Yesterday....

in the naivete of boldness I expressed my growing convictions concerning the absurdity of war in general and the current one in particular which I instinctively knew would get me in trouble and certainly will in the future given the blind affection for Mr. Bush (his affectations notwithstanding) and some ephemeral sense of patriotism.
One client said we should stand united as a nation behind our leaders. I did not want to alienate a paying client any further so I tactfully dropped the discussion at that point. I wondered, however, if that meant I should not express my concerns. I thought I could support the soldiers and the horrendous things we are asking them to do and still not be in full agreement with the war.
Another person said that she disagreed with my point about the meaning of the cliche popularized with the bumper sticker idiom “WWJD?” (What would Jesus do?). She said Jesus said in the NT that we would 'have wars and rumors of wars' as if that meant Jesus tacitly thought war was okay. She then asked me “what would I do if I were president of this country in 1942 and faced with the likes of Hitler and company? I'm ashamed to say I don't think my answer was nearly adequate enough and as before I tried to tactfully back out of the quagmire I had gotten myself into.
What I should have said was I have no idea what I would have done and the question really should be “what would Jesus do” if he were president (sic) faced with those circumstances? I am speaking now to a person whose husband served in WWII having flown 56 bombing missions over Europe and an avowed Christian. I cannot imagine any interpretation implying in any way that Jesus would condone war for any reason.
In fact it would appear that the whole crucifixion story points to the opposite as well as the scene in the garden rebuking Peter for using the sword against a Roman soldier, etc., etc.

I am in the process of writing my own personal manifesto concerning these issues which I hope to post at some time in the future.
Till then....“as much as is possible with you be at peace with all men”