Lives acceptable to lose…

I have never been a pacifist, nor am I now. I believe in defense of self, family, home, and freedom (not necessarily in that order). I have never been a violent person, nor prone to act out in aggression, but I do get passionately angry about injustices done to innocents.

I am against abortion. I stand against it because, as Mother Theresa said, “It is a poverty, that a child should die so that you and I may live as we wish.” For the same reason I believe we must act to save lives, to preserve hope in others. As a Christ Follower, it is my responsibility to care for the orphans of the world. I believe that one day, we will come to judgment, and in this day, we must answer to the gray areas that we rationalized in order to ease our conscience. This is what I believe.

I’ve stood by the war in Iraq, for the freedom of an oppressed country; but is it right? I don’t know much about it all, except that Saddam was a Tyrant, and shouldn’t be in power, but somehow tyrants always do rise to power don’t they? Whether it’s right or not that we’re at war in Iraq, American soldiers are still in miserable conditions and putting their lives on the line every day.

Thousands of American lives have been lost in Iraq. This number didn’t bother me until today. Many parents lost their children in this war. The trauma that war inflicts on soldiers is nothing to take lightly either. Families have been ruined because of this war. I’m not saying I think the war is wrong, but I don’t want to shrug off the effect that it is having on households around our country. Today I was listening to Derek Webb’s “Love is Not Against the Law” song, when the line “Are we defending life, when we just pick and choose, lives acceptable to lose, and which ones to defend…” shook me.

I guess the point of all this is simple: Just because a person volunteers to go into the military and serve his country, does not mean that country can justify his death by the fact that he signed up. He signed up in good faith that the people of his country would not waste his life, and devastate his family for a war that is not a righteous, justified cause.

To whoever stumbles upon this thought and wants to drop me a note about the war and politics and what-not, you’ve obviously missed the point. The point is that life is sacred, and should be protected. And so, while I believe in defense, I will protest the sword if it is not wielded well. I am now called to examine this, no longer as an American, but as a Christian.

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