Just War, Pre-emptive War and basic Christian Values

Rev. Ian,
Yes, the bar Jesus set is high, deliberately high, so as to pull us up out of our comfortable self indulgent shells. Jesus came here not only to comfort the afflicted but also to inflict the comfortable. Only grace will save us? Perhaps. I certainly can relate to that. I've come close to death several times yet I am still here. Is this grace, hard working guardian angels or just feline DNA in my blood?

Pelagius argued that mankind can avoid sinning, that we are free to obey or not obey God's commandments, that we must take responsiblity for whatever choices we make. If we are saved by grace alone we become lax in our attention to principles, leaving it to God to protect us. He tried to elevate mankind to a higher level, to demand we all take greater responsibility for our individual actions. This is why I am attracted to his teachings.

I'm big on individual free will and responsibility. That's what is happening now on Wall St. and Main St. You can't go about exploiting the hard earned savings of others w/o expecting them to demand you do so responsibly. Similarly individual investors and people who take out a mortgage must be aware of the risks involved. It's a case of mutual responsiblity. I don't place all the responsiblity for our current financial mess soley on Wall St. Main St. willingly went alone, heard the piper pipe a tune of easy money and now the piper demands his due.

The stock market runs largely on faith. Lose it and the markets fall and we all get hurt. Economically the whole world is now intimately interconnected, interactive and interdependent. Long gone is the morally lax isolationist "we can go it alone" philospohy. All nations need one another.

This is the moral lesson our leaders have failed to learn and now our position is the world greatly diminished. We simply can not go about exploiting the riches of others for our own selfish gain w/o expecting a powerful push back.

My hope is that Sen. Obama is elected, and that he can successfully restore our inner moral bearings and elevate our position globally.

Turn the other cheek i.e. do not start quarrels; actually live by the golden rule, the ethic of reciprocity. High ideals, yes, but not impossible to attain. This is the calling Jesus issues to each of us. Use your birthright free will responsibly.

BTW it's good to hear your insights here again. Welcome back. Please join us Monday the 19th on our next Theology Panel discussion. Our new panel convenor, Rev. Roger McClellan knows well how to challenge us, get us out of our comfort zone.

Rich

Frank,
If you read the whole 5th chapter of Matthew, you'll see the overall theme is forgiveness and reconcilation. It begins with the Beatitudes and continues with the Sermon on the Mount. Had George W. Bush had this as his spiritual anchor he would not have squandered the good will we had immediately after the 9/11 attack.

You've raised this point before, that war in self defense is justified. On the surface that's emotionally an understandable position. I certainly would not hestitate to use force, lethal if neccessary, to defend my wife's life. Thus we chose to live in quiet cul-de-sac, in an community that knows who belongs here and who doesn't. We know the world can be a dangerous place, so we take common sense measures to increase our safety.

As Jesus asked us to love one another as He loved us, we should never put ourselves into a position that justifies aggression by another.

Moreover I do not accept Augustine's position that war can justified if the ultimate reason is for love. War and love are mutually exclusive. To kill another, a person must muster enough hate to overcome their basic instinct to live and let live. I sincerely believe, in the very depths of my soul, that humans are by nature loving creatures. We are told in the Bible we are created in the image and spirit of God. I believe God, Our Creator, is a loving entity, one that seeks to have us prosper and enjoy our existence, to multiply and be fruitful.

The 9/11 attacks came from our inablity, or lack of desire, to understand the history and long term implications of our middle east policies, especially our oil interests. The 1979 Iranian revolt had its roots in the British oil industry dating back into the late 19th century. The most immediate cause was Eisenhower's decision to back an uprising, engineered by the CIA in 1953, to overthrow the newly elected leader of the Iranian parliment, who sought a fair share for his nation in exploitation of Iranian oil resources. The result was the restoration of the monarchy, which under the new younger Shah, was quite brutal in it's treatment of the opposition. Young Shah Pahlavi understood that if he was to institute real reforms, he had to break the power of the religious establishment. He did so by instituting radical land reform that confiscated the lands of Iran's religious leaders, their source of wealth.

Their resentment of the land reforms and what appeared to be the embrace of foreign social values quite contrary to established Iranian norms, greatly angered the religious establishment and set the stage for the 1979 revolt.

As the great Spanish philosopher George Santayana is famously quoted saying, "Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." If we deliberately ignore the past we fall into the trap of repeating it. We (our government and business leaders) arrogantly ignored the Iranian's desire for an equal share in the oil profits and the social norms of the day. When the British installed the family of Saud in 1932, they extended their control over middle east oil reserves. Thus we, in partnership with the Brits, created fertile ground for the 9/11 attacks. We looked like, and still do, invaders intent on exploiting all middle east oil resources for solely Western nations benefit.

Exercise of our birthright free will requires full acceptance of the consequences of our actions. We helped set the conditions that lead to the 1979 Iran revolt and the 9/11 attacks. Only be acknowledging our role can we free ourselves from future attacks. Sen. Obama has it right. Invoke the power of diplomacy first, reserve force for last.

Rich