Well it´s been just under three weeks since arriving in argentina and things are finally settling in. It still is very strange being here. I´m now realizing what a creature of habit i am, and how my days feel off simply because i don´t have a routine down! Every day is a little bit different, even though we do a lot of kind of the same stuff. Even though i´m totally moved in to my room, yup clothes in a dresser and everything, i just feel like i´m in a constant state of transition or just always a little on edge. Maybe that´s common for any non permanent resident, but it´s just a really strange feeling.
i´m definately enjoying my time a lot more now. My family here is great. they are so politically charged, it´s quite interesting. We got into an interesting discussion the other night about Bush, the war in Iraq, the church in the US and the church as a whole. To put it lightly, my dad here is not the biggest fan of Bush, that pretty much goes for the majority of the population in Argentina, maybe even the world. He said something though that really resinated with what i´ve been processing, this year and this summer, about how as Christians it is so easy to allow our patriotism to overshadow our christian responsibility. Many latin americans are on the passivist side of the scale. They fight for life in every battle, whether it´s abotiion or a war, they believe that as christians it is our duty to protect and fight for all forms of life on this earth. HE asked me if i had ever prayed for our soldiers in war, or had prayed for them in church. I said yes, of course. He then asked if I had ever prayed for Osama bin ladin, or saddam hussein, or the iraquies that were being killed because they had attacked out troops? i couldn´t honestly remeber a time that i had.
I suppose that is the difficult thing about war. Can Christians truly take the side of a country? Does that then mean that we support the death of others because the flag on a soldiers arm determines his worth? There´s a lot of implications to supporting any cause, is war ever one we should?
on a lighter note... smooth transition... i saw shrek tercero last night,,, yeah in spanish and it was incredible!!! Definately my favorite out of all of them! i think i understood most of the jokes but i´ll probably see it again in english just to make sure!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I alway find people who argue so passionately about the absolute neccessity of war in our world today a bit odd because very frequently they often are very pro-life. To this day, I don't understand how you can blow up abortion clinics in the name of the sanctity of life, while at the same time champion some kind of just-war theory and advocate the death penalty. If life is sacred and we are each created in the image and likeness of God, does that give us a right to take anybody's life from them?
I guess that's why I don't believe I could ever go to war. I know that I want to live and that ultimately I would most likely be shooting at somebody who probably feels the same way. What right do I have to take their life...and frankly, why do I want to do so?
Jesus deliberately chose peace. He could have used the legions of angels, or the clubs of galileean peasants, but for His kingdom he chose peace. He chose to give his life rather than take somebody else's. In my humble opinion, any time Christianity adapts the means of this world to work towards our ends, we furnish presumtive evidence that it has become a thing of this world. I know I'm not going to win any patriot awards for my stance. But I think as Christians we need to make very clear what Kingdom we are attempting to build.
And for crying out loud, can we get over the fact that we never were, are not, and never will be a Christian nation? Maybe our witness to the rest of the world will change when we choose to preach the Gospel instead of enforce the Gospel and choose to end our alliance with imperialistic western capitalism?
I will step off my soap box now.
hill, i just want you to know that despite our opposing views of the war, you really hit me hard with the line about letting our patriotism overshadow our christian commitment. dangit, girl, even from thousands of miles away you get under my skin!!! Thanks for making me think. love you to pieces.
Post a Comment