I must throw my two cents into the gore (no pun intended). While doing an interview with an activist from the militant Arabs when asked by a reporter why this happened, he said they did for “Monica Lewinsky.” on the telly no first hand information. Perhaps they were referring her right to have safe sex.
<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I am sending this document to you…it was my pastor’s sermon…I think
you will get much from this.
Sent: Saturday, September 22, 2001 12:37 PM
Subject: A Time for War
> > Attached is the document “A Time for War” that is from Pastor Dykstra’s
> sermon last Sunday morning.
> > > A Time
> for War
> > A sermon preached on September 16, 2001
> at the Reformed Baptist Church of Lafayette
> > by Pastor David Dykstra
> > > > One hundred and eighty seven years ago, the district attorney of
> Washington was sent on a mission of mercy. His name was Francis Scott
Key.
> He was a well-known lawyer, poet, and Christian. He was also a hymn
> writer and one of his hymns is found in our hymnal (#69, Trinity Hymnal).
> In the company of John S. Skinner, Mr. Key made his way under a flag of
> truce, to a British ship anchored in Baltimore Harbor. They were
> attempting to secure the release of a man that British forces (then at war
> with America) had taken prisoner. The prisoner, a Dr. Beanes, was a
> well-known and much loved physician from Baltimore.
> Admiral Cochrane agreed to Dr. Beanes’ release, but since an attack on
> Baltimore was imminent, Key and his two friends were not allowed to leave.
> They were put on board the Minden, and from her deck the three friends
> watched the night-long bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.
> Two weeks earlier on August 24, 1814, the Capitol building in Washington
> had been burned by British soldiers. Now, on this sad night, as the men
> watched the attack, they could not help but wonder if Baltimore, too,
would
> fall.
> All night long the concussion of naval gunfire, the flight of hard shot
and
> shell continued. They were treated well by their hosts, but they paced
the
> deck in anxiety.
> The new day brought great encouragement. Six thousand British solders,
> veterans who had earlier served under Wellington, rowed back to their
> ships. Baltimore’s defensive positions had proven to be too formidable to
> penetrate. In addition, the British general in command of the assault,
> General Ross, had been killed.
> Most encouragingly, the flag, The Stars and Stripes, still flew over Fort
> McHenry! A Reformed Baptist soldier who served in the American militia
> wrote about that new day. Here is what he said: "At the first dawn, every
> eye was directed towards the Fort, to see whether the American banner
still
> waved there: and when the morning mists had sufficiently dispersed, we
were
> filled with exultation at beholding The Stars and Stripes still floating
in
> the breeze."
> Imagine the cheers as they welled up from the American army and carried
> over the water to the British ships! Imagine the silence in the long
boats
> as the once proud veterans of Wellington rowed back to their ships with
> their dead and wounded, having been repulsed yet again, by American
militia!
> On board the Minden, Francis Scott Key found a letter in his pocket, and
> on the back of the letter he gave vent to the love of country that filled
> his heart. He scribbled the verses that over a century later were adopted
> as our national anthem. Here is what he wrote that day (note the slight
> difference with what became the official version, and remember that this
is
> only the first stanza):
> > “O, say can you see
> by the dawn’s early light
> What so proudly we hailed
> at the twilight’s last gleaming
> Whose broad stripes and bright stars
> through the clouds of the fight,
> O’er the ramparts we watched
> were so gallantly streaming?
> And the rockets red glare,
> the bombs bursting in air
> Gave proof through the night
> that our flag was still there.
> Oh, say, does that star-spangled
> banner yet wave,
> O’er the land of the free,
> and the home of the brave?”
> > On Tuesday, September 11, 2001 we, too, saw symbols of American commerce
> and American military power in flames. For the first time since the War
of
> 1812 foreign enemies have reached our shores and attacked our homeland.
We
> now know how our forefathers felt in 1814 when the Capitol burned and
enemy
> soldiers seemed to be triumphant.
> Our President, who professes to be a Christian man, is using strong and
> clear language. He has informed us that we are now involved in yet
another
> “war”. High government officials in Washington now speak clearly and
> openly of “ending States” that have sponsored these attacks.
