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So as a result you condemn millions of innocent people to oppression?

I am not doing it, they are doing it to themselves. I cannot force people to take the narrow gate. If you ever want to get a tiny glimpse at how God must have felt during Old Testament times, just look at Iraq. The right way is there, it is so obvious to us. But Muslims will not take the narrow gate.

Read your own tagline, and apply it to the people of Iraq.

I can't force people to do the right thing. If I could, it would raise interesting ethical questions: should we force people to do the right thing, or allow them to make their own mistakes? But that question is moot, because you can't force them to do the right thing.

Or is it only you who should be the recipient of God's love because you were born in America? If you were born in Iraq and some 'Christian' in America said you deserved to be oppressed, how much would you be drawn to his faith?

I never said they deserve to be oppressed, but I did say that as Muslims they will create an oppressive government for themselves. Like it or not, we're going to have to let the slow work of spreading the Gospel to lay the foundation before we build a civil society in Iraq. This will take decades, even centuries. You've gotten the cart before the horse.

I'll leave your new and weak theology for another place and time.

But regarding your last sentence about my 'getting the cart before the course'........do you believe in the Sovereignty of God? Do you believe, as Scripture says, that he puts leaders in place, and removes them? Do you believe that world events are under His Sovereign will?

can't force people to do the right thing. If I could, it would raise interesting ethical questions: should we force people to do the right thing, or allow them to make their own mistakes?

At the risk of starting another loooooong conversation, I'll comment on that:

You have some "entrenched liberalism" from the old days, wash it off man, it doesn't become you.

The answer to your above "soul searching and/or trying to find yourself" is brutally simple: If letting these people make their own mistakes means killing us or become another Iran headed by ayatollah al Sadr, the answer is: HELL NO!!

Would this be adequate enough for your social experiments? ?

I'm not saying I disagree with you but the first thing you need to do is back off the theological aspect when discussing this issue. Wilsonians used arguments somewhere along that line back in WWI that it was the duty of a Christian Republic to 'spread democracy'. And I've seen some of the same nonsense in the past three years. Nationalists who choose to inject their patriotism into a theological view tend to use this as a fallback position. We're really doing God's work you see? You can't be a good 'Christian' if you don't support the State.