Posted on 08/02/2005 8:39:52 AM PDT by jstassis
AT LEAST God told Moses the truth. Before laying on him the requirements of a monotheistic faith that would immediately cause violent conflict with idol-worshipers, God said, ''It is a terrible thing that I will do with you." And so it was.
The statement comes in the very verses of Exodus that define the covenant God makes with Moses and his harried people. ''I shall do marvels," God promises. But it is the certainty of ''the terrible thing" that defines this relationship going forward. The terrible thing, first, of permanent war against the Amorites, the Canaanites, and their eternal successors. The terrible thing, existentially, of living without idols. The terrible thing of the Law, which all inevitably violate. The terrible thing of being forced to face the truth, a mandate God gives by example with this stark declaration at the outset.
In the United States of America, a terrible thing shapes our relationship to the world, but we do not admit it, not even on its unhappy anniversary. Sixty years ago this week, American B-29s named Enola Gay and Bock's Car dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. The men responsible insisted, in the face of shocking devastation, that the bombs were not so terrible.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
My pleasure. Just so happens last night I was in the hospital in severe pain - turns out its just pneumonia - but I thought I was DOA - they gave me morphine. I discovered I love Jesus (not a joke), and I started making a village of angels, people I love, and a village of evil - good stuff morphine - this Caroll guy is in the village of idiots.
It's not just the Boston Globe. National Public TV and radio have had "retrospectives" about the A bombs dropped on Japan and the general message is that they were not needed to end the war. Tell that to the millions of soldiers, airmen and sailors that would have been involved in an invasion of Japan where there the Japs were prepared to fight to the death, taking with them hundreds of thousands of our troops. My bro and many of his fellow Marines would have lead the invasion. They were all very happy the bombs ended the war. The liberals in the media and academia are trying to make the bombs into a terrible mistake. I despise libearals!
They're absolutely shameless about everything.
The reference is Exodus 34:10. Strong's Concordance says the following about the word translated in the KJV "terrible":
"Strong's number: 3372 yaw-ray' a primitive root; to fear; morally, to revere; caus. to frighten:--affright, be (make) afraid, dread(-ful), (put in) fear(-ful, -fully, -ing), (be had in) reverence(-end), X see, terrible (act, -ness, thing)."
Not "terrible" as in "nasty," but as in "awesome."
Hm. Looks like others here doubted the author's use of "terrible" and similarly either looked it up and remembered its true meaning.... :-)
I grew up hating Japs and still find it hard not to continue feeling some vestiges of hate when I remember what atrocities they were responsible for in the War. Jap history books and politicians still fail, after 62 years, to admit these errors. As a WW II vet, I have a different, realistic view of the War than the younger libs who have no clue.
I must apologize for forgetting to put in the "/sarcasm" portion on my post. Having said that, I must thank you for your service and sacrifice. Your service 60 years ago has made my job today a lot easier (12 years Air Force.)
Exactly.
But it is just more Anti-American Crap from Carroll, who wallows in such stuff like a pig in his element.
I guess that's what you get when an atheist tries to equate men to God. More proof that the mind is a terrible thing when it sits atop a Dim's shoulders.
My dad had survived Iwo Jim (navy) and was at Saipan when he got the word. His letter to my mother at that point was one sentence; Japan Has Surrendered!! I am coming home!! Underlined and in capitals.
Sad, but true.
Boy, that cartoon hits home.
We lost thousands and thousands of troops.
I know people disagree about the present war, but is there ANY struggle that would get that kind of support in the US today?
It would have to be one hell of a huge threat, as were Germany & Japan.
Oh good grief, now these nuts think they can determine what 'defined' the relationship between God and Israel.
James Carroll = Worthless POS...
Right.
coming up blank here.. OH! well...
Just pneumonia!?!?! Good luck and get well soon. Do as the doctor says. Speaking of the village of idiots, read C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. It's a short read but very profound about how idiotic people can be.
As to Carroll, too many village idiots have no idea how many people see through them, especially when they shut themselves off from "the ignorant masses" by hanging out exclusively with other idiots. Actually it's an advantage to have people underestimate conservatives--just ask Bush.
Coming on the heels of The Rape of Nanking, The Bataan Death March, the wholesale slaughter of Philippine citizens and prisoners of war, Pearl Harbor, Wake, Rabaul, Pelalau, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the Kamikaze Campaign and a hundred other examples the Americans and their allies rightly had little sympathy for the Japanese. Couple that with estimates of American dead in the taking of Japan ranging from one to two million I believe that Truman would have been impeached if word of this war-ending weapon had been made known to the mothers and widows of those so slain.
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