Memorial Day
"It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us the freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who gives us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag."
--Father Dennis Edward O'Brien, U.S. Navy chaplain, who served on Guadalcanal during WWII
Government issued headstones in one of the sections at Arlington National Cemetery.
Remember the meaning of Memorial Day:
"Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service."Very basic, isn't it? But consider the following:
"Traditional observance of Memorial day has diminished over the years. Many Americans nowadays have forgotten the meaning and traditions of Memorial Day. At many cemeteries, the graves of the fallen are increasingly ignored, neglected. Most people no longer remember the proper flag etiquette for the day. While there are towns and cities that still hold Memorial Day parades, many have not held a parade in decades. Some people think the day is for honoring any and all dead, and not just those fallen in service to our country...."This site has some specific suggestions for a proper observance. Remember to honor those who paid the ultimate price so that we can remain free!
Below is one of the poems most often quoted in remembrance of lives given on the battlefield--"In Flanders Fields":
In Flanders fields the poppies blow[Literary analysis of John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" here]
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.
And remember the words of Moina Michael, who wrote a response to "In Flanders Fields":
We cherish too, the Poppy redBe sure to visit GM's site for more photos related to Memorial Day!
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.
Mustang's Memorial Day posting is also a must-see.
posted by Always On Watch @ 5/26/2006 06:15:00 PM
83 comments
83 Comments:
Beautiful, AOW. Thank you.
Once again, here with the enormous economy of expression that characterizes poetry, the primary function of art can be seen;to selectively recreate reality according to the artist's values.
We can certainly learn a lot about someone's character from the art he chooses to enjoy.
The name of John McCrae (1872-1918) may seem out of place in the distinguished company of World War I poets, but he is remembered for what is probably the single best-known and popular poem from the war, "In Flanders Fields." He was a Canadian physician and fought on the Western Front in 1914, but was then transferred to the medical corps and assigned to a hospital in France. He died of pneumonia while on active duty in 1918. His volume of poetry, In Flanders Fields and Other Poems, was published in 1919.
While living in San Diego my family and I would go to Ft. Rosecrans national cemetary on Memorial Day, it was always packed. There are several recipients of the CMH buried there. We would read the plaques describing their heroic acts. The Gettysburg address is also engraved there. Always brought tears to my eyes. Hopefully my children learn that their freedom is being bought with a price.
Beautiful AoW, thank you! My late's father was shot down over Ploestri, Romania during WWII, Ben was only 6 months old so he only got to know his father from letters to and from family, I still have the flag that was on his coffin when his body was returned in 1953, I wasn't even born yet. This time causes me to think of and appreciate all those on both sides of the family that gladly paid the price whatever it was! Thank you EB!
tmw
Thank you so much for such a beautiful post in honor of all the heroes who have fought for this country. My husband is one of them and I am one lucky wife for I still have him while so many do not. The wives and families of the fallen are also heroes and should also be honored, but we don't have a day to honor them. I believe we should.
It's not easy to send the love of your life into war. It's not easy to send you son or daughter to war. I've done both, and so I understand how very hard it is. I drove my husband 90 miles to the bus that was to take him to ship that was to take him to Vietnam. It was a very unpleasant trip. But he came back whole of body and mind, and I will always be thankful for that. My son also came home whole, from Afghanastan. I am doubly blessed, and I bless you
you for remembering. I also will do a post, but I'm not going to put it up until either late Sunday evening or early Monday morning.
Oh man. The history lesson today for the 9 y/old was about John McCrae and his experience in WWI. We read In Flanders Fields and when I got too teary eyed to read further - she read the rest. It all ended with the 6 y/old, the 9 y/old and me dabbing our eyes and looking at each other.
Wonderful entry - thank you.
I have two uncles buried at Arlington. One served in World War I and the other at Normandy.
I'm ever grateful for the flags placed at Arlington every Memorial Day. The placing of those flags is done by the Honor Guard and is solemn duty--as my husband so learned when he was stationed at Fort Myer.
