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on 16-07-2003 13:07
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By Uncle Sham
America is a land of contradictions. We are without question the most rich and powerful nation on earth. On one hand, we are Christians. We believe in God. We attend Church. We are deeply religious. A sizeable majority of our people are churchgoers. An equal proportion believes that the Bible is divinely inspired. A like number of Americans consider that religion of Christianity plays a necessary element in our lives. Most of us try to regulate our lives according to the Bible.
Jesus Christ is our Lord and master. As Christians, we are committed to forsake all and follow him, through good and evil until death overtakes us. Nevertheless, we are Democratic-Republican citizens of the United States of America. We are sworn to bear true allegiance to our great country. We have promised those at power to uphold its constitution-with our lives. Jesus Christ requires me to do unto others, as we would want the others to do unto us. The Constitution of our country on the other hand requires me to do the very contrary of what we would have them do unto us. We are required to assist the laws of our country by keeping others in bondage. However, we are quite easy. We vote on. We help the government to run our country. We are also willing to hold any office that elects us under the Constitution. Yet, we are Christians. We profess on. We find no difficulty in keeping our covenant with God and the Constitution.
Jesus Christ abrogated the law of the Old Testament "An eye for and eye, tooth for tooth, blood for blood, and life for life." My country requires me to do the reverse. They say it is for the preservation of our way of life. They employ us in the shadows of guns, tanks, warships, and planes. They pit us against both domestic and foreign enemies. They furnish us with all the state-of-war equipment to carry out our tasks. We have gallows, electric chairs, and prisons to hold them and punish them. Arsenals, soldiers, and the ships of war assist us. At home, we have the law-enforcement agencies. We help the government maintain the stranglehold over others with its machinery. We have to do this for in its constant use and maintenance; we can exemplify the best of Christian virtues. We can forgive our enemies and those who cause us injury. We can ble! ss those who curse us. Moreover, do good to those who hate us. It is for this reason we employ regular army chaplains to pray for us, and for those of us who kill. For, we cannot do good before killing others.
We see it all. Yet, we are all good Christians. We unite under the fellowship of the Church. We vote on. We help govern on. We profess on. We glory in being both devoted Christians and followers of the Constitution. We have to sometimes, shelve aside the Christian moral of fighting evil with non-resistance. As good Christians, we have to teach proper Christian values to the unprincipled men who run our government. For this reason, we have to stay on. We cannot just throw away our political influence with those in the seats of power. Sometimes, we have pay lip service to Christ and follow the piety and the honesty of a Pharisee in order to lead.
Our constitution says, "The Congress shall have the power to declare war." We agree to this. In fact, we endorse it. We all swear to help carry it through to its conclusion. How does that make me any less a Christian? In order to overcome some of our scruples, we have made war a Christian service. We invoke God before we start of for a war. We pray for quick victory over our enemies. We carry our Bibles to the battlefield. Our presidents attend Church and pray for us, publicly and privately, when we kill and sometimes get ourselves killed. It is perfectly normal now for a Christian to murder fellow human beings, to destroy and burn cities with our advanced weaponry, and carry out the other cruelties of war. Sometimes, it is collateral damage. It happens to all the civilians who get in the way. We try to warn them before hand. If they do not lis! ten to us, then they are to blame for getting themselves killed.
We have also found out a way to metamorphose wickedness into righteousness. One man must not kill. If he does that, it is murder. Two, ten, hundred, men acting on their own responsibility should not kill. If they do that on their own responsibility, it is called as terrorism. However, a state or a nation may kill as many as they please, even without justification, then it is not murder. It is legal and just. It is necessary, commendable, and a right thing to do. It cannot be termed as state terrorism. We take care to see that many people agree to it. We hold opinion polls. We pass laws. We get the congress to ratify and legislate it. Sometimes, we have to push and coerce other to fall into line to agree with the majority view. Then the mass murder of people in a war becomes perfectly innocent. But, how many men does it take? A quarter-million s! oldiers? Half a million? It is not a problem, for it will help us legitimize the war. It is the same case with other crimes like theft, burglary, and robbery. One person should not do it. A few persons should never attempt it. But, when a country deprives another of all its resources then it is perfectly legitimate to do it.
But, as we have said before life should go on. We have to pretend everything is normal. If our lives, morals, and honesty are taken as Christian conducts, then the Bible will be rejected by the Americans and our Church steeples dismantled. The whole edifice would come crumbling down. We therefore need the American Constitution. The American Constitution needs the Church as much as the Church needs the constitution to further its aims. We live off each other. We need to, in order to carry on, to survive as a nation. We aid one another in our quest for eternal glory. At times, relegate God to a second place next to the President of the United States. We push God to the first place only when the going gets tough.
We remain Christian by pushing the responsibility of national interest on the government. It is for them to consider what is good for our community and the country as a whole. The duty of a citizen in merged with the will of those who rule us. We take no part in the decisions of the government and therefore not responsible for its crimes. It is to say that we have resigned our conduct and our consciences to our lawmakers, and act wickedly or well, as their good or evil may take over, without merit for virtue, or responsibility of the crime.
However, we are good Christians. We attend Church and hold religious meetings. We send our children to attend the Sunday Bible classes. We believe that the Bible is divinely inspired. We pray for our enemies. We bless those who curse us. We profess on. We follow on. For, we have to guard the unholy alliance between the Church and the State. We need both in order to hound and persecute anyone, who could not for conscience sake, capitulate to our demands and life goes on.
Last update : 16-07-2003 13:07
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