Posted on 09/01/2008 9:47:59 PM PDT by xjcsa
God's blessings on America would be good. I'd ask for prosperity, generosity, intelligence, opportunity, and peace.
Apparently some people think of other divine blessings. Like the Bronze Age Hebrews, they pray for God's blessing in war.
From McCain's Website, we learn his position on Iraq: "I know the pain war causes. I understand the frustration caused by our mistakes in this war. And I regret sincerely the additional sacrifices imposed on the brave Americans who defend us. But I also know the toll a lost war takes on an army and on our country's security."
McCain says that Obama's policies would "lose" us this war in Iraq. This has puzzled me no end. What does it mean to "win" a war that we should never have started in the first place?
Who, exactly, are we fighting ? now that there are no WMDs, and the link to al Qaeda is shown to be another Bush-Cheney lie, and the White House doesn't like the way democracy is going in Iraq so that excuse is down the drain too? We're fighting "insurgents"? What does that mean?
Would that be anything like the American freedom-fighters of the 1770s, or Nelson Mandela's relentless drive for native black parity with Afrikaner-whites?
"Our goal is an Iraq that no longer needs American troops," McCain's Website states. Isn't it interesting that Iraq now "needs" the troops that devastated it in the first place? No, I'm not bashing the troops.
They are honor-bound to obey a commander-in-chief who has blatantly put the interests of his rich buddies far above any interests those soldiers have in life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness.
And how exactly is McCain proposing to pay for his ongoing war, not to mention the staggering debt incurred by his presidential mentor? I haven't yet found out.
I see tax cuts for everyone in his plan ? especially corporations, as if tax cuts were at all relevant to retaining U.S. jobs (hint: they're not) ? but I don't see a plan for paying down the debt or financing more war.
Oh well, God bless America! Honestly, if you can't come up with a viable plan, you can always invoke the deity. And you can bet that God wears an American flag lapel pin.
George Carlin was in town last year for a show at the Gallagher-Bluedorn. He seemed off his game, reading from notes, losing his train of thought, not getting the same stressed-out laughs as in olden times. As it turned out, he died some months later.
But that night, Carlin got on a roll with his "God Bless America" rant. If God blesses America, shouldn't God also bless Puerto Rico, Thailand, Norway, Rwanda, and Venezuela? While we're at it, why not bless Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iraq too?
Why do Americans think they are God's chosen ones? And really, why would we think God cares who wins a football game, a golf tournament, or a wrestling match?
It was rapid-fire funny ? and it set me to thinking. It appears to be an anthropological fact that many religious people (as opposed to spiritual people) tend to believe that God is on their side in all of their endeavors and desires, even the most trivial or venal. Janis Joplin immortalized this attitude with her wonderful riff, "Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?" Reverend Ike, a 1970s televangelist, used to shout to cheering congregations, "I don't want my pie in the sky, bye and bye! I want it right here! Right now! And so do you!" Then they would all pray for a bigger piece of the pie.
All those "God Bless America" bumper stickers that seemed to multiply a million-fold after 9/11 ? what do they signify?
The righteous invoking the powers of deity against the godless foreigner? But this is always the position of extremists, whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or anything else.
Besides, Muslims believe in the very same God that Christians and Jews believe in, so why wouldn't God bless Iran?
How could anyone possibly believe that God wants us to "win" this war? I'm not saying that McCain believes it, though he may ? but many of his ardent supporters do.
Why would God choose to favor war-mongers?
Of all the mind tricks human beings are capable of playing on themselves, self-deception ranks as among the most destructive, and religious self-deception is a remarkably persistent type, especially when coupled with extreme patriotism. I'll have more on self-deception in another column, God willing.
You're calling them oppressors of native freedom fighters and ignorant dupes of an evil imperialist regime.
No, that's not bashing the troops!
No. Not at all. The stickers may have seemed to "multiply" a million-fold after 9/11 but churches were packed the night OF 9-11.
And people weren't gathering to pray for revenge. They were gathering to mourn the loss of thousands by a hateful ideology that has endured in hate for centuries.
