The Mennonite and the soldier

[chrisassaf]

PVT. SMITH

Here you go, Yoder.

YODER

Ahhh, fresh water. Thank you, young man.

PVT. SMITH

Call me, ‘Private Smith’.

YODER

Fine, then, Private Smith.

PVT. SMITH

You know something Yoder, I really admire you.

YODER

Oh?

PVT. SMITH

Yes, the way you stand up to our NCO’s. When they give you military commands, you flat out refuse. That takes guts. You are braver than we are. If anyone of us had done that, we would have had what you have right now (Field Punishment Number 1) or worse, death by firing squad.

YODER

That is because we do not support the military system, Private Smith. In my community, we follow the words of our Lord, who says; ‘Resist not evil’, and ‘love your enemies’.

PVT. SMITH

Wow, Mr. Yoder. I could never do those things. I doubt that any of my brothers-in-arms could.

YODER

Ah, Private Smith. Once you have given yourself freely to the Lord, you will need his holy spirit. He will guide you and give the grace you need to carry out his will.

PVT. SMITH

I always wondered about those sayings. I find it natural to fight your enemies.

YODER

The Lord loves all of us: me, you, me, and everyone else. That is why he died and rose from the dead. He set an example for us to follow. See, he never fought with weapons. When he was brought up before the court on false charges, he never fought his accusers.

PVT. SMITH

Ah, I see…

YODER

You see, Private Smith, this world is not our home. We are only pilgrims, passing through. Our citizenship is in Heaven, not this world.

PVT. SMITH

Oh, that is quite interesting.

YODER

Yet believe it or not, this world is a battleground for us. We are fighting, not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore, our fight is with those evil forces, not men.

PVT. SMITH

‘Spiritual wickedness’?

YODER

Sin and Satan, my friend.

PVT. SMITH

Amazing! You must tell me more.

SERGEANT

PRIVATE SMITH!

PVT. SMITH

Sergeant!

SERGEANT

Get away from the prisoner and go report for sentry duty! On the double!

PVT. SMITH

Yes, Sergeant.

SERGEANT

And you, Yoder, you have two more days left of this punishment. Any more disobedience from you and it’s a court martial, then a firing squad. Do you hear me?

YODER

Whatever you do, Sergeant. But I will not go against the words of my Lord, for I have already commended my spirit into his hands. So what is being tied to a pole for a few days to me?

[TheRedneckProfessor]

@chrisassaf, overt preaching/proselytizing is confined to The Lion's Den.  I had hoped adding a warning to your Dialogue in Hell thread would get the message across.  Since it did not, be forewarned: any further breech of our community rules will bring upon you the wrath of the Prof, thy Mod.

[chrisassaf]

1 minute ago, TheRedneckProfessor said:

@chrisassaf, overt preaching/proselytizing is confined to The Lion's Den.  I had hoped adding a warning to your Dialogue in Hell thread would get the message across.  Since it did not, be forewarned: any further breech of our community rules will bring upon you the wrath of the Prof, thy Mod.

I was not preaching.

[Joshpantera]

On 11/26/2020 at 1:20 PM, chrisassaf said:

I was not preaching.

 

He means the dialogue comes off as preachy. We get what you're doing. It's just that the forums are set up in terms of encouraging the deconverted and deconverting from christianity. By talking to peers and having community. That's the meaning of our existence here. 

 

Now when christians join, that's ok too. But what we don't really want (as mods and the admin) are proselytizing, hell, fire, brimstone sermons, and generally preachy attitudes all over the forum. So the Lion's Den is a place just for that. Anything proselytizing, preachy, or just plain pro-christian, gets moved to the Lion's Den where it can be debated. If people are sensitive to pro-christian preachy oriented posts, there's fair warning and they can choose to enter or not enter at their own discretion. Elsewhere we don't feel that they should be subject to it. 

 

You deserve an explanation for what's happened with a few of your posts and why things are the way that they are around here. 

 

It's not a big deal. It's just that if you post this stuff it will be for the purpose of an open debate about what you're posting. That's why I moved your other thread to the Lion's Den, btw. If you're not interested in debating what you post, then it may be that you're not interested in posted at our forums. And that's ok.

 

Now you know what the deal is and what to expect going forward. 

 

Thanks. 

[Joshpantera]

On 11/26/2020 at 1:11 PM, chrisassaf said:

YODER

That is because we do not support the military system, Private Smith. In my community, we follow the words of our Lord, who says; ‘Resist not evil’, and ‘love your enemies’.

 

Joshpantera:

And a Lord who also says, 'Do not think that I come to bring peace on earth, I do not come to bring peace on earth but a sword. And to turn members of the same household against one another...' 

 

YODER:

But, but, but you're taking that out of context!!!

 

Joshpantera:

Not so, the context is clear. The context is that the bible is extraordinarily self contradicting. Love your enemies, but bring not peace but a sword and turn families against one another within their own households for the "Lords" namesake. I call that passage, "psycho jesus," and "cult leader jesus." The contradictions number so many because human writers are responsible for the writings of the bible. Human writers who disagreed with one another about how the stories should read. Not the apparent work of an all-knowing deity, divinely inspiring people to write down infallible passages - free and clear of anything that would even hint at contradiction. 

 

YODER:

*Deer in the headlights*

 

But, but, but......

 

Joshpantera: 

 

Exactly....