Truth-out.org has just informed the public that the United States Air force had in place a training program for its airmen to brainwashed them as to the ethics of blasting hundreds of thousands of human souls into vapor using of all things, the Bible, Saint Augustine and a former Nazi and SS officer Werhner Von Braun who is regarding as the father of the American Space Program.
This training program was given to those who would be manning the US Intercontinental Ballistic Missile arsenal (ICBM). The “morality” presented in the training program came from a “Christian” perspective quoting Bible verses, Christian theologians such as Augustine from his “Christian Just War Theory,” and former Nazi and SS officer Werhner Von Braun. The quote from the former Nazi, Von Braun is striking and ironic:
“We knew that we had created a new means of warfare and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision [emphasis in document] more than anything else,” Von Braun said upon surrendering to American forces in May 1945. “We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured.” [emphasis in document] Von Braun was brought into the United States along with 500 other Nazi scientists secretly through a top secret program after WWII.
Due to the release of the article by Truth-out, this program has been shelved for now:
“The Nuclear Ethics and Nuclear Warfare training “has been taken out of the curriculum and is being reviewed,” said David Smith, chief of public affairs of Air Education and Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas. “The commander reviewed it and decided we needed to have a good hard look at it and make sure it reflected views of modern society.”
Candidates for airmen to man nuclear missiles that could potentially destroy this planet were administered this program by CHRISTIAN CHAPLAINS!
Imagine Jesus coming into one of these training sessions conducted by Chaplains and saying:
“You have heard that it was said ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you NOT to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun shine on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 15:38-48)
Imagine the response from the “Christian Chaplains” who are trying to brainwashing these young men into justifying mass murder of the highest proportions. These young men have NO IDEA who will be killed or for what reason. They are called to kill at the command of some psychopath in the White House or Pentagon or some Wall Street investors WITH God’s blessings!
We know what the Old Testament, a law that according to Paul has been done away with, has to say. It’s all about vengeance, retribution, avenging oneself. But what does the New Testament say? In whose hands is vengeance and how is it administered?
“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good this in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends upon you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved DO NOT AVENGE YOURSELVES, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Therefore ‘If your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 17-21)
Years ago I wrote a piece entitled “The Burning Love of God and the Raging Wrath of Man,” in which I point out that what the Western mind sees in Paul’s illustration of hot coals on someone’s head is usually very different from what an Easterner familiar with the Hebrew and Aramaic languages would see.
In small Semitic villages in Paul’s day, a small child would get up early. The mother would make a large pile of coals and pour them into a broken chard which would be placed on the boy’s head. The boy would go from house to house, friend and foe alike and give each woman of the household a piece of coal with which she would start her fire for cooking. The Eastern imagery of a little boy feeling the warmth of the coals on his head giving the gift of fire to all his neighbors friends and foes is strikingly different from the “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” America sent to Japan with fire to drop on millions of civilians heads. “Little boy” was the man picked by “scientists” for the first nuclear bomb ever dropped on human beings. The fire “Little Boy” brought was NOT the fire Jesus and Paul spoke of. The fire of the Holy Spirit produces a much different effect upon people than the kind of fire countries like the United States, Britain and Israel plan to heap upon their enemies. The “Judeo-Christian ethics” of the Western world is a far cry from the ethics of Jesus who overcame all of His enemies with love, a love that lays down its life rather than take another’s life.
When Jesus and His Father could have sent legions of angels to prevent the death of the Savior of the world, Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34)
5 thoughts on “Projecting Our Vengeance On To God”
You know, I had just about lost my faith when I came upon this website. I have been a so-called Christian (I don’t even really like to use that word because it’s associated with so much negativity now – Republican v. Democrat false dichotomy, war, greed, i.e., don’t help the poor and hungry with MY tax money!!, hell and being happy that one day most everyone will go there and etc.) since I was a young child, but I have always wondered why Christians were the most HATEFUL bunch of people and why anyone would be happy to serve a god who would take joy in sending people to hell or even create a hell for that matter. I have known atheists who were many times more kind and loving than most of the Christians I’ve ever known. However, since encountering this site and others like it I realize there ARE Christians who believe in loving others, caring for the poor, ill and suffering and that the doctrine of hell is, in a word, a LIE. Thanks, Gary.