Arlington isn't the most visitor-friendly cemetery in the world. For one thing, no vases; one has to bring his own to decorate graves. It means a lot to family members that Memorial Day is a properly recognized time.
ANNOUNCEMENT
Be sure to visit GM's site for more photos related to Memorial Day.
Great post, and beutiful words....
nothing I could add except that I agree
Beautiful!
i love our veterans all! thank you, aow, for recognizing them so honorably.
my own father fought in the korean war in the army. rest his soul.
Very very good post, AOW. Thank you for posting it.
Very moving poem.
Lest we forget.
Oh, boy, I just visited Mustang's site over at SocialSence, and the video opened with scenes of WWII, as best I could tell.
My grandfather was a Navy commander of a warship - don't remember what kind - during WWI. He took my dad out to sea with him when he - my dad - was eight years old!
I have been fortunate enough to visit his gravesite in Arlington.
My dad was a "charter member" of the aircraft carrier pilots. They trained on a ship retrofitted with a wooden deck (there were no carriers yet) with biplanes; there were no tailhooks yet, either!
Later, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, the carriers were very advanced, and the planes were much improved. My dad was assigned to one of them, took me on a "tour" of the WASP when I was about three. All I remember is a long, curving corridor with portholes on the left, and having trouble getting over the "knee-knockers" of the doors. I can remember seeing my father's hand, but not his face, as he helped me over them.
They left for the war in the Pacific after that, and the WASP was hit in the magazine by a Japanese torpedo. I am so grateful that my dad survived; he and a lot of others were in the water for over three hours before being picked up by the ships that had gone to depth charge the submarine that had hit them (they missed). They were glad to wait, though, because the depth charges knocked the sharks out long enough for them to be rescued.
I still have an old color slide that my dad took of me just before they shipped out. It was in his wallet when he went into the water, and is damaged as a result, but the damage is part of what makes it so valuable to me.
My dad died in a VA Hospital in 1975, and his ashes were scattered at sea.
I salute you, Daddy, and Grandpa, and all the others.
Sorry - "Anonymous" was Cubed.
Sad but true AOW. Nobody hardly remembers anymore about our military heroes or how much is cost our nation to have freedom and live in prosperity--free from tyranny. It makes me sick to my stomach to hear or read about liberals or radicals who just don't give a damn about this country. I wish they'd move to Iran or Sudan.
Here is Mustang's posting, which Cubed mentioned above.
I am proud of all our Veterans!
BTW - Will anyone remember Casey Sheehan this Memorial Day? He has no gravestone, who will know of his sacrifice for this Nation?
This irks me on many levels as does his mother.
The American Legion, still places a flag on the grave of my great-grandfather, (a Civil War vet), A local cemetary has a section of civil war dead and a tribute to Cpl. James Bethel Gresham.
Cpl. James Bethel Gresham
Co. F, 16th Infantry, 1st Division
August 23, 1893 - November 3, 1917
He was an ordinary American, with no distinction of high birth, scholarship, or social prestige. He did not claim descent from Mayflower stock; he held no college degree; and he was not enrolled among our mercantile aristocracy and captains of industry. Only an average American; yet, his name will be transmitted to posterity as the first American soldier who made the supreme sacrifice on the battlefield.
As a typical American he did not bully or bluster but only went to defend and vindicate a cause which is national in its inherency and universal in its application. The humanitarian ideals of Freedom and Democracy are the goal of aspirations for individuals and nations throughout the world; but in a peculiar way, they are the warp and woof which make up the fabric of the American nation. As Theodore Roosevelt, in many respects the ideal American, said "We, here in America, hold in our hands the hope of the world, the fate of the coming years; and shame and disgrace will be ours if in our eyes the light of high resolve is dimmed, if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men."
James Bethel Gresham was born in McClean County, Ky., August 23, 1893. In September, 1901, the family moved to Evansville, where he attended the Centennial School. Later he worked in the Cotton Mill and different furniture factories.
