Someone here needs a little schoolin', I see!
Posted on 03/09/2006 6:17:09 AM PST by American72
My husband has subscribed to a Daily Devotional Email from a Pastor Kerry at Covenant Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Houston, TX for a number of years. Although we are Missouri Synod, we know Pastor Kerry and have enjoyed the devotionals. Kerry recently went on a 6-month sabbatical doing who knows what and came back talking all this anti-war garbage. We were present at his Christmas Eve Service with the family (my husband's sister goes there) and almost got up and left when he started talking about our bombs killing innocents on Christmas Eve. My husband has already written him twice after his emails this week with no reply. Look at the website and read the devotionals from this week. Here are a few excerpts. I would post them all but it would be very long.
"Increasingly I am coming to believe that the best support, both now and in the long run, in the face of messages that say the quagmire in the Middle East will last for years, is to bring them home."
"Let us pray: Gracious God, the battles against evil rage in our hearts and in this world. Patience and love fall to power and weaponry. Our brother is dehumanized and our children are taught to kill with precision. Bombs are strapped to bodies and statesmen abuse the trust of their people and the power of their offices. Is there anything we can do or must we sit idly by? In Jesus’ name. Amen."
"I realize that I am not a philosopher or a theologian or an expert at anything, I’m nothing but a simple parish pastor. And I seriously question whether what we are doing in Iraq continues to be just and right or whether it has become something we are just doing because we have the might."
"Perhaps we haven’t learned much in the last 4000 years. But hopefully we have learned something. Hopefully we have learned that wars don’t solve problems. At best, war can create the opportunity whereby problems can be solved. I pray that is the outcome in Iraq and I pray that it happens as quickly as possible."
"Let us pray: Dear Jesus, just as people misconstrued the message of the Bible when they used it to convict you of blasphemy, so too people today use the Bible to justify their prejudices, fears and idolatries. Help us to truly and deeply see beyond the words on the page to the Word which your Spirit sows anew in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen."
Who said anything about the "men of God" trumpeting our current political beliefs? In the words of Laura Ingraham who said "shut up and sing" all I want is for them to "shut up and preach". We are subjected to liberal rants in the news, Hollywood, etc. 24/7. I would like to be able to escape that every now and then, and you would think you could escape it in church. That being said, again, this is why my family left the ELCA in the first place. Not because they weren't "republican enough" but because all they did was spout a leftist agenda constantly. I too have 1st amendment rights, including the right not to listen to that, which is why we chose Missouri Synod instead.
Umm, you could just opt off the e-mail devotionals, you know.
Obviously. And we will. I just thought it was interesting to see how the pastor came back after his sabattical. The devotionals stopped coming for several months, and they just started back up. And immediately this is what comes out. I just wanted to throw this out here to see what everyone thought about it.
You know, I was at a wedding recently at a Congregational church (yes, I know...) and saw all of the activist literature and it was all about gay activism, which basically consisted of gay marriage/adoptions.
Theology notwithstanding, you have to wonder about people for whom legal recognition of gay marriage is the great moral imperative of their time.
I couldn't stand receiving their Socialist magazine "The Lutheran"
Me either! Stopped subscribing to the socialist rag a long time ago. (Although, I sometimes think maybe I should keep reading it just to keep tabs on what they are doing, but I am afraid my blood pressure would go sky-high!) I was raised in the old ALC synod in an old German Lutheran church. I couldn't believe it when they merged with the LCA to create the now left-leaning/socialist ELCA. Our pastor (who we liked very much) retired last fall, and our church has called a young (35 year old) pastor. I will give him a chance, but if he starts any liberal rants from the pulpit, I am leaving. There are several LCMS churches close to where I live.
Someone here needs a little schoolin', I see!
FYI:
The AFLC is an excellent alternative too.
I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution, which amendment, however, I have not seen, has passed Congress, to the effect that the federal government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say that holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.--lincoln, First Inaugural Address
The intent of the War was not over slavery. Consider also slavery existed after the War not only abroad (and still does) but in these United States as well. Also, I would ask how all the rest of the Western world was able to end slavery without war.
Communism. Don't remember the war that ended communism for some reason. Perhaps you could point that one out to me as well. What I do remember is a failed system that was no longer economically viable to the Soviet Union in the mid 1980s
Also I would point out the rise to power of fascism, nazism, and communism were all in direct correlation to the vacuums created after WWI.
So one could easily say war created (along with Wilsonian intervention) the rise of fascism, nazism, and communism and didn't end slavery. But maybe you could post some more cute jpegs instead of making an argument eh?
Part one of the history lesson: Some highlights.
Greece.
Korea.
Vietnam.
Angola.
Nicaragua (Contras).
Grenada.
Afghanistan.
Not all of them were victories, but the willingness of the Free West to keep engaging the Communists on a wide front contributed to the downfall of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Iron Curtain.
Will return with more as time allows, without any cute jpgs.
I'm with up to the point of "Wilsonian intervention." Hard to argue that the three political ideologies you cite would not have come about but for the US intervention in WWI. Communism was on the way, the war helped the Bolsheviks seize power, no doubt, but the tsarist state was on its way out, war or no war.
Facts confuse these people, don't be mean!
The single most destructive force against communism was not war or arms build-up but instead its on flawed economic system that repressed growth and opressed its people. Was only a matter of time...The arms race sped up the clock.
So you guys will have no problem establishing the link between the US involvement in WWI and the Spanish Civil War. Include details, please, but no jpgs! ;-)
And Jimmuh Carter's detente would have kept them in the race indefinitely.
Appeasement is NOT the answer!
Aren't you the guys with the Duck logo?
Continuation of WWII and helped mostly by the Brits IIRC. But it did give Truman an excuse to increase the military budget
Korea.
Stalemate
Vietnam.
Loss.
Angola.
Again, draw. Peace treaty signed. However, the MPLA (Communist) party is still in control.
Nicaragua (Contras).
Granted a win but moreso removal of a dictator.
Grenada.
Come now, three day excursion to the Caribbean?
Afghanistan.
Oh yes, perhaps you could remind me. What rebel grou was the CIA involved with during all that? What was that about wars 'ending' things?
What????
This aint the U of OR.
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