> What should be our response to these events? How does a Christian, guided
> by the Holy Scriptures, evaluate both the events and our response to the
> events?
> This morning I want to give you some Biblical directives to guide you in
> these dark days in our nation’s history.
> > > Observe in the first place that the Scriptures reveal that there is a time
> for war.
> > Consider Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
> There is an appointed time for everything.
> And there is a time for every event under heaven -
> A time to give birth, and a time to die;
> A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
> A time to kill, and a time to heal;
> A time to tear down, and a time to build up.
> A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
> A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
> A time to throw stones, and a time to gather stones;
> A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
> A time to search, and a time to give up as lost;
> A time to keep, and a time to throw away.
> A time to tear apart, and a time to sew together;
> A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
> A time to love, and a time to hate;
> A time for war, and a time for peace.
> > The passage consists of a series of pairs, pairs of opposites. The whole
> point is that for each of these things, there is a time when they are
> appropriate. And one of the things that is appropriate at certain times,
> and under certain conditions, is war.
> > Consider 1 Samuel 30:1-8:
> Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day,
> that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negrev and on Ziklag, and had
> overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire; and they took captive the women
> and all who were in it, both small and great, without killing anyone, and
> carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to
> the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons
> and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who
> were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in
> them to weep. Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam, the
> Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. Moreover David
> was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all
the
> people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters.
> But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Then David said to
> Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, ‘Please bring me the ephod.’
So
> Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the Lord,
> saying, "Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?’ And He said
to
> him, ‘Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them, and you shall surely
> rescue all.’"
> > Herein, King David has returned to the city of Ziklag to learn the
> distressing news that Amalekites had made a raid against it, and the
people
> had all been taken captive. David, and all his men, had lost their
> families to this raid.
> The question was: Do we pursue them? Do we go after them, and rescue our
> loved ones? The Lord’s unambiguous answer was “pursue”! Here was a time
> for armed conflict. Here too, was a time for war. It is appropriate to
> use armed might to rescue the innocent.
> > > > Consider Exodus 15:1-3:
> "Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said,
'I
> will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider
He
> has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has
> become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s
> God, and I will extol Him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is His name.’"
> > This is the song of Moses after the utter defeat of Egyptian forces led by
> Pharaoh. Not a single Hebrew had taken any action and yet the Egyptians
> had been slain. How was this possible? The answer is plain. The Lord
was
> the warrior! The Lord is called a warrior. He is deemed to be a warrior
> because He killed the enemy. He allied Himself with Israel and fought for
> them. Here, too, was a time for war and a helpless and weak nation had a
> powerful ally, the Lord Himself.
> > Consider Psalm 144:1:
> “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers
> for battle.”
> > This is a Psalm of David. David was a warrior. Here he is thanking God,
> blessing God, for the martial skills with which he had been blessed. He
> viewed the Lord as the ultimate source of his gifts, and one of the gifts
> with which he was endowed was his skill as a warrior.
> Do you recall the movie Saving Private Ryan? One of the characters in the
> squad carried a sniper’s rifle, and before each of his shots he quoted a
> verse from the Bible. One of the verses he quoted was Psalm 144:1. No
> Christian should have any difficulty with that. There, on the screen, was
> portrayed American soldiers at their best. The Christian soldier ought to
> be able to say as he goes into battle, “Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, who
> trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.”
> If there is a time for war, there is also a time for warriors, men whose
> skill, men whose vocational calling is martial in nature.
> > Consider Proverbs 20:18 & 24:6
> “Prepare plans by consultation, and make war by wise guidance.”
> “For by wise guidance you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors
> there is victory.”
> > It is assumed that at times war must be waged. What is required before
war
> is waged, is wise counsel, wise guidance. Clearly, here too we see that
> there is a time for war. What is forbidden herein is a knee-jerk
reaction,
> a hasty reaction. Before war is waged, wise, cool heads must give great
> thought to the issues and then make policy based on their accumulated
wisdom.
> > Observe in the second place that the Scriptures reveal various causes of
war.
> > Consider James 4:1-2:
> "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the
source
> your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have;
so
> you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight
and
> quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask."