On April 23, 1914 he enlisted in the army. He was sent to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Mo. In June he went with General Pershing to El Paso, Tex., during the Mexican crisis. In June, 1917, he was sent from Ft Bliss for service in France, with the first American soldiers of the A. E. F. "I have heard," his proud mother said, "that he was the first American to step on foreign soil." He was a member of Co. F, 16th Infantry. Before daylight on November 3, 1917, Gresham was killed by the Germans in a raid near Artois, France.
Prof. John B. McMaster in his work, "The United States In The World War," gives the following account of the battle:
"The first trench fighting occurred just before dawn on the morning of November 3, when a small detachment of Americans in a front line instruction salient were attacked by a superior force of Germans, and the salient cut off from the rest of the men by a heavy barrage. The fighting then became hand to hand. In the course of it three Americans were killed, five wounded and eleven taken prisoners. The dead were buried on the slope of a hill overlooking a little village
Somewhere in France, and the site a few months later was marked by a stone monument bearing the name and regiment of each of the dead, and the inscription: 'Here lie the first soldiers of the great Republic of the United States who died on the soil of France for justice and liberty, November 3, 1917."
It is the pride of this community that the first of these three Americans was Corporal James Bethel Gresham. The other two Americans were Private Thomas F. Enright, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Private Merle D. Hay, Glidden, Iowa. His body was laid to rest at
Bathlemon, France, in the American Cemetery, Plot three, Section one.
_____
Great read Sir Warren.
Cubed that's a great story, thank God for men like your father.
AOW, Thank you for helping us to remember those that paid for our freedom with their lives. God Bless each of them.
God Bless America, God Save The Republic.
Warren,
Thank you for posting the story about your great-grandfather. So moving! And thank you for pointing out the dedication of the American Legion.
My great-uncle Bill (World War I), a bachelor at the time, was the first to enlist in his hometown of Lenoir City, Tennessee. I don't know much about his service except that he served in the Infantry on the front lines.
Uncle Bill came home, but was disabled for the remainder of his life with asthma and circulatory problems. But he was well enough to be my "grandfather" until he died in 1959 (Both of my grandfathers died well before I was born). Though he never learned to read or write, he taught me about the Lord. He also taught me about patriotism; he was the stauchest patriot I've ever known, despite the fact that he never got his just due of a full pension from the Army, largely because he didn't feel that Uncle Sam should pay anyone to serve. He wouldn't apply for the pension! After he was gone, my mother contacted her personal acquaintance Lyndon Johnson so that Uncle Bill's widow could receive a small monthly stipend.
Uncle Bill's portrait hangs on my living-room wall and is the only photo in the room; the other pictures are landscapes.
On 9/11, from the cedar chest I retrieved Uncle Bill's flag from the ceremony at Arlington and draped it from our front eaves until we could purchase a flag which I wouldn't mind taking the weather changes. All day long, I kept looking at Uncle Bill's portrait. And I kept watching the television to see if his grave at Arlington was damaged during the Pentagon attack; his grave at Arlington is very near Henderson Hall, and I wondered about any debris (There wasn't any debris in the cemetery, but I didn't figure that our right away)
Of all my family who served in the military during the 20th Century, all came home, although my Uncle Walter (WWI) came home on a stretcher. We've always regarded their return as miraculous as every single one served in battles with huge casualties. Each and every serviceman in my family volunteered to serve and didn't wait for any draft order to come. Each one didn't regard himself as a hero, but rather thought of himself as an ordinary American who needed to serve his country. Not a one ever spoke of what he went through or saw.
God bless our servicemen and servicewomen who are so willing to put themselves on the line for our nation and for our freedom!
Skye,
Will anyone remember Casey Sheehan this Memorial Day? He has no gravestone, who will know of his sacrifice for this Nation?
I guess his mother doesn't have time to attend to that little matter. GRRRRR!
