It was happening more than six years ago, but that doesn't make it any less disturbing.
Newly declassified documents reveal that a series of top secret briefings prepared for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other Pentagon officials featured photographs of military scenes overwritten with Bible verses. I don't know who gets credit for first outing the sadly misguided covers, which could have been featured on an annual Crusader Calendar, but you can see a slide show of sample sorriness at the GQ website. Robert Parham, over at EthicsDaily.com, has posted a critique that puts the covers in context.
St. Paul once advised believers to "put on the whole armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (Eph. 6:3, NIV). Can you imagine what the old apostle would say if he knew his words had been sloganized to highlight a fierce tank silhouetted by the sunrise?
The Book of Proverbs advises those who worship God to "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed" (Prov. 16:3, NIV). Somebody at the Pentagon thought that verse perfectly illustrated a soldier with his machine gun.
1 Peter 2:15 declares "For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men." On April 3, 2003, that verse appeared over a cover picture of Saddam Hussein speaking into a microphone. The message is clear: "It is God's will for the U.S. to silence Saddam."
The dedicated men and women who risk their lives in service to their country should not be turned into Crusaders, and the Bible should not be sliced and diced in service to an ill-conceived war.
With America's defense officials turning Jesus into a jihadist, is it any wonder that fans of Islamist militancy have found our criticism to be hypocritical?
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5 comments:
sadly, related is an article in the April edition of Harper's entitled "Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military."
Rumsfield is quite possibly the worst Secretary of Defense since, well, maybe himself, over 30 years ago. Anyway, having said that, I think this whole thing is a non-story. At most, it gives some insight into how some people at the Dept. of Defense thought, but with the documents being top secret, few people would actually see them. While it's quite disappointing to see people misapplying Scripture like that, if I were offended every time someone misapplied or egregiously misinterpreted Scripture (especially someone in political office), I'd never get over it all (See 2 Chronicles 7.14; Philippians 4.13; the Prayer of Jabez; the Golden Rule and Great Commandment; etc.)
As for the EthicsDaily article, I would point out that infinite is not just "another word for eternal," especially in the religious sense. I'm a little disappointed that such an error would be promulgated from the Baptist Center for Ethics.
Thaanks, Tony, for bringing this to light. This is a recent manifestation of what has been a long line of Bible abuse episodes throughout American history. Lincoln relied heavily on scripture to build his reputation and frame his idealogy and other presidents have followed suit in varying degrees. It is not a partisan issue as Democrats and Republicans are both guilty. The application in a military context is probably more offensive, but political Bible abuse should be repugnant to Christians across political lines.
I don't think "offended" is the correct term here. Appalled is more like it. Appalled that the government was trying to make the contrived Iraq invasion a Christian crusade. It is against military regulations to proselytize and it is inappropriate and/or unconstitutional to use the military to promote or spread religion, Christian or otherwise. It makes us no better than the Muslim Fundamentalists.
Good points, JR. However, infinite is actually the theological derivative of the attribute of eternality. Infinity as to God's character applied to time means God is not bound by the finitude of temporality, rather is not temporal (eternal).
Often missed is that this is a negative attribute (via negativa), not a positive one (via eminentia). It doesn't tell us who or what God is, but rather who or what God is not, and thus disciplines the human propensity for idolatry.
The same can be said of the big omni attributes: omniscience--God's knowledge is not limited/finite; omnipotence--God's power is not limited/finite; and omnipresence--God's presence and being is not limited/finite.
So, while it probably did NOT cross Mr. Rumsfeld's mind, infinite is and has been for some time central to Western notions of God's perfections.
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