Saturday
The United Methodist Church are calling on Methodist George W. Bush to repent for overthrowing Saddam Hussain's regime in Iraq. He is enjoined to:
...repent from domestic and foreign policies that are incompatible with the teaching and example of Christ.
Ah yes... the eleventh commandment... "Thou shalt not overthrow tyranny but shall instead give aid and succour to murderers and rapists". Oops. Sorry. I guess silly ol' Dubya was reading the abridged version of the Bible.
(Link via Joshua Claybourn)
If I remember the Bible correctly, the Lord, during His ministry, was quite uninterested in geopolitical machinations. This was much to the dismay of some of His followers, who expected Him to be more of a Maccabean-style Messiah.
Perhaps the United Methodists are taking a page from the United Nations and asserting authority where they have none. If the President ignores them, as he most likely will, just what are they going to do?
Posted by Kevin at April 19, 2003 09:03 PM
He will take all that "advice" "under consideration", and, after due deliberation, decide that those ministers just don't understand the situation.
Posted by MommaBear at April 19, 2003 09:11 PM
IT SAYS IN THE BIBLE (JAMES 4:17) 'REMEMBER IT IS SIN TO KNOW WHAT YOU OUGHT TO DO AND THEN NOT TO DO IT". FOR BUSH NOT TO TAKE OUT SAADAM, KNOWING ALL HE KNEW ABOUT HIM, WOULD HAVE BEEN SIN. FOR THESE CHURCH LEADERS TO SAY BUSH WAS WRONG NOW, AFTER ALL THE REVEALATIONS OF PRISON, TORTURE AND DEATH THAT THE IRAQI PEOPLE SUFFERED AT THE HAND OF SAADAM, IS NOT CHRISTIAN AT ALL.
Posted by rICH ARNONE at April 20, 2003 01:37 AM
And the 12th Commandment sayeth:
Thou shalt not use all caps!
Posted by Perry de Havilland at April 20, 2003 02:54 AM
Funny... I remember all the lefties saying that the war was in large part due to W's and Tony Blair's relgious impulses.
Oops, I guess they'll have to find another "simplisme" theory to determine what this was all about.
Posted by Daniel at April 20, 2003 05:32 AM
Would this be the same Methodist church that had no objections to slavery in the 1850s? (Old grudges die hard.)
Posted by Timothy Sandefur at April 20, 2003 02:59 PM
Does this mean they'll also call on him to end the Evil War on Drugs?
Support Christians For Cannabis
Posted by Kevin Connors at April 21, 2003 07:52 AM
I went back and read the manual. According to instructions from Christian High Command, Mr Bush is indeed guilty of coveting his neighbours goods. Unfortunately only the troops disobeyed directive 5, so in the final judgement Bush gets off lightly and our brave lads get the hellfire. Typical politician....
Posted by mad dog barker at April 21, 2003 10:51 AM
That's a pretty broad brush your using to paint all of UMC with. The article you cite is pretty clear that it's a fringe element within the UMC that posted that ad, and they in no way represented the denomination.
Posted by Barry at April 22, 2003 01:04 PM