Cubed,
Thank you for telling us about your grandfather and your father. You have every right to be proud of them!
Elmer's Brother,
Now is a good time for me to thank YOU for your service to our nation.
Three cheers for the red white and blue..thank u and happy holidays AOW!!
AoW- Yes, his mother is to busy for that! But his father and step-mother raised him and hopefully will be able to reclaim him from his absentee mother, "spit"! Apparentlly, Cindy baby had nothing to do with his upbringing, only his death was useful to her!
tmw
Aow, what little part I played is barely worth mentioning and I got to come home.
osfl- Glad you had your time with real Americans! Friendly folks.
EB- They also serve who stand and wait! Don't you ever denigrate your service, by "standing" you helped lay the groundwork for the fighting! Remember sometimes G*D calls us to just "stand", if we are obedient we make victory possible!
Thank you to all of our vets and thier families!
Good morning and G*D bless to all and may you have a glorious and beautiful day!
tmw
Storm
Ducky is the only far left type that posts on this site. Children tend to read this site so the rantings of John Brown are not appropriate. Brown's greatest crime is being repeatative.
The botton line is we have what Brown wants eyeballs. He is either going to behave or not get what he wants. His interview with Florian delivered ratings . I will not grant him an interview on my site and will never agree to an interview on his site.
Well maybe Conspiracy Brutha has just taken a break.
The quote from Father O'Brien is one of my favorites. We would not be the nation we are today if not for the sacrifices of our brave men and women throughout our nations history. God bless them and the families who loved them. May we all honor them as our own flesh and blood....for they have sacrificed their flesh and their blood.
nice to visit such a well-laid out and great-content blog.
I saw a few of your comments on Publius' site and wanted to drop by.
Great post, BTW :)
I'd love to be interviewed by LoBrow.
::snicker::
Storm,
A few college students read this site, but most of my student-readers are in high school. I teach groups of homeschoolers.
The way the media treats our military is one of the few things that really frosts my buttons.
Did the media declare a truce for Memorial Day? A bit, I think. But we'll be back so the same old after today. I predict a media feeding frenzy over the latest story, which made front-page in the WaPo yesterday.
Mr. Beamish,
I don't see that interview being offered to you.
Truth-Pain,
Thank you for the compliment. I've not been making many blog rounds these days, but did make a few new stops this weekend.
Wordsmith,
I used that same quote by Father O'Brien in my Memorial Day posting last year. It's one of my personal favorites!
EB,
Modest, as usual. I expected no less from you.
O Sons For Liberty,
THEY GAVE ME A PATCH THEY HAD MADE ESPECIALLY FOR ME WHEN MY TIME CAME TO GO HOME. IT WAS THE 82d ALL AMERICAN PATCH WITH A LITTLE TAB UNDERNEATH THAT SAID ' AND ONE CANUCK!!!
Quite a nice recognition for you.
And thank you for your service.
TMW and WHT,
The weather here was perfect today. Nothing to interfere with the many ceremonies held.
My back is killing me, so we pretty much stayed home, except for a brief ride in the convertible. All along the way--flags everywhere.
Yesterday, Rolling Thunder roared through our neighborhood. The cats were antsy with all that noise, but my husband and I don't mind. This holiday is a good time to remember the POW's and MIA's.
Eyes,
Haven't I seen that same poem at your site?
Of course, it is THE Memorial Day poem, with the poppy symbolism.
When I was in school, we had red poppies (paper ones) on our desks for Memorial Day.
That was beautiful AOW. Simply beautiful.
Esther,
Good to see you making blog rounds again. I've missed ya!
Thanks for the visit to the "emporium" today,... i hope the big gold naked guy did not scare you too much... thats what happens when i paste-in the first funny photo i find :)
Truth-Pain,
I don't scare easily. Hehehe.
Great stories about your relatives who served. Thanks guys.
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Ducky said,
"If we were so very concerned about "speaking german" then why did we wait so long to enter the war?"
