I guess our soldiers must be dry shaving. In all the weeks of watching coverage, haven't seen an unshaven soldier yet. And a smooth face would be necessary for a good seal on a gas mask.
Drinking and Bathing Water if Soldiers Convert says Chaplain
by blondie 13 Replies latest jw friends
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Trauma_Hound
This chaplin, needs his ass kicked.
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gitasatsangha
He definately should be court-marshalled. This is apalling. What would they say if a chaplan-imam withheld the MRE's unless soldeirs converted to islam?
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Trauma_Hound
http://www.suntimes.com/output/falsani/cst-nws-fals11.html
Onward Christian soldiers, cynically to war
April 11, 2003
BY CATHLEEN FALSANI RELIGION WRITER
At Camp Bushmaster near the town of Najaf in the Iraqi desert, American soldiers who haven't been able to bathe in months can take a dip in a 500- gallon tub, courtesy of U.S. Army Chaplain Josh Llano.
But there's an unusual entry fee: Conversion by full submersion.
"It's simple," Llano told a reporter for the Miami Herald last week. "They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized."
What a deal! One bath for the low, low price of your eternal soul.
Before the soldiers can wash off some of the filth of desert warfare, they also have to sit through Llano's 90-minute sermon. And then comes the hourlong baptism/bath.
"They do appear physically and spiritually cleansed," said Llano, who is a Southern Baptist. "Regardless of their motives, I get to take them closer to the Lord."
The only place Llano is taking these guys is to the spiritual cleaners. And I don't mean that in a cute, evangelical way.
They're tired. They're far from home. Sand gets EVERYWHERE. And in the middle of a desert water shortage, Chaplain Sneakypants has a big tub of relief. But it'll cost ya.
That's the kind of thing that, as Annie Lamott says, "would make Jesus drink gin out of a cat dish."
What is it that makes some Christians feel Jesus has to somehow be sold, like a health club membership, or sneaked into allegedly altruistic humanitarian efforts like protein powder into a double-thick chocolate shake?
And what is it about war that brings out spiritual opportunism?
In the last week or so, many evangelical Christian groups have announced their intentions to help--and help evangelize--post-war Iraq.
The Rev. Franklin Graham (Billy's son) announced that his organization, Samaritan's Purse, intended to bring humanitarian aid to Iraq. He also said it was an opportunity to evangelize.
The International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention said it plans to send volunteers to Iraq to provide food, shelter and "true freedom in Jesus Christ."
The International Bible Society has printed a Scripture booklet especially for Iraqi refugees.
"This always happens in the wake of war," said Ken Vaux, my old professor of Christian ethics at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston. "Subliminal to all war is a secret hope for conversion. It's usually a hope for the secular derivatives of the faith, not the faith itself. We hope for a different kind of society to emerge in Iraq."
This time around, there seems to be a not-so-hidden theological agenda.
Capitalizing on the dire humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people for anything other than an opportunity to relieve their suffering is disgraceful.
I suppose it's not surprising, however, considering President Bush's successful attempts to theologize the war. I mean, the man thinks God told him to do this, for heaven sakes.
"That makes the linking of evangelism and war philanthropy much more complex, and should lead us to much more humility about the gifts we offer," Vaux said.
Before the war started, Tony Campolo, a leading evangelist and Christian commentator, said he believed the war would set back the cause of Christian missions by 1,000 years.
And now, with Operation Iraqi Freedom seemingly nearing its end, and Operation Iraqi Conversion mustering at the borders, he seemed even more certain about that.
"We should do good simply for goodness' sake and not because we have an agenda of trying to manipulate people through charity into affirming our belief systems," Campolo was telling me Thursday. "I can identify with the heart of Franklin Graham to win people to Jesus, but when you're doing humanitarian aid you are not to use any form of coercion and I think it is coercion when you are dealing with desperately hungry people and desperately needy people and tell them that the help comes only if they're willing to listen to your gospel message."
"To make feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or ministering to the sick contingent on a willingness to listen to a message that the needy might not want to listen to is oppressive and manipulative in a way that Jesus would not do it."
That goes for bathtubs as well as rice sacks.
According to the Gospel accounts, Jesus never bartered for grace. He didn't say, "Hey, before I get you those loaves and fishes, and some salve for that nasty leprosy, I've got to tell you something."
When people were hungry, he fed them. When they were sick, he healed them. And sometimes, the people Jesus helped didn't even know who he was.
