of Bashan,] was to "... sm[i]te
him, and his sons and all his people, until there was none left him
remaining: and they possessed his land." The Old Testament is full
of references to God giving what we call the Holy Land to the Israelites.
Peoples diverse as the Canaanites, Perizzites, Ammonites, Amorites,
Hittites, and others were commanded to destruction under the Church - even
to the elimination of every man, woman, child, beast, and produce of their
fields. God is love? Indeed...He loves His Church [the Bride of Christ] and
commanded it to take - by force - the gifts that He had ordained for their
possession. Failure to comply brought the Father's wrath.
In the quote from the Book of
Numbers, truly the King of Bashan had done nothing to the Israelites, save
to exist in land given to Israel by God. In fact, just about every war
demanded of God in His scriptures fails the beloved 'just war theory,'
repeated ad nauseum by born-again Catholics in the media, suggesting that
this theory emanates from something other than scripture for ends other
than righteous.
So then we must ask ourselves
if God has ceased to work his Will through the nations of the world, as he
did in olden times. True, He no longer has prophets in the world, for their
purpose has been fulfilled in Christ's birth and sacrificial death. But has
God's plan for the world ceased to unfold in time? No, and then we can
assume that if God is unfolding His plan, that at times we shall even
witness it unfolding before our eyes, and be powerless to stop it. Will we
like and approve of every step of God's plan? I suspect not, if we are
consumed in our normal selfish ways. Were there CNN in Moses' time, to show
right in his tent the pain and suffering of the Amorites, he would not have
proceeded another step, and would have disobeyed God even more than he did.
God's ways are often tough.
God cannot be the author of
evil.
The common explanation for evil
in the world is that evil is 'allowed' to exist by God, which I believe
falls short of the truth. Who created the universe and everything in it?
How did those 'evil molecules' get in the soup? God cannot allow something
he did not create, if He did indeed create everything...
Again we appeal to the Word:
"Shall a trumpet be
blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a
city, and the LORD hath not done [it]?" [Amos 3:6]
"And Saul's servants
said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubleth thee."
[1Sa 16:15]
"And he cried unto the
LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow
with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?" [1Ki 17:20]
"Therefore thus saith
the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I [am] bringing [such] evil upon Jerusalem
and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle."
[2Ki 21:12]
"And God sent an angel
unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld,
and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It
is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the
threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite." [1Ch 21:15]
"Did not your fathers
thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?
yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath." [Neh
13:18]
"And it shall come to
pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say
unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against
us? or what [is] our iniquity? or what [is] our sin that we have committed
against the LORD our God?" [Jer 16:10]
"And say, Hear ye the
word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus
saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon
this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle." [Jer
19:3]
"Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all
her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have
hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words." [Jer
19:15]
"Therefore now amend
your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the
LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you."
[Jer 26:13]
"And the captain of the
guard took Jeremiah, and said unto him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced
this evil upon this place." [Jer 40:2]
"Thus saith the LORD of
hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought
upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day
they [are] a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein," [Jer 44:2]
"And rend your heart,
and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is]
gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth
him of the evil." [Joe 2:13]
"And God saw their
works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil,
that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did [it] not."
[Jon 3:10]
There are more - I just got
tired of looking.
In the above material I make
not an appeal to ideologically support the war against Iraq, rather an
appeal to recognise the hand of the Sovereign Lord in all things. The
voices of peace have spoken and have been heard in all quarters, and I am
certain there is no argument against the war that President Bush and/or his
advisors have not heard. They have heard these arguments from nations, as
well as individuals, and yet they chose the path of war.
I don't know what information
George Bush has on his desk, and it really doesn't matter. In the working
out of history, it can only work out one way...God's way. It's much easier
to deal with the tragedies of the world when you realise you are not in
charge. A one much greater than you has matters well at hand:
"But I will warn you
whom ye shall fear: Fear him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast
into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for
two pence? and not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God. But the
very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not: ye are of more value
than many sparrows." [Luk 12:5-7] Can so many people in Iraq be
fighting and dying without the Sovereign Lord's notice and approval? God
forbid.
Your comments and questions are encouraged. [editor@patriotist.com]
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