Ducky why dont you read non-revisionist history to find the answer?
Oh, and the cracker slur is rather racist, too.
It is my observation that Ducky is angry at most of the world. He is alienated(for whatever reason) and takes his bitterness out on others. He is a sad, lonely soul.
tmw
Ducky,
Was your Mom's early death the reason for your lifestyle choice?
You can always count on Ducky to dig up the exception to the rule and hold it up as the rule.
Here let me help you Ducky. Lets remember slavery and Jim Crow segregation.
Lets remember how we took the Indian's land.
Lets remember Contragate and US complacency with drug runners in order to fight Communists.
Lets remember the Bay of Pigs which was financed and guided by the CIA.
All of these things were wrong, but when added against all the good things we have done and placed into the proper context of the times they took place you can still look at this country with pride.
Because we are human, with real faults and are limited to the times we live in and the tools we have available. Only fascist and totalitarian states lay claim to perfection.
The American revolution challenged the notion of kingship and absolute rule. The Constitution gave us all civil rights that we take for granted but were luxuries to our ancestors. Slavery and segregation were defeated by peaceful transition. Our enemies Germany and Japan were shown such kindness that they became our allies.
When this country was born:
- Slavery was a given right of the rich in every society. Slavery lasted until the 20th century in Arab lands (and many argue it still exists there).
- Racism was endemic to every society and still is in much of the third world. The idea of Civil Rights for minorities was born in the US and the western world. Many third world countries still have no such protections. Try being a poor white person and moving to a 3rd world country. You will be victimized by brutal racism, but find no legal protection against it.
- Freedom of Religion was a novel idea and still hasnt caught on in Muslim countries.
- Freedom of the Press? Ha!!! Still is a western tradition and America was a leader in this department.
Putting things into proper perspective is important.
To all (I left this same comment to the above article "Bittersweet"),
Just letting everyone now that I'll be busy this week and won't be making many comments or blog rounds. The last week of classes is exhausting, particularly emotionally but physically as well. I hit the hay very early last night.
To top it all off, the Mustang broke down early Tuesday morning--pinion gears, I think. Hubby is working on it. But coming home from a last day of classes and hearing the sounds of a mechanic's frustration are going to be the routine here.
I didn't even boot up the computer last night. Now, THAT'S exhaustion!
No Ducky, The "jingoists" fought and died to preserve and protect those precious rights. If that is your definition of a jingoist, I'll gladly head the list!
tmw
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Hey ducky,
We are all Americans.
Were liberals like KKK Byrd and the Copperheads examples of your liberal policies? That is a dark cloud that our country shares. Your black and white interpretation of history is full of wholes.
Eisenhower and Nixon signed as much civil rights legislation as any of their contemporaries.
American Liberals are the biggest protectionalists and are hardly liberal in an economic sense.
In every point I raised above Republicans had a prominent role, if not a dominating role.
Eat turds revisionist...
It appears that your KKK Democrat, Robert Byrd, is on track to surpass Thurmond's record of length of senatorial service by June 10, 2006. Congrats.
Maybe you can get your fellow Bush hater, David Duke, back in the Democratic Party again.
You guys keep good company. When you go to the next anti-war demo say hi to your Marxist-Leninist friends at Intl ANSWER...
ducky will have to go to the antiwar demo topless that's how all the feminists do it
Hey you gotta love the Anti-war crowd:
David Duke
Robert Byrd
the Libertarian National Socialist Green Party
International ANSWER
Code Pink
George Galloway
Rev. Fred Phelps
Saddam Hussein
Osama bin Laden
They are some real winners...
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EB, the link points to http://www.blogger.com/
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http://elmersbro.bloghi.com/2006/01/22/stay-away-from-my-uterus.html
try that
Wholly Crap Duck
YOu were born in Huntsville? I friggin live there now... that just spooks me more than you'll ever know
Just so everyone knows, instead of reading all the comments between Duck, Kev, and Storm, you can equate this into something VERY simple:
Liberal = "enlightented" mentality in which one assumes that hate, evil, and good are nothing more than conceptual things that all people generally agree on, and given the chance, will aspire for a sense of "fairness".
