So I guess to finish this topic off I'd just like to say that, while there are some mighty good reasons to fight (stopping genocide is a good one), so often those aren't the reasons that we go to war...it's only when we look back that we add those reasons in.
WW2's probably a good example. We didn't join the fight to stop the holocaust (at least that's my understanding of events), but looking back we focus on stopping the holocaust as one of the the main benefits of joining the war, don't we? We added that reason in. It was a good reason. But it was still an afterthought...a mild example of an afterthought, I hope...I hope that was honestly one of our main reasons for fighting. I don't think it was but I hope so. Maybe the war in Afganistan's another, better example. Before we went in we didn't hear much talk about liberating people from the Taliban, but we sure did after the fact...
Didn't we?
I hope our country...or any country for that matter...will one day just fight wars to selflessly benefit others.
Staying in Iraq, leaving Iraq, doing whatever in Iraq just for the sake of the people who live there would be a good start. As for those of us who don't have much of a say in that sort of thing, maybe we could just start questioning the way the military uses its people and the way our country uses its military...rather than just submitting to and encouraging our country to get involved in fights for reasons that aren't pleasing to the Lord.
There's no honor in that.
matt
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Just out of curiosity, under your impression, what were our main reasons for entering WWII?
...The United States was very much involved in the war and in stopping the holocaust (short of US troops) before Japan brought it to our soil, if thats what you were implying. $50 billion (multiply by a factor of 11 to put that in terms of today's economy) in supplies and equiment a year before Pearl Harbor is hardly an afterthought.
Also, in regard to our current war, liberating the Middle East from the atrocities committed by the Taliban has always been at the forefront of my mind. I have vivid memories of using this exact argument in debates against my Physics teacher and a good friend of mine nearly 3 years ago.
I admire your critical view of...well...everything because I imagine it is very challenging for yourself and others alike (it sure is for me). However, be careful in voicing lofty claims unless they are substantiated. They tend to rub people the wrong way.
yeah you understood my thought on WW2...and that's cool that we sent stuff...but why didn't we fight before we were attacked?
i'm not saying no one was talking about liberation of the people under the Taliban...but our big fat main reason was to take out Osama in an act of revenge/defense. That's how I saw it. I think that's how most people thought of it. If you didn't see it that way then...that's really good.
thanks for being critical of...well...me. iron sharpening iron, that's what we are :) now we just gotta take that beyond the realm of intellectual sharpening and we'll be doing really well.
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