D-Day. 82 years ago
the Americans, the British, the Canadians, and maybe others pulled off
the largest maritime invasion in human history. Americans think it turned the
tide of WWII in Europe. It didn’t. The Russians had done that at Stalingrad
over one year earlier. Still, the western allies invading France was a
significant development. Of course, the western allies already were in Europe.
They had invaded Italy significantly earlier, but no one seems to give that
part of the war in Europe much credit for the defeat of the Germans. Still,
D-Day was significant. It probably stopped the Germans from transferring troops
from France to Russia, and that was important. The Russians didn’t need more
German troops to deal with. The western allies suffered significant losses in
the invasion. I’ll never forget the video of the first troops coming off the
LSTs and dropping like flies under German fire. War truly is madness. It is
always a result of the failure of the human spirit to resolve conflict the way
God wants us to resolve conflict. There was also great heroism that day,
something we should not forget. So I suppose D-Day is worth remembering if not
exactly celebrating.
Just saw a TV ad for something called USAA, which I guess is
an insurance company for veterans of the killing machine. It shows people both
in and out of uniform, including several holding assault rifles, all smiles and
happy. And I so don’t get how so few people understand that the only purpose of
a military is to kill people. I remember when I was in Army ROTC as an
undergraduate at Oregon and being told that in basic they will teach you how to
kill people. Back then I worries that I would not be able physically to survive
basic, and I probably wouldn’t have had I had to go. But even then I didn’t
like the idea of killing people, though I didn’t object to it as much then as I
do now. In those days we assumed that as soon as we graduated we’d get drafted
and sent to Vietnam, where we most definitely did not want to go. Getting my
medical deferment was one of the happiest days of my life, not that I wanted
anyone else to have to go either. A retired Marine officer I know says “The politicians tell us who to
kill, and we go kill them.” I once heard an Army soldier on TV say “My job is
to kill people and blow up their stuff.” That’s what militaries do. They may
get used for other, more constructive things on occasion, but killing people
and destroying property is what they exist to do. And that we maintain any
military at all just flat sucks. It is a complete failure of the human spirit.
It is just flat sinful. People say it’s necessary even when they see that it is
neither noble nor honorable. I guess from a worldly perspective it is
necessary, but from the perspective of Christian faith it absolutely is not.
Militaries do not exist to love their enemies. They exist to kill them,
something that is radically anti-Christian.
But not to be too arrogant here. I struggle with the whole
notion of loving people I perceive to be enemies, most particularly Donald
Trump. I hate Donald Trump, everything he does, everything he says, all of the
people who kiss his ass, and everything he stands for. I readily concede that
God probably loves him in a way I cannot, but then, I’m not God or anything
remotely close to God. My inability to do it, of course, doesn’t change Jesus’
directive to us to do it. That is why God’s grace is so real. We all need it. I
sure know that I do. So no, I don’t love Donald Trump. I will never love Donald
Trump. Forgive me, Lord.
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