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To: anniegetyourgun
there is so much to respond to in this article, it is almost impossible.

but one thing must not go unanswered... the OT does not command us to beat swords into ploughshares.

Rather, it says this:

Joel 3
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
"I am strong!"
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.

Bring down your warriors, O LORD !

The passage referred to by this ding dong says this:

Isaiah 2
3 Many peoples will come and say,

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD ,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.

5 Come, O house of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the LORD .

In other words, when the LORD has finished His work, an inevitable fact is that of course swords will be beaten into plowshares, because He will have stamped out all His enemies. This conclusion is obvious.

But there is simply NO Biblical commandment to beat our swords into plowshares (or turn our missile silos into grain elevators or homeless shelters or whatever)in the abstract, apart from the LORD finishing His work.

This article is complete rubbish.

Read the Book of Acts. That will tell you what Christians must believe about spreading the Good News. We know persecution is inevitable. So be it. Riots in Ephesus [or New Delhi or wherever] are also inevitable. So be it.

We are called to live by faith which means obedience to the Great Commission, no matter what. Obviously the writer of the article can't stomach that.

10 posted on 05/23/2003 7:48:20 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: ConservativeDude; Pete; Abe Froman
Gad, there are so many intellects here on FR.....I feel like a mental midget at times. READ: I appreciate all your comments here.
11 posted on 05/23/2003 7:51:27 AM PDT by anniegetyourgun
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To: ConservativeDude
Furthermore, I would suggest that we all commit this passage to memory so that we are ready to roll the next time someone says, "doesn't the Bible say that we should beat our swords into plowshares".

Man, I love this passage so much, I think I'll post it again:

Joel 3
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war!
Rouse the warriors!
Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears.
Let the weakling say,
"I am strong!"
11 Come quickly, all you nations from every side,
and assemble there.

Bring down your warriors, O LORD !
12 posted on 05/23/2003 7:51:32 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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