Where Angels Fear to Tread

Well, the time has come for me to wade in to the most controversial current event out there - the Iraq war.

Everybody screams about the lack of WMDs and "Bush lied." Can we give this a rest? Bush and a bunch of other world leaders were given bad info. Bush didn't spin it - they all came to the same conclusion given the info. He didn't lie about WMDs.

At one point I read about satellite photos of truck caravans heading into Syria in the days before the invasion. Could they have been carrying WMD materials? Not sure, but I'd love to see what we might find in Syria. There is also info out there leading to the conclusion that Saddam had every intention of resuming his WMD work as soon as the inspectors were gone for good. If he didn't have WMDs, he was going to eventually.

We didn't go in like a bunch of vigilante cowboys. We worked through the UN as much as possible, given the complete waste of oxygen that is the UN. There was what? 18 or 19 UN resolutions that Saddam blatantly violated. That right there was justification - enforcement of the resolutions, except that the UN has no guts.

What about the civilians that have been killed? Well, what about the civilians Saddam was killing on a regular basis, year in and year out, decade after decade? See, this is where we get into a "damned if we do, damned if we don't" situation. If we say, "They're a sovereign nation, they put up with Saddam, they need to take care of their own affairs," then the bleeding hearts come back with, "You're a powerful, rich nation, you have an obligation to stand up for the oppressed people of Iraq who can't stand up for themselves!" But if we stand up for the oppressed and take Saddam out before he can hurt anyone else, then we get, "You have no right to meddle in their affairs." Frankly, if we're going to get criticized, I'd rather get it for taking out a mad dictator than for sitting idly by.

And speaking of civilians, why aren't they helping? Why aren't they turning in the insurgents? If they don't like the violence, if they don't like the bombings that are killing civilians, why aren't they helping root out the bad guys? We freed them from their oppressor, they want us gone, but they won't take control of their own destiny and clean up their own house.

Finally, the recent killings of innocent civilians... Horrible. Despicable. The dark side of war.

My oldest brother served two tours in Viet Nam. One day, years after his return, he was kneeling down and I approached him from behind. I didn't make any noise as I walked across the lawn. When I got close I made a noise or said "hi" or something, and in one motion he came up out of his crouch, spun, and went into a martial arts self-defense posture. Luckily, he didn't strike, and soon his eyes focused and he relaxed. He was terribly shaken (he probably would have crushed my windpipe with a single blow, killing me), and he told me to always announce myself from a distance, because he couldn't control what he did by instinct according to his Marine training.

My point is, war is hell. It changes people. They do things they wouldn't normally do. If you have not served in a battle zone, under constant threat of enemy fire and death, you have no concept of the stress levels. I'm not excusing what was done, I'm just trying to say that there's more to it than what meets the eye.

Am I happy about Iraq? Absolutely not. Do I feel it was necessary? Absolutely. In the short term, we needed to remove a madman who was torturing and killing his own people in a reign of terror. In the long term, we needed to introduce freedom and democracy to an unstable region of the globe that was producing groups like the Taliban and Al-Quaida. As long as the mullahs continue preaching hatred for the United States, we are not safe. Only a free and open society, with freedom to speak and exchange ideas, can bring stability and peace.

And do I want us out of Iraq? As soon as absolutely freakin' possible.

Pinch-hit for Jesus?

There's a new song on the radio, something about "would you take His nails", and it got me to thinking:

Would you take Jesus' place? Would you be arrested, falsely accused of trumped up charges, go through the kangaroo court, be beaten/flogged/spat on/crown of thorns, get nailed to the cross, and die - just so Jesus wouldn't have to?

And here's the catch - no one would know. You will get no fame, no fortune, no credit for what you have done. It is purely between you and Christ, He is the only one who will know. The result (salvation) will be the same, it's just that you will step in and take Christ's place.

No theological stuff here, nothing about "it had to be Christ or the sacrifice would be worthless" - the outcome will be the same, but you will have spared Christ the suffering and torture.

Would you do it? Just for Him? With no other reward except knowing that you spared Him from it?

Rebellion

I was looking at musician classifieds today, saw an ad for a metal band, and decided to follow it just to see what they were like. As I suspected, the site was covered with all the standard satanist themes and imagery. I read some of their lyrics, and everything was hatred, violence, death, evil, darkness, etc. I listened to some of their music on myspace, it really wasn't music at all - the vocalist didn't sing, he basically screamed in as low of a voice as he could. If they are trying to project a message, they're doing a really poor job of it because you can't understand a word. I looked at their list of friends and messages, everything was pentagrams dripping blood, skulls superimposed on crosses, on and on.

And then I realized something. These guys think they are rebelling. They think they are flipping God the bird, that they're so powerful. They think they're fighting against something.

They're not. They're surrendering.

They're not rebelling against anything. They are simply caving in to their sinful nature. They're taking the easy way out by giving in to the world. They're taking the coward's way out by not even trying to be what they were intended to be - they're lazy and spineless.

You want to rebel? Tell the world you're not buying what it's selling!

You really want to rebel? Tell your own very nature that you won't give in!

It doesn't take power or strength to give in. That's the easiest thing to do in this world. Anybody can do it. "Let's see, the world wants me to do this, and my own nature wants me to do it too, so I'm going to go along with it, and MAN AIN'T I SOME KIND OF REBEL!" Oh, please. You're letting the world do your thinking for you, you're letting the world dictate your behavior, you're going along for the ride, and you're rebelling? What exactly are you rebelling against? NOTHING!

Man's sinful nature instills him with a desire for evil - we're wired for darkness and sin. To follow that path is not to rebel, it's to give in. It's to take the path of least resistance. It's to be too lazy to do your own thinking, take your own action, and rise above the lowest common denominator of existence.

The rebel is the one who stands up and says, "Not only am I not going to do what the world wants me to do, I'm not even going to do what my very nature wants me to do!"

Rebels. Feh.