> > James links together human conflict and a violation of the tenth
> commandment. The tenth commandment forbids coveting and requires
> contentment with what we have.
> We have all known of sad cases where families have been ripped apart after
> the death of a loved one because of disputes over the distribution of
> family assets. Herein, James reveals that envy and discontent are chief
> causes of conflict and war.
> History is full of illustrations of this fact. The nations we fought in
> World War II all viewed themselves as the “have not” nations. They coveted
> the resources and riches that others had. This, combined with their
racist
> attitudes and policies, led them to believe that they had a right to take
> from others.
> This explains Japan’s invasion of Manchuria in 1931-1932. This explains
> Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. This explains Japan’s invasion of
> China in 1937. This explains Germany’s invasion of Austria, and
> Czechoslovakia in 1938, and the invasion of Poland and Denmark in 1939,
and
> the invasion of Norway, France, Holland, and Belgium in 1940. Sadly, this
> explains, in part, the seizure of native American lands in the 19th
century
> when gold was discovered therein.
> Failure to be content with what you have, combined with coveting what
> others have, is a source of interpersonal conflict and even war. We need
> to emphasize this because the idea is abroad in our land that when a
> teenager kills another teen to steal his jacket or his shoes - society is
> at fault. Manufacturers and advertisers are often blamed instead of the
> perpetrator himself.
> James corrects us. One commentator put it well when he said, "The
ultimate
> causes of war are not to be found in the social and economic circumstances
> external to man, but within man himself."
> With this, the Lord Jesus would agree: “For out of the heart come evil
> thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness,
> slanders” (Matthew 15:19).
> > Consider Esther 3:5-6:
> “When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him,
> Haman was filled with rage. But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai
> alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore
> Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were
> throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.”
> > Herein, in Israel’s post-exile history, when they were under Persian rule,
> Haman, a Persian official hated a Jewish official who worked in the
> government. His hatred for Mordecai led to hatred for all of Mordecai’s
> people, all the Jews. This hatred led to plans for war, plans for
> violence, plans for the extermination of a whole people.
> Hatred, pure and simple, is what we now know motivated the terrorists who
> attacked us last week. Their hatred is directed against all our people
> wherever they are found, on whatever continent. A few years ago my wife
> and I were at a mall in Capetown, South Africa. The week after we left, a
> bomb went off there. It had been planted at an American business. It was
> intended as an attack on America and those who support America. Bombs
also
> went off in Kenya and Tanzania at American Embassies. The fact is that we
> are hated, and we are considered targets of opportunity around the world.
> It is always open season on Americans to these people.
> Of great concern to all of us is to learn that Osama bin Laden is one of
> the most popular figures in much of the Mid-east and beyond. He is the
> role model for many adolescent and adult males throughout much of that
> region. This reality is ominous indeed.
> > Observe lastly that the Scriptures reveal the responsibility of national
> governments.
> > Consider Romans 13:1-7:
> "Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For
there
> is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by
> God. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God;
> and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For
> rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you
> want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have
> praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if
> you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for
nothing;
> for it is a minister of God, and avenger who brings wrath upon the one who
> practices evil. Wherefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only
> because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you
> also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to
this
> very thing. Render to all what is due them; tax to whom tax is due;
custom
> to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor."
> > Here in Romans 13, the Apostle Paul gave directives to early Christians
> (and to us), about the kinds of government to which people are to be
> submissive. The governments (whether on family, vocational,
> ecclesiastical, state, or national level) to which we are required to
> submit, are those which are ministers of God to their people “for good”.
> > Consider the right of those under authority as revealed herein. People
> have a basic right to live without fear. The most basic liberty of all,
> whether in the family, church, or state, is to be able to go about your
> business in peace and security. This is one of the reasons why we are
> required to pray for those in authority over us.
> > Consider 1 Timothy 2:1-2:
> “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and
> thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in
> authority, in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all
> godliness and dignity.”
> > Consider the responsibility of those in authority as revealed herein.