It was a sense of community. Of shared grief.
If people proclaim their love of God (and country) it is because of their faith in the "one" they see as their rock and redeemer.
Those on the outside looking in cannot grasp the concepts. Because they are too full of themselves to notice anyone else.
WHAT???
My God doesn't tell me to kill all infidels! My God doesn't tell me that if I kill non-believers I will go to heaven and 72 virgins will be waiting for me!
Mohamed commands his followers to kill non believers! Jesus teaches us to love everyone, and to forgive our enemies!
I am greatly offended by the statement "Muslims believe in the same God as Christians and Jews"!
But unlike Muslims, I won't kill you just for writing that!
Not if she's British. ;^)
This prof is the sort of person my old man used to describe as "educated beyond the reach of their intelligence." How is it that asking God to bless my country means I want Him to withhold blessings from every other country? Does God have only one blessing to go around? And if I ask him to bless one of my friends, does that mean I'm screwing the other 6 billion people on the planet?
And apparently George was too dumb to figure out that Puerto Rico isn't a country.
This is a excerpt from Richard Land
I believe that if America is exceptional, it is not because we made it that way. It is because we experienced God’s undeserved blessings upon this nation. This is a doctrine of obligation, responsibility, sacrifice, and service — not of pride, privilege, and prejudice — and it is founded on a very basic spiritual and biblical principle: to whom much is given, much is required. God’s blessing is always grace — that is what makes it a blessing, not a reward.
When we say, “God bless America,” we are asking God to treat our nation better than we deserve, even if we do repent and seek His face. If enough Americans respond in this way, we could reach a divine tipping point of heal-the-land blessing.
Dang...poor dip looks like Karl Rove with bad teeth.
We hear this all the time, but who are these evil rich friends and what exactly are they getting?
I suppose she means oil companies, but they are owned by middle class savers, not by buddies of Bush. Maybe she means Cheney, but he has no financial association with Halliburton.
In her primitive Marxist religion, the devil is "corporations", a mysterious (to the economically uneducated) and frightening entity.
The face of someone who doesn’t know the difference between Jehovah and Allah.
The people he chose for his inheritance!
--Psalm 33:12
Why do Americans think they are God's chosen ones? And really, why would we think God cares who wins a football game, a golf tournament, or a wrestling match?
Hang on. Hang on.
As an Australian, I certainly don't think Americans are God's chosen people. Or that the US is somehow God's chosen land. Don't get me wrong - I have immense admiration for the United States, and think it is a wonderful place with wonderful people - one of only five countries I could ever happily live in - but I don't think that's because of God. It's because Americans have made it so.
God does bless America, I believe. But He also blesses Australia. He does bless Puerto Rico, Thailand, Norway, Rwanda, and Venezuela and for that matter, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iraq.
But He also gave man free will. God's blessing is a wonderful thing - but if you want a decent nation, you've got to work for it.
Help me out someone. Orthodox, Conservative, Reformed even Hasidic are all understandable, but Bronze Age?
This woman probably doesn't pay much attention to her Bible, but to the extent she does, she ignores the Old Testament as a bunch of primitive, hateful, patriarchal oppression, and for that matter ignores all the parts of the New Testament she doesn't like. Jesus of course would agree with all her political views.
It sometimes shades over into anti-Semitism, but I don't think she quite got there . . . .
< wink >
this ‘author’ (and I loose that term loosely) seems to miss the facts behind ‘God Bless America’. America has ‘saved the world’ 3 times in the last century and we did NOT ‘take’ territory or the normal ‘vanquish’ rights of a conquering nation in so doing. In fact we have rebuilt and now compete with the economies of our former enemies. We were the sole owners of the ultimate weapon, and we used it to achieve piece, and then poored out our wallets to rebuilt the country we used it on.
Our country is founded on ‘by the people’ who God has given this land to. Our government works for us, not the other way around (although at times many of our politicians forget this), where most other countries put their government between God and the people.
God bless the USA
achieved peace ... not piece ... got it ... ;-)
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