Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s
friends. – John 15: 13
It’s Memorial Day weekend again, and, though I have said it before, I will say it again. This verse has nothing – NOTHING- to do with military service.
Men and woman do not
enlist in the military to lay down their lives.
They may be willing to risk death – but they do not join with the intent
that they will deliberately die. They
are, in fact, trained to avoid death and, what is more, to inflict death upon
others. This is not love – at least, not
the kind of love described in the verse above.
This verse is speaking of Jesus’ death - a voluntary sacrifice of the self, expressly to the point of death without the killing of others.
This verse is speaking of Jesus’ death - a voluntary sacrifice of the self, expressly to the point of death without the killing of others.
While we might wish to honor those who have served in the armed forces of the United States, Memorial Day is not a Christian holiday. It is a Nationalist holiday.
We should not confuse the two.
Hear, hear!
ReplyDeleteI hate this, every single year. And, yet, I feel bad pointing it out because suddenly I'm ungrateful and un-American and un-Christian for thinking it.
Yeah. I've never said 'don't do something nice to remember the soldiers who have died,' only - don't do it during Sunday worship service. But that nuance is usually lost in the shouting that follows.
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