> The Apostle Paul makes it clear that it is a responsibility of government
> to instill fear in those who contemplate evil actions. We all know how
> this occurs. If you go through a speed trap and see that you have been
> caught, you might develop sweaty palms, and start to fear the possibility
> of points going on your record. If enough points were accumulated, you
> might lose your privilege to drive. The government instills fear to
> safeguard the roads. This is right and proper. It is also biblical.
> At this hour in our land our government is required to instill enough fear
> in the hearts of our enemies that they will not dare to repeat their
> action. Previous administrations have not instilled adequate fear and in
> that, they have failed us and failed in God’s directive about human
> government. When human governments are working well, evildoers are afraid
> to execute evil actions. The safety of a city, the safety of a country,
is
> an indication of the quality of its government. If a city or a country is
> not safe, it is an indication that the government is not fulfilling its
> God-ordained task of protecting citizens and punishing offenders.
> Another responsibility of human government is to avenge evil acts. Romans
> 13:4 is clear. God requires nations to avenge wrongs perpetrated against
> its people.
> We need to remember that while private vengeance is prohibited (Romans
> 12:19), official, governmental vengeance is required when law-abiding
> citizens become the victims of evildoers.
> In this capacity, Paul calls the government and its agencies "a minister
of
> God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil" (Romans
> 13:4). God has granted to the State the right and responsibility to use
> “the sword”, and swords are not used for spankings.
> St. Paul, in keeping with God’s holy law, was a proponent of capital
> punishment. Herein, he recognizes that the state is empowered by God to
> use the sword to punish offenders. The judge who sentenced Timothy
McVeigh
> to death, was no more guilty of murder himself than a judge who sentences
> an offender to pay a fine is guilty of theft.
> Most people think of men like me as ministers of God. Our vocation is to
> study, to pray, to preach, to counsel, to help people. Have you ever
> thought that Romans 13 requires us to have a wider concept of those who
are
> “ministers of God”?
> The reality is that the F-15 pilot who drops a bomb load on those who are
> clearly implicated as enemies, is also a “minister of God, an avenger who
> brings wrath on the one who practices evil” (Romans 13:4). So, too, is
the
> Navy Seal, who kicks in a door, and quickly and efficiently dispatches the
> enemy. State initiated punishment, if visited upon evildoers, is a
> responsibility that has been given to the State by God.
> Listen to the reasoning of a great Southern Presbyterian, namely Robert
> Louis Dabney: “It would be strange indeed if the ruler who is armed by God
> with the power of capital punishment against the domestic murderer, could
> not justly inflict the same doom on the foreign criminal who invades our
> soil unprovoked for the purpose of shedding blood. The security of life
> and property which the magistrate is intended to provide by his power of
> punishing would be illusory indeed, if it could only be used against
> individual criminals, while the more mischievous and widespread crimes of
> organized multitudes must go unpunished.”
> > Is this a time for war? Indeed it is. Thousands of peace-loving,
innocent
> people from over 60 nations went to work on Tuesday threatening no one.
> Wicked men, who make no distinction between civilians and the military,
> attacked them and took their lives. It is now the responsibility of our
> government to avenge their deaths, not by targeting other innocent people,
> but by identifying and then attacking the people and the States that
> sponsor them. It is the responsibility of our government to cause others
> to be afraid of ever repeating acts like this.
> May God help our leaders to so govern and act, that the right of all the
> people to live, travel, and work in peace is secured.
> > Amen.
> > > > > For further reading:
> > > > 1. Why Does God Allow War?, D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones, Evangelical Press of
Wales
> > 2. When Is It Right To Fight?, Robert A. Morey, Presbyterian & Reformed
> Publishing Company
> > 3. The Christian Attitude Toward War, Lorraine Boettner, Presbyterian & > Reformed Publishing Company
> > 4. Trusting God, Jerry Bridges, NavPress<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Can we not take a higher road in this exercise in philosophy and discuss our great moments in history and what is so wonderful that we have been blessed to live our lives in peace, freedom and liberty and at what cost to others from the past.
If they could sacrifice to get us here can we not openly do the same today without fear of retribution?
OMG, hobson, real literature! 
so this should be no surprise…