Posted by jonvon on September 12, 2001 at 00:23:15:
In Reply to: Re: God Bless America posted by John on September 11, 2001 at 20:52:33:
: This is going to sound strange coming from me
I'm not going to comment on your other thoughts (at least not directly). I have a lot of conflicting emotions and some beliefs that seem to collide with one another which might be opposing poles of common truths, or I might just be confused about a lot of stuff. I have to agree with Steve's response, although I don't know enough to validate his take on the views of Peter and Paul. I don't doubt he is right, Steve always seems to have pretty flawless reasoning about just about everything, I'm just ignorant enough to know when to shut up. I can think of a few scriptures off the top of my head about respect for authority and so forth. I can also see some merit in some of the stuff you said, I think at the least we need to be sensitive to our fellow americans, who may be islamic or japanese or whatever.
But anyway, this first line (just the part I quoted) was a bit appropos for me. I sat down with the bible and opened it up to a random page tonight... this is going to sound a bit strange coming from ME (or will it, hmm), but anyway I opened up to this verse in Isaiah chapter 30, vs 25.
The two lines at the end of the verse say "In the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall."
Woah, I kinda freaked out, I had to reread it a few times. Ok, so I'm NOT trying to say that this verse was prophesying anything about Sept 11 2001, in fact I'm not saying anything at all in terms of trying to interpret this scripture. Obviously the little bit that I quoted is totally out of context, and the chapter it comes out of really deserves some intense study. It is rich with all kinds of ideas, and seems pretty complex from a poetic standpoint as well and also references historical events and (I think) political figures that I know nothing about. And since I'm no Isaiah scholar by any stretch of the imagination I'm not going to even try. BUT, one basic idea that I came away with after reading this chapter...
It is important that as a nation we look to God as our strength in leiu of trusting in our own strength. It is important that we trust in God. And in the mayhem we need to find a moment to get quiet before God.
One thing that bothered me today as I listened to Jeb Bush (NOT George W), he was going on and on about how we are the greatest country on the face of the earth, and on and on just basically boasting about this and that, it struck me as just plain dumb. I'm not sure how to describe how I felt exactly, and I can't remember exactly what he said. But it just sounded like empty boasting, arrogant and lacking wisdom. There was some quality about it that just got me. It was kind of like the feeling I get sometimes if I boast about myself and this little warning light goes on in the back of my head somewhere, I think of that proverb that says (something like) let another boast of you, not your own mouth. It was like he had no fear of God, no regard for what any other country thought of him, no trust in the wisdom of God, no humility. I don't know. I think that we need to stand up in strength and take care of business. But can't we trust in God and call out to God for wisdom? Can't we acknowledge that there is a Power greater than ourselves in whom we can call out to? I'm sure he was trying to say something like "terrorists aren't going to intimidate us, we will be strong" and maybe it came out wrong. But anyway it just made me want to plead for mercy for our country in prayer.
It seems to me that anything we do in our lives that is important at all always requires divine intervention. Without Him we can do nothing (to quote an old Petra song). This has really been true in my life over the years. So perhaps I have a kind of bias that not everyone has, born in my many faults, failures and all around weaknesses. But anyway I think it is a good time to be quiet before God. Its not a good time to think "Good thing we have big helicopters and missiles and big ships and radar and lots of well trained land-soft-kill-quiet-assassins". It's a good time instead to reflect that there is a limitless wisdom hidden in God, a limitless strength. There is peace in God and salvation. "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." (vs 15 from that same chapter).
Well, anyway there are two more cents no one asked for. I think I'm going to pray now.