December 1, 2013 [Blue or Purple] First Sunday of Advent (Year A) Psalm 122 (UMH 845) Romans 13:11-14
Isaiah 2:1-5 St John “Why are We Still Playing War”
As we gather this first Sunday of Advent, the Isaiah 2 passage is a great reminder that the God we serve is a God of peace. It is a great reminder that we are supposed to be people of peace and joy.
For the last two thousand years the human race has been making tremendous progress in everything from plumbing to human rights, and this progress has been picking up speed exponentially during the last half century. There is no reason to think that it's going to slow down, because nothing in our world is going to do anything but continue to speed up. I have been following some of the talks about war in the news, how some country are in the process of destroying their chemical weapons and other countries are promising to stop building nuclear weapons on and off again.
In find my self while hearing the voice of the prophet Isaiah and also hearing our Nobel Peace prize winning president understanding of War.
In his Nobel Peace speech, President Obama May have misspoken when he said that we would never see peace in our lifetimes. He doesn't know that and saying it set us back, simply because in this age of growing awareness, every word on the international stage sends ripples of powerful energy through our global family.
I agree with him that we must be “clear eyed” about the state of the world today. There are few “peace maker” more intense than I am, but I also clearly see that the human race is still evolving toward being a peaceful people.
We still have those who are barbaric and primitive, who use religion and God as a war cry and justification for slaughtering innocent people. We still have those in position of power that would rather spend money on guns and war then for social security and health care. These who would rather throw tea in the water then give it to dying babbles? Most of the world's 6.5 billion people are, by far, good, caring folks who just want to live a comfortable and secure life. But, the one tenth of one percent who are either ignorant, weak minded, or evil are the ones who are giving us all the trouble and conflict. They are small in number but dangerous and not to be dismissed. In this age of nuclear garbage and Internet proliferation.
There are some things about war we must all come to understand.
1) God is always on the side of what is right because it is God who made up the rules about what is right and what is wrong.
He explains what is right in the Bible. God doesn’t change his mind about what is right and wrong. So, even though it sometimes looks like God chooses sides, it is really people who choose whether or not they will be on God’s side. If someone little is being hurt or beat up by someone bigger, God is on the side of protecting the little person who can’t defend himself. God wants people to be free, so when someone is taking away another person’s freedom, God is on the side of protecting freedom. Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln . You need to understand that God sometimes holds back simply because you are not right. Country singer Garth Brooks, had a hit song in which he recalls his impassioned prayers for God to melt the heart of a high school sweetheart—later it became apparent to him that she was a terrible choice for a mate. Sometimes God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.
Why can’t we see that? Well, if you’re like me it’s because we want what we want. We think we know what we need and what’s best for our lives, what side God is on. But do we—really?
2) War is and has always been Biblical? The Bible is a book about real people and their countries. Since God is telling us about these people, he tells us a lot of things about them, including the wars they fought. As long as there have been people, there have been misunderstandings, disagreements, fights and wars. The Bible was written so we could see how God is involved in the lives of people in all sorts of situations, including wars. Because we can see all sides of people, their good sides as well as their bad sides, it helps us learn right from wrong. It also helps us to know if we should fight in a war and when a war is right.
No, God does not like war. God loves all of us, no matter what side of the war we are on. And God doesn’t like to see people that he loves hurt each other. The Bible in Isaiah 2 tells us that one day God will make a new earth where there won’t ever be any more wars. When God makes this new earth, there won’t be war or weapons or pain or crying – even the animals won’t fight with each other! We will all live together in peace and harmony. But for now, we live in a world where things are not perfect. There are some things that God allows us to do, even though he doesn’t like them.
Ill. The story of Fat and LJ: there where tow guys in my school when I was growing up that used to get in fights all the time. It seems whenever we where having a Good time and enjoying ourselves at a dance of school event they would fight. It seems to me they could not have been any good at it because they had to do it so much. After fight after fight I finally came to understand that they Just enjoyed fighting. Some folks are like that!
God has given us the freedom to choose whether we will do right or wrong. He has given everyone that freedom because it is so important to our lives.
When people have freedom to choose, sometimes they make bad choices and that creates wars.
The Bible tells us that wars and fighting happen because of the way people are inside.
When people have greed and selfishness in their hearts, they start a fight in order to get what isn’t theirs.
Many times when this happens, others who see this wrong being done will try to stop it by talking to the side that is doing the wrong thing.
But sometimes talking isn’t enough to make the bully stop doing bad things to other people.
That’s when it may be necessary to use force to stop a big bully from taking things that aren’t his.
When countries do this, it is called war.
God doesn't like war, but he lets it happen because he has given us freedom to choose for ourselves – even if our choice is to go to war. The other question is who is the real bullies.
3)The real Cost of Playing war is too much - The U.S. war in Iraq has cost $1.7 trillion with an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war veterans, expenses that could grow to more than $6 trillion over the next four decades counting interest, a study released on Thursday said.
The- war has killed at least 134,000 Iraqi civilians and may have contributed to the deaths of as many as four times that number, according to the Costs of War Project by the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University.
What we could pay for if we were not paying for the war in lost life
When security forces, insurgents, journalists and humanitarian workers were included, the war's death toll rose to an estimated 176,000 to 189,000, the study said.
The Cost is also coming out of the budget The White House released a tax receipt calculator so that the American people can see how their tax dollars are being spent. Not only does nearly 25% of your taxes go to the military, 10.26% pays for war.
Republicans hate big government, but what they never want to discuss is the fact that national defense is the biggest taxpayer expense. 24.64% of every American’s total income tax payment goes to the military. Within that nearly 25%, 5.62% goes to salaries and benefits, 10.26% goes to ongoing operations, equipment, and supplies, 7.62% goes goes to research, development, and weapons construction, 0.70% atomic energy defense activities, 0.44% defense related FBI activities and other national defense.
The United States spends more on weapons and war than we do on Medicaid and CHIP (9.44%), and Medicare (9.84%). The unemployment benefits that Republicans claim we can’t afford take up 0.99% of your total income tax payment. The food assistance that House Republicans target for cuts on regular basis takes up 3.89% of your total tax payment. As a nation we spend roughly 1/3 as much on food assistance for our own people as we do on weapons and war.
Whether we realize or not, every single American in this country is paying a war tax of 10.26%. When Republicans claim that Medicare is too expensive and must be privatized, our first response should be that war is what is too expensive. Democrats should start demanding dollar for dollar cuts in war spending for every dollar Republicans want to cut in food and health care. If the congressmen are so serious spending being offset by cuts, they should pay for it with the hide of their most sacred cow.
