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Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Mid week service, Peace!

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After Memorial Day and the fervor of support for the warriors; I feel the need to express caution to the leaders on the effects of war.

This is from a book written in 1521. Europe was once again torn apart by war, and as always, the loss to all was far greater than the gain to any combatant. Here Peace herself laments:

Now, if I, whose name is Peace, am a personage glorified by the united praise of God and man, as the fountain, the parent, the nurse, the patroness, the guardian of every blessing which either heaven or earth can bestow; if without me nothing is flourishing, nothing safe, nothing pure or holy, nothing pleasant to mortals, or grateful to the Supreme Being; if, on the contrary, war is one vast ocean, rushing on mankind, of all the united plagues and pestilences in nature; if, at its deadly approach, every blossom of happiness is instantly blasted, every thing that was improving gradually degenerates and dwindles away to nothing, every thing that was firmly supported totters on its foundation, every thing that was formed for long duration comes to a speedy end, and every thing that was sweet by nature is turned into bitterness; if war is so unhallowed that it becomes the deadliest bane of piety and religion; if there is nothing more calamitous to mortals, and more detestable to heaven, I ask, how in the name of God, can I believe those beings to be rational creatures; how can I believe them to be otherwise than stark mad; who, with such a waste of treasure, with so ardent a zeal, with so great an effort, with so many arts, so much anxiety, and so much danger, endeavour to drive me away from them, and purchase endless misery and mischief at a price so high.

Beautifully stated, eh?

Bastiat wrote a fable that shows the error of thinking loss can somehow create gain. His story of the broken window counters the falsehood that somehow destruction is good for the economy or the world. This complete essay is one of my favorite works by Bastiat.

To ground all of this in reality; Jesus is know as the Prince of Peace. He brings the offer of peace to our personal lives by creating a pathway to God. Jesus Christ also promotes peace between and within mankind with his insistence on our being a good neighbor to everyman.

Jesus said unto him "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:35-40 ( KJV), see also Luke 10: 25-37

Jesus is Lord!

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