Conservative = "realist" mentality in which good and evil are very real and concrete parts of life that must either be dealt with, or run from. The option to "negotiate" with a percived evil is not an option, because the "fairness" doctrin is not evil's end goal, but instead its direct enemy and deterrent.
Conflict between the two:
Liberal belives that because, given the chance, all will aspire for "fairness", true military strength is not a neccissary thing, but a luxury used by the "power elite" to achive "fairness" on their terms
Conservatives belive that all man is flawed by nature, and possibly given over to evil. When evil (think in larger perspective, not relative) is uncovered, the only deterrent is possibility of death and/or destruction, hence the need for military.
Note key differences in definitions of "bad guy" and the characters who play them.
Liberal: Bush, Ragen, Nixon, Churchill - Those that refused to accept that the government is not an omnipotent tool of "fairness" to enforce socialist values upon people in an effort to equalize misery.
Conservative: Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Mao - Those that would subject millions to oppresion and/or death to achieve personal ambitions that may or may not have their representitive nation's best interests at heart.
This clash goes back as far as the early Europe when "Philosophes" began questioning religion, and began twisting Newton's "great machine" idea into "god" being nothing more than a mechanical force in which we all operate.
The root cause of the difference is found there, in religion. However, also note that their own premise of "fairness" debunks the very premise that there is no God.
God's law would be written upon men's hearts (Jer. 31:33).
If there is a universal sense of right and wrong, and there is a "international law", then that standard would have to come from somewhere. If there is some assumed "fairness" that all would strive to achieve... then it would only stand to reason that that "fairness" comes from the law of God written on man's heart.
-Sorry for spelling errors, I didnt have time to spell check
Ducky you are so full of it. I could give a damn about Raygun, but to say he was a disaster as a President is an outright lie.
You are wrong on every count. The US military engagement in Vietnam was a victory. The Vietcong were completely smashed after the Tet Offensive and the following offensives. The North resorted to dressing up as the Vietcong to give the appearance that they were still an effective fighting force.
We successfully forced the North Vietnamese to end hostilities and concluded a peace treaty that allowed us to pull out our troops. Almost two years later they invaded again (without provocation) and there were no US troops involved in that fighting. It was the Democratic controlled Congress that forced our government to withhold aid to the South that led to a Communist victory. So it was appeasement that lost South Vietnam just like appeasement lost Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Your insinuation that some commentators that post here are racists who support the Confederacy is completely unfounded. Most of the bloggers that visit here celebrate the Northern victory and liberation of the slaves.
It is the slogan of Protest Warriors that says, "War Never Solved Anything, except for ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism & Communism"
Your rhetoric is getting stale...
g- Bravo, a beautiful summing up of the two sides! I agree and am sure there will be agreement and violent objection to your argument! Wonderfully stated!
tmw
P.S.- Also the conservative realizes that "life's not fair", so deal with it!
tmw
HAHAHA! Ducky,preaching hate and God's will all in the same thread!
The Cold War, what else?
I didn't know Ducky knew how to spell that three letter word.
Apologies for not responding to all commenters. I have to grade some exams today and mail those evaluations.
But I couldn't let this turn of phrase from O Sons Of Liberty go unnoticed: LEFTIST OXYGEN THIEF!!!
That's a good one! Hehehe.
Duck, lesson time:
Allah is God... just a misguided and wrongly taught version there of. Do some research of Islam and you'll see they too belive in Moses, Abraham, Jesus... only that Jesus was a prophet, and that Mohammid was the last true prophet.
But the God is the same God (of Abraham and Issac).
My blessings (the "bounty" you spoke of) didnt come to me by dumb luck, or because I was "born again".. .it is from God's Grace.
