dhgray,
Jesus is telling his followers that it is going to be dangerous to be his disciple. Buying a sword is said more “toung in cheek” read on:
38 “Lord,” they said, “look, here are two swords.” “Enough of that!” He told them.
Besides the fact I’ve yet to see this translation in any English Bible I’ve seen (not saying it doesn’t exist, obviously), I took a look at a Greek-English concordance and fail to see how this is a likely translation.
Hikanos means “sufficient”, “enough”, “meet”, “fit”, etc. This is born out by other passages where this same Greek word is used in the New Testament. Given this, I’m not convinced that the translation you’ve provided is accurate.
Yes I firmly back BUSH! He is a strong leader and set this country into a posture of self defense by striking at the enemy abroad, but only after the enemy drew first blood.
I’m sorry, but what did Iraq have to do with 9-11?
Nothing. If the American government was
serious about getting to the root of fanatical Islamist support for terrorism, they would have first went after
Saudi Arabia, which is the cradle of Wahhabism, and is where practically to a man the officially named hijackers were from. Funny, that’s not what happened? In fact, the American government still officially numbers the Saudis (an anti-democratic regime where the open expression of Christianity is illegal, and where you will be
murdered if you preach the Gospel or convert to Christianity, all state sanctioned) as a
friend in the Middle East, along with
Egypt, where Christians (esp. the Copts) are regularly lynched with tacit government approval (and where it is illegal for Christians to do anything to advance the wellbeing of their communities - you’ll even be lucky to get a building permit to fix a toilet on Church property…
not an exageration.)
If you buy the official government line on the “war on terror”, I’ve got a bridge you might be interested in buying…
However, I do believe that arbitary killing is wrong. You are advocating killing anyone who threatens Christianity.
Unless I totally misread the O.P., who is talking about “arbitrary killing”? He’s talking about defending/liberating viciously persecuted Christian populations in the Islamic world, who frankly no one cares about.
It’s funny - when the Serbians were allegedly “ethnic cleansing” the Albanians (so called “Kosavars”) who were trying to forcefully seperate the cultural/religious heart-land of Serbia (keep in mind that you Americans fought your own war against “successionism”, in which millions died), NATO (read
America, since they in effect dictate NATO policy) had no problem with bombing Serbia, littering the country with depleted Urainium munitions, etc. Interestingly enough, they were in effect
helping not simply Muslims (Albanians), but groups like the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) who are in fact
militant Islamists who are well known to circulate in the same “world-Jihad” circles as Osama bin Ladin. Funny, America basically siding with Islamists against a historically Christian people (yes, the Serbs did bad things, but it was hardly a one sided affair); but the point is, the Americans intervened where they officially perceived human rights abuses.
Yet the well known problem of Christian persecution in Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, etc. (basically wherever Muslims have the upper hand), which includes forced conversions to Islam, murder of converts or people publically expressing the Christian faith, denial of basic human rights to Christians, slavery (yes, slavery - Christians are commonly kidnapped and made slaves by Muslims in Africa), rape, theft, etc… none of this seems to “count”. Yet, Bush still has time to criticize Russia, for fighting Islamist-Jihadi seperatists in Chechnya!
So again, who is talking about “arbitrary killing”? How about simply putting the Mohammedans on notice, that if they keep treating Christians like dogs, they will face dire consequences? How is that any less legitimate than meddling in Kosovo, or pursuing the
stated aims of the military invasion of Iraq?
