There’s not much that you’ve said that I actually disagree with, and it sounds like you’ve got your heart in the right place with respect to the plight of the women - and men, as you say, and children too - who are trapped right now. Part of my reaction may be my own feeling of guilt at being outraged and then never really doing anything to help - over and over again. There’s got to be something we can do to help. I think about it all the time, worry about it, and tell myself I’m doing what I can. But I know at this point I’m really not helping these people except with my prayers. You know a lot more about the way the different groups deal with all this than I do, and I defer to you on that.
We have a saying in our family: “All sounds from the labor room are OK.” When a person is going through the fire they do whatever they have to do to get through it, and those who are not going through the fire can’t possibly understand and should no way sit in judgment. How do we know how we would react in war? Would we defy “conventions” when we see they are failing over and over again? I don’t know why this gal did what she did, but I’m really hesitant to judge her harshly, not having walked in her shoes.
What she did could be used to “smoke out” ISIS wherever they are hiding in free lands. It could be an effective strategy. But the nasty parts of war - including the propaganda war - are not for the queasy. I know that I would have qualms over what the military has to do in order to protect this country, and I’m thankful that they are not queasy about it. I’m one of the gentle people who sleep quietly in their beds at night because there are rough men willing to do violence on our behalf. I am NOT going to fault them because they are not in the same station in life as I am. There is a time for peace, but there’s also a time for war. And sometimes there’s a time to do whatever it takes even if it’s beyond what you would even dream of doing under normal circumstances.
I don’t know enough to make a sound judgment of what this woman did or why, so I leave it to the Lord. And I don’t think He’s done with her yet.
I appreciate your reasoned tone, and believe we are mostly on the same page.
Prayers are actually the most powerful thing we can do. They Do make miracles.
Everything is better left in God’s Hands. There is no safer, better place to be. But sometimes- often, it’s hard for people to do that. (Me, too)
God Bless you, butterdezillion, and Give you peace.