{"id":172,"date":"2007-05-18T13:07:33","date_gmt":"2007-05-18T17:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=172"},"modified":"2007-05-26T12:14:21","modified_gmt":"2007-05-26T16:14:21","slug":"christian-snipers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/?p=172","title":{"rendered":"Christian Snipers"},"content":{"rendered":"

sniper2-small.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, a close friend made a comment that I have mulled over ever since. He said the Christian Army is the only army in the world that snipes at and takes out its own wounded and fallen soldiers. I was simultaneously intrigued and appalled at the statement. But is it true?<\/p>\n

In modern warfare, an army will go to almost any lengths to rescue its own soldiers who have fallen, wounded but alive, or have been captured by the enemy. The Marines have a savage and historic code of honor, stained with blood over many years; they will not leave behind their fallen wounded, period. Last year, Israel waged a weeks-long battle against Hezbollah, a terrorist army entrenched just across the border in Lebanon, because Hezbollah fighters popped over the border and captured two Israeli soldiers. After the battle was over, almost an entire city lay in ruins, hundreds of lives were lost, and Israel\u2019s national confidence was greatly shaken. But the point is, two of their soldiers were captured alive by their ancient and sworn enemies, and the country wagered a tremendous amount of prestige, blood and treasure in a high-stakes gamble to get them back.<\/p>\n

What about Christians? What happens when one of our own falls, wounded, or is captured by the enemy? Do we do what Israel did and wage an all-out battle to get them back? Or do we set up our own sniper posts, and take pot-shots from great (and safe) distances to further wound and\/or kill a person who, only a few short months ago, we called our brother or sister?<\/p>\n

I know for a fact that in Amish and Beachy and Mennonite-land, there is some sporadic public buzz and clamor about the unfortunate circumstances in which I currently find myself embroiled. Some of this is inevitable and not all bad; prayers and support are necessary components in the aftermath of such dramatic events. But I also know from very recent, impeccable sources that there is a tremendous amount of vitriol and destructive criticism being spewed from people who are not remotely connected to the situation (as opposed to those who are connected and are involved), who have no business inserting themselves. The clanging chatter of their abrasive talk and the corrosive poison of their corrective judgments pierce ever deeper into existing wounds, creating even more mayhem and pain in the shattered lives of already defenseless targets. Where’s the love in that?<\/p>\n

There are concealed sniper nests next door, in the next church, the next county, the next state and a thousand miles away. From these anonymous and hidden posts, from high-powered verbal sniping rifles, deadly bullets are flying thick and fast and true, and are directed, not at the enemy, but at our own. <\/p>\n

sniper-3-small.jpg<\/a><\/p>\n

A few final observations, and I will let it rest. In the current circumstances surrounding Ellen and me and others, there are no innocent adult parties, including myself. It\u2019s time that fact is recognized and accepted. It\u2019s time the burden of the bitter harvest is shared in accordance with the fault, in proportion to the blame, and not just borne by the most visible and easily-targeted actors. And it\u2019s high time the field commanders in the Christian Army shut down the sniper nests, or at least get them pointing in the right direction, at the enemy.
\n_______________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Each Sunday at Westminster Presbyterian, the children\u2019s choir sings a song or two just before the sermon. Last Sunday the choir was accompanied by a children\u2019s bell ensemble. The little group performed the complicated (to me) movements very well. I was impressed and moved to see these young children, between the ages of 6 and 12, performing and singing with the practiced ease of many hours of repetitious training. When I was a child, it would have been as foreign to me as going to Mars, to consider such a thing as formal training in voice and\/or instruments. <\/p>\n

Last Tuesday (5\/15) a giant pillar of the Christian Right, the Reverend Dr. Jerry Falwell, passed on to his reward. For decades, Dr. Falwell has been a punching bag and boogeyman for the Left, and also, sadly, for many Christians. More than once I have heard an \u201cevangelical\u201d preacher scorn and scold him for something he had said that was considered intolerant. I have seen Dr. Falwell many times as a guest on some TV show or another, and he was always the model of decorum and integrity, usually right after an opponent on the previous segment had savaged him as a bigoted, dogmatic yokel. Dr. Falwell always responded with grace and good humor and spoke with clarity and vision. He was not afraid to say hard things in a diplomatic but firm manner. Without fail, he always unabashedly proclaimed his faith in Jesus Christ. Although I did not agree with him on some theological points (premillennialism, for one), over the years I learned to respect him highly as a man of God and perhaps a prophet. He labored tirelessly for many years in the vineyard of the Lord and he will be missed in the national arena.<\/p>\n

Primary election day has come and gone, and again my choice of candidates failed to win. Same old song, different dance. Heidi Wheaton was pretty soundly trounced at the polls as she tried to buck the local Republican machine for the office of County Commissioner. There are likely many reasons that she failed, among them some missteps made on the campaign trail. But I believe that if one digs deep enough, the real reason she lost is that the conservatives of Lancaster County simply cannot bring themselves to vote a woman into an office of real power and influence. Maybe they all need a new version of my bumper sticker (see last week’s post) stating, “Unless you are a man, you can’t be County Commissioner.”<\/p>\n

NASCAR NOTES: Dale Earnhart Jr. recently shook up the racing world by announcing he is leaving DEI Racing, his late father\u2019s company. Apparently Dale and his stepmother, Theresa, don\u2019t see eye to eye on the company\u2019s vision for the future. Strange thing is, I actually like Dale, Jr. as much as I despised his father. Old Earnhart, the famous #3, was a mean and dirty driver and a cantankerous man. But for some reason, I like his son. He is genuine, and a clean driver. Now if he could only manage to beat Jeff Gordon once in awhile\u2026\u2026. <\/p>\n

This weekend I am at a trade show in Ringoes (Flemington area), NJ (That’s why I’m posting a bit early this week, since I will be gone.). I call it a trade show, but it\u2019s actually some sort of horse gathering at the fairgrounds there. Graber Supply will have a vendor booth at the event. We usually do three or four \u201chorse shows\u201d during the winter months; this is our first at this locale and our first this late into the year. I enjoy getting out and look forward to doing something different for a few days (although in this case, I’m mildly grumpy because I’ll miss the Preakness on Saturday). But usually by Sunday evening, when it\u2019s over, I\u2019ve had about all I can take of horses and horse people, some of whom are as loony as bats. The amount of money spent on horses, horse events, and horse barns in our area (MD, NJ and points east) each year is simply staggering. But if someone wants to buy a barn from us, I am happy to discuss all aspects of the horse; horse riding, horse racing, horse health, tack, horse training and horse barns, all with considerable knowledge and aplomb, until the cows (or horses) come home.<\/p>\n

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A few weeks ago, a close friend made a comment that I have mulled over ever since. He said the Christian Army is the only army in the world that snipes at and takes out its own wounded and fallen soldiers. I was simultaneously intrigued and appalled at the statement. But is it true? In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irawagler.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}