Grace, a concept that is failing you obviously, is the unmerited, and undeserved gift of forgivness and reward that God gives all of us. The very fact that you and I live and breath is a gift of Grace, everything else is just gravy on top.
We are all flawed and sinful, even the most self-righteous of us. For none can ever truly follow the law, because as Jesus said... it's the thoughts of man tha betray his real nature, and thus offend God. So therefore, anything I have, or will have, or wont have for that matter is nothing more than a gift of God's Grace.
My job, as I've been born again, is to be a good stuart of that gift. To use it in a way that adhears to the teachings of Christ, and in an effort to do the main mission of Christians everywhere: Spread the word of Christ Jesus.
As a church billboard here said: "Many Christians Do Nothing, but No Christian Has Nothing to Do".
Now you see the "ladder" I had for the "hole" I dug. Perhaps you'd like to talk about this subject more? I dont propose to be a biblical scholar, or some kind of source of knowledge on this, but I do know that I too was once "lost, but now I'm found"...
The biggest difference between you and I Duck is that I know how this is all going to end, and that man will not have any effect on it. Our struggle is not to win or lose, to gain or prosper, but only to prepare ourselves for the next world to come. When you have that philosophy in mind, you'll understand why I think that things like violent Islam, forcibly spreading false teaching is more dangerous that Global Warming. Because in the end, God will have his day of judgement no matter how many SUV's are on the earth, and no matter how many trees we've saved. But every lost sole is a tradgedy, and every saved sole is a celebration beyond measure.
again, forgive spelling :D
Duck,
Well, I guess it's a case of "You had to be there." I understand that looking into the window while standing outside might give you a simplistic picture and no understanding as to the warmth within.
And Duck... I've got no intolerance of human sexuality, sin is sin. In God's eyes, adultary and homosexuality are the same: sin.
Murder and thievery are the same: sin.
There is only one unforgivable sin, and that is to blasphemy the Holy Spirt (I think that's it?).
Other than that, they dont get some kind of pecking order, so your comment essentially is false. Note also that you're "percived" sins having nothing to do with God's law, and everything to do with man's interests. God told man to go forth and have dominion over the earth and all her creatures. Smokestacks are not a sin per the Law, or the Sermon on the Mount.
Note also: no Christian should be "waiting for the end times", because then you're just squandering the gift that God has asked us to be good stuards of. You have a great many misrepresentations about what is and is not Faith. I think you are confusing "Religion" with Faith...
That may not neccissarily be your fault, the Church has failed over the last gernation to promote the mission from the Sermon on the Mount (e.g. to spread the word of God and baptise all nations).
Duck,
the need to fulfill the end times prophect in the Middle East
I don't subscribe to that particular brand of eschatology. In fact, what you've alluded to elevates the role of man over that of God.
The Sermon on the Mount is an integral part of the Christian faith. Of course, the doctrine of redemption (born again) is found elsewhere in the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount contains some of the words of Jesus, but not all His words. Much of the Sermon on the Mount deals with the manner in which we should interact with our fellow man, although Matthew 5:20 alludes to the impossiblity of our being righteous enough in God's eyes.
Islam has much to do with the letter of the law, and you seem to feel that following the letter of the law is a bad thing. I see a contradiction there. Furthermore, Matthew 7:12 teaches the Golden Rule, which is absent in the Medinan verses.
G,
You're right about the unforgivable sin. I once had that explained to me as meaning that rejecting the pull of the Holy Spirit to salvation is what results in eternal condemnation.
I've heard the unforgiveable sin interpreted to also be not unforgiveable until you die.
O Sons For Liberty,
G's responses showed more patience than I have right now. But reading what he had to say is spiritually uplifting.
Storm -
How often people who don't believe in the Bible do this. e.g. I've heard at least one blogger try to use the "turn the other cheek" as a foreign policy
Turn the other cheek is instruction in personal relations, NOT a guideline for political policy.
Kev,
We're flat out of cheeks.
romans!
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