An attempt to strive for sanity in an insane world. An attempt to stay intellectually active in an increasingly unthinking society.
Monday, February 06, 2006
The weekend past
Here are some photo's I took over the weekend.
I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Now all I need is a camera all my own.
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
Now, it appears that mine is a vastly minority position, but I believe that as Christians we have a responsibility to speak out against wrongdoing. IMO, that includes the waging of an illegal war under questionable pretexts. I've read a number of comments here that seem to argue that countries are above morals and ethics as though countries are an entity unto themselves rather than a collection of human beings acting in a collective manner. It is human beings that are acting and human beings have moral and ethical responsibilities towards mankind, especially Christians. Now some have said that as long as the government is not compelling me to fight in the war then I am to obey my government. I think that that notion is wrong. Its a famous American adage that their government is 'of the people, by the people and for the people'. The government is responsible to its people just as the people are responsible for the actions of their government, which are done in the name of the people.
That is why I find it so mind bogling that Christians are arguing for the war as though it were some great good. What is good about it? Saddam is out of power? Fine, Saddam is out of power, but 30,000 Iraqis have died and the death toll continues to rise. In the end we must ask ourselves what right do we have to do such an action as invade a sovereign nation and kill thousands of its citizens? To protect the innocent, as I have read bandied about here? That may serve as a superficial justification but in reality it is hollow for the west fails to act in Darfur where millions have been killed, we failed to act in Rwanda where over a million were killed, we failed to act in Cambodia were millions were killed, we failed to act in Kosovo where thousands and thousands were killed, we failed to act in East Timor where thousands upon thousands were killed, we are failing to act in Haiti where thousands have been killed. In all reality the west is not in Iraq for purely humanitarian reasons and as such the West's actions in Iraq are tainted. Therefore the war is far from the righteous action of a Christian warrior king but rather the actions of a worldly people acting for worldly reasons with worldly goals.
I could be wrong. I am a fallible creature, but everything the Bible has taught me tells me that war is wrong, especially this one. An argument might be made for WW2 being a justified war due to the holocaust but then we must own up to the war crimes that we perpetrated such as the fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo as well as the atomic attacks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Just as God allows the consequences of evil choices to occur amongst humanity (murder, rape, molestation, etc.) so too does he allow it amongst nations. For while it can be argued that governments derive their authority from God it can't be said that they are perfect and infallible. As such they will make mistakes and they will perpetrate evil and as Christians we are called to speak out when governments act in such a manner, especially when it is our own.
1 comment:
Now, it appears that mine is a vastly minority position, but I believe that as Christians we have a responsibility to speak out against wrongdoing. IMO, that includes the waging of an illegal war under questionable pretexts. I've read a number of comments here that seem to argue that countries are above morals and ethics as though countries are an entity unto themselves rather than a collection of human beings acting in a collective manner. It is human beings that are acting and human beings have moral and ethical responsibilities towards mankind, especially Christians. Now some have said that as long as the government is not compelling me to fight in the war then I am to obey my government. I think that that notion is wrong. Its a famous American adage that their government is 'of the people, by the people and for the people'. The government is responsible to its people just as the people are responsible for the actions of their government, which are done in the name of the people.
That is why I find it so mind bogling that Christians are arguing for the war as though it were some great good. What is good about it? Saddam is out of power? Fine, Saddam is out of power, but 30,000 Iraqis have died and the death toll continues to rise. In the end we must ask ourselves what right do we have to do such an action as invade a sovereign nation and kill thousands of its citizens? To protect the innocent, as I have read bandied about here? That may serve as a superficial justification but in reality it is hollow for the west fails to act in Darfur where millions have been killed, we failed to act in Rwanda where over a million were killed, we failed to act in Cambodia were millions were killed, we failed to act in Kosovo where thousands and thousands were killed, we failed to act in East Timor where thousands upon thousands were killed, we are failing to act in Haiti where thousands have been killed. In all reality the west is not in Iraq for purely humanitarian reasons and as such the West's actions in Iraq are tainted. Therefore the war is far from the righteous action of a Christian warrior king but rather the actions of a worldly people acting for worldly reasons with worldly goals.
I could be wrong. I am a fallible creature, but everything the Bible has taught me tells me that war is wrong, especially this one. An argument might be made for WW2 being a justified war due to the holocaust but then we must own up to the war crimes that we perpetrated such as the fire bombings of Dresden and Tokyo as well as the atomic attacks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Just as God allows the consequences of evil choices to occur amongst humanity (murder, rape, molestation, etc.) so too does he allow it amongst nations. For while it can be argued that governments derive their authority from God it can't be said that they are perfect and infallible. As such they will make mistakes and they will perpetrate evil and as Christians we are called to speak out when governments act in such a manner, especially when it is our own.
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