[quote]Journeyman wrote:
Sloth wrote:
Journeyman wrote:
Sloth wrote:
Mass murder and the invasion of Kuwait. That’s basically it.
Dude, we are talking about the Second Gulf War. The First Gulf War was the response to the invasion of Kuwait. Even the gassing of the Kurds was before the First Gulf War.
The justification for the Second Gulf war was the bs about yellow cake uranium and mushroom clouds over American cities. If we are indeed concerned about mushroom clouds over US cities, perhaps we should have focused on A.Q. Khan (Pakistan) and the Taliban (Pakistan/Afghanistan) and Al-Qaeda (Afghanistan/Saudia Arabia/Egypt).
You asked for a Christian justification. And, the second war followed the first. Saddam not following stipulations set against him.
I was hoping for something that tied back to the teaching of Jesus. Where did he say that we should overthrow tyrants? He didn’t ally himself with Barabbas, who was an insurrectionist opposing a foreign occupier, so I don’t see how he would advocate taking up the sword by invading a foreign land.
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Do the oppressed and brutalized (wood chippers, gassed) have a justification for taking up the sword? What about seeking allies?
[quote]Sloth wrote:
Do the oppressed and brutalized (wood chippers, gassed) have a justification for taking up the sword? What about seeking allies?[/quote]
Overthrowing a tyrant in your country is widely, and I hope correctly, viewed a justification for war. But where is the Christian argument? Shouldn’t such an argument start with the New Testament or with reference to theologians?
[quote]Journeyman wrote:
Sloth wrote:
Do the oppressed and brutalized (wood chippers, gassed) have a justification for taking up the sword? What about seeking allies?
Overthrowing a tyrant in your country is widely, and I hope correctly, viewed a justification for war. But where is the Christian argument? Shouldn’t such an argument start with the New Testament or with reference to theologians?
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I was under the impression we’re going by Just War. Which says we can defend ourselves. If we can defend ourselves, can’t we enlist the aid of allies against an otherwise insurmountable foe? If we can enlist the aid of allies to come to our defense, how is it immoral for those allies to take up the cause?
Edit:
If the Kurds, Kuwaitis, Shia…basically the anti-Saddam/Baathist factions are justified in defending themselves, can they not seek help in doing so?
[quote]pushharder wrote:
This is a no brainer, Journeyman. Why do you struggle with this?
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Struggle is good, it leads to growth. On this site, we all know that from our work in the gym. If we look at the Old Testament, we see that Jacob became Israel when he wrestled with God. The dialectic process takes a thesis and an antithesis and struggles for a new synthesis. That is the way of all progress.
Human beings are naturally selfish. Why then do we seek to impose an unnatural morality (unselfishness) on ourselves? Whoever came up with that idea (and it wasn’t Jesus, I’d bet) was after power. They were attempting to cash in on the guilt people would feel when they acted in their natural self-interest. Jesus probably never taught any of the crap ascribed to him.
Since no one can really practice an unnatural morality for very long, they soon give up on ALL morality and start shooting one another. I can’t see any humane person, such as one like Jesus, ever supporting such evil.