Incongruity of Freedom
Freedom isn't easy.
The media, politicians, and pundits have marked the macabre milestone of 4,000 American troops dead in Iraq with predictable castigation of President and policy. The troops went to a foreign land with the idea of protecting American freedom from terrorism and maybe giving an oppressed people a little freedom of their own. The troops are all volunteers who freely chose the military as a career, a calling, or a simple means to an end.
For the Catholic in America, the Pope has settled the question of whether this is a just war. It's not. Nonetheless, American men and women are there, now, and at the very minimum deserve the support and prayers of the very people they freely give their lives to protect regardless of one's opinion on policy.
It took five years to lose 4,000 troops. Armed with the best armor and most sophisticated weapons, evil still found a way to take their lives. Each is mourned by family and friends, and most Americans sincerely wish the killing could end. All hope for the day when the last soldier finally comes home and the last chapter of history telling of America's experiment in nation building can be completed.
Freedom isn't easy.
While it took five years for evil to end the lives of 4,000 of America's strongest and most protected, it takes only twenty-four hours for it to end an equal number of America's most vulnerable. For the umbrella of freedom American soldiers fight for casts a very large shadow that includes the freedom to kill a child who should be safe in its mother's womb. Every day in America, 4,000 Americans are lost to abortion.
Al Quida and the abortionist have a like minded goal of killing Americans simply because they exist. In point of fact when one examines the teachings of Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger; her drive to create a superior race by eliminating African Americans; the disabled; and even those who simply had a lower IQ, she seems on par with the evil of Islamic extremism that would snuff out infidels to please Allah.
And yet the incongruity of freedom imposes upon the American the funding of Planned Parenthood with her tax dollars while Uncle Sam chases another evil that actually kills a much smaller fraction of his citizens. Americans have decided that women should have the freedom to kill their babies in their wombs. It is a freedom driven by choice; a freedom to choose to undo a series of bad choices that led up to a decision that had to be made to end a baby's life. Women want this freedom so their lives won't be interrupted. Men want this freedom so they won't be held any more accountable.
For it is God's will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
Freedom isn't easy.
The ignorance of foolish men Christ's first pope speaks of seems ever abundant. The use of freedom as a pretext for evil seems more and more common place in a culture that no longer really fears God or honors its leaders and certainly does not strive to serve God. As America propels itself down the path of choosing a new President, perhaps the prayer should be that its next leader will take a step back from the dark abyss of bad choices freely chosen by leaders past and instead take a step forward towards the true freedom that is the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The media, politicians, and pundits have marked the macabre milestone of 4,000 American troops dead in Iraq with predictable castigation of President and policy. The troops went to a foreign land with the idea of protecting American freedom from terrorism and maybe giving an oppressed people a little freedom of their own. The troops are all volunteers who freely chose the military as a career, a calling, or a simple means to an end.
For the Catholic in America, the Pope has settled the question of whether this is a just war. It's not. Nonetheless, American men and women are there, now, and at the very minimum deserve the support and prayers of the very people they freely give their lives to protect regardless of one's opinion on policy.
It took five years to lose 4,000 troops. Armed with the best armor and most sophisticated weapons, evil still found a way to take their lives. Each is mourned by family and friends, and most Americans sincerely wish the killing could end. All hope for the day when the last soldier finally comes home and the last chapter of history telling of America's experiment in nation building can be completed.
Freedom isn't easy.
While it took five years for evil to end the lives of 4,000 of America's strongest and most protected, it takes only twenty-four hours for it to end an equal number of America's most vulnerable. For the umbrella of freedom American soldiers fight for casts a very large shadow that includes the freedom to kill a child who should be safe in its mother's womb. Every day in America, 4,000 Americans are lost to abortion.
Al Quida and the abortionist have a like minded goal of killing Americans simply because they exist. In point of fact when one examines the teachings of Planned Parenthood's founder Margaret Sanger; her drive to create a superior race by eliminating African Americans; the disabled; and even those who simply had a lower IQ, she seems on par with the evil of Islamic extremism that would snuff out infidels to please Allah.
And yet the incongruity of freedom imposes upon the American the funding of Planned Parenthood with her tax dollars while Uncle Sam chases another evil that actually kills a much smaller fraction of his citizens. Americans have decided that women should have the freedom to kill their babies in their wombs. It is a freedom driven by choice; a freedom to choose to undo a series of bad choices that led up to a decision that had to be made to end a baby's life. Women want this freedom so their lives won't be interrupted. Men want this freedom so they won't be held any more accountable.
For it is God's will that by doing right you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil; but live as servants of God. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.
1Peter2:13-17
Freedom isn't easy.
The ignorance of foolish men Christ's first pope speaks of seems ever abundant. The use of freedom as a pretext for evil seems more and more common place in a culture that no longer really fears God or honors its leaders and certainly does not strive to serve God. As America propels itself down the path of choosing a new President, perhaps the prayer should be that its next leader will take a step back from the dark abyss of bad choices freely chosen by leaders past and instead take a step forward towards the true freedom that is the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
posted by David Jackson | 7:58 PM
1 Comments:
Excellent post. Great observations. I will join in your prayer intention.
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