Jim, I want you to know that I sympathize with you and can understand your pain for many have been deceived as to the truth that is to be found in the Bible. I thank Gary for his Tentmaker.org website and have gone back to it frequently to be edified by it . Jesus has said to all of us to seek Him and he will be found . Your rage is killing your ability for any hope of peace in your life though. What Gary suggests is a good start but please keep in mind that God is with us as we speak and will help you in all of this. He knows that you are angry and understands, as Gary and I both do. I know that all of this seems so impossible to you right now but all things are possible with God. My prayer for you is that you will come to the truth of God’s love for you and that you will grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ every day.
Never has so many suffered so much for your religious beliefs, Christianity. You have excelled at evil like no other. Christianity your bible is a book of great evils and yet you have convinced so many it is a book of peace and love. Christianity your history is so evil, yet you have convinced so many it is not. How did you accomplish this Christianity, how did you fool your flocks into believing yours is a good and peaceful god and truth…. I am guessing you accomplished this like your fellow Christian and brother in Christ Adolf Hitler, he moved a whole Country by requiring others NOT to question the Will of the Christian god. Well I question you and your so called god now…the Genocide of the Jews, the Americas, slavery, Crusades, Inquisitions, Racism, these are all evil things we all agree. Yet not one item in this evil list is non-biblical, not one thing on this list is anti-Christian, not one thing on this list wasn’t/isn’t supported by and through the bible. Not one thing I’ve mention was condemned by the Church when it occurred…your good news and inspiration is evil and attributing this evil as an act from yet another evil Christian entity is nonsense! Your Saint Jerome told of an evil account depicting the ultimate in evil and deception. He wrote of Lucifer as he translated your bible…the trouble is he was caught with a mistranslation. Jerome believed the translation read Lucifer; he believed he was right because the passages spoke of a Great deceiver a Great evil, his failure is your failure Christian, because Jerome’s’ translation works out to be your Morning Star…Jesus. Your Christian history and deceptions has since proven Saint Jerome’s fears true, now hasn’t it. Your gods’ way are not mysterious, they are monstrous! Christians, I challenge you to read the bible and not limit yourselves to only what supports just one of your 38000 denominational views.
Friend, I hear your pain and understand your anguish. I know all the Bible verses that seem to teach racism, elitism, genocide, etc. I have read histories of Judaism and Christianity and it is not a pretty picture. I was an atheist for much of my life, and much of what you pointed out made me feel exactly as you do. I am aware of Jerome’s mistranslation of Lucifer. But he made many more greater ones which people today suffer from. He introduced the idea of “everlasting punishment” a concept that was not in the original texts. He mistranslated olam, aion and aionios in many critical places.
I cannot change your mind about how you see him/her/it or whether you even believe in a God. I can say this: Your understanding of the Bible is very incomplete. And I hope to begin to write some material that will give some insight into its mysteries that might cause people like yourself to challenge their own beliefs regarding the Bible and its significance. Tell me, have you ever read the gospel of John, quietly and alone, simply trying to catch the heart of the writer? Not looking for fault but reading it as you would any other material you might enjoy trying to get the essence of what the writer is trying to convey? I challenge you to read that book with an open heart and mind. I realize perhaps I am asking the impossible. The venom and anger in your heart has spilled all over your words. It is easy to see the puss beneath the boil. But if you would, I challenge you to set your anger (which causes spiritual blindness) aside for an evening, open your heart and mind and read the Gospel of John, the one who claimed to have leaned his head upon Jesus’ chest. May love, joy and peace be your portion in the coming days. Peace, Gary