Thank you. Let's pray for victory while were at it. :)
But we need to remember how our establishment betrayed Pat Tillman's patritoism and used his untimely and unjust death at the hands of his own troops as a propaganda tool.
What a great example to take us back to our theological debates. ;0
Why do you think the initial reports about how he died were wrong? I think it is symptomatic of any large centralized hierarchy. Protecting the reputation of the organization becomes more important than the truth. The few individuals who do seek to proclaim the truth are quickly marginalized in order to protect the organization and the bureaucracy, which the organization "can't live without".
I think this perfectly describes how churches that became a part of the state changed. Once that happened the desire to proclaim the truth became secondary to control of the laity. Any who dared to speak up, or sought to reform the church, when they found error were quickly marginalized.
Why would we, of all nations, stoop down to such level? How can we convince the world we stand for truth and justice if we keep repeating such mistakes?
In 1999, an American jet attacked an unarmed Serbian civilian train on a bridge. NATO briefed reporters about this, and showed footage taken from the missile approaching the train. based on the tape, it looked like the train appeared out of nowhere and the pilot didn't have time to divert the missile (since the target was the bridge, not the train). It all looked legit. Until it leaked out that the footage was played at three times the normal speed.
It turns out the pilot not only saw the train approaching the bridge but waited until the train was on the bridge and then attacked a civilian object (a war crime). After hitting it once, he turned around and hit one more time (double war crime).
Of course, our media did not show the aftermath (because it was too "disturbing"). There were torsos and body parts of innocent passengers scattered all over the ground and in the trees. Even if we believed out cause was just, what that pilot did was not.
The reason the briefing was fixed is because we knew we committed a criminal act and we tried to cover it up by playing the tape at three times the speed. What does that say about credibility? Are we on such thin moral ice that we have to resort to the type of disinformation our worst enemies practiced?
Protecting the reputation of the organization becomes more important than the truth.
Self-protection is "normal." Organizations are 'organisms" of sorts and tend to protect themselves. But that is true of Apostolic Churches and Protestant communities alike. You will find corruption everywhere.