Comments on: Jesus loves Osama

By: Dave King

Dave King — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Happy Belated Birthday, great pic btw!

- Peace

By: John the Statistician

John the Statistician — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Dang, I missed it. Happy belated, there, Kev

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!

By: Karen

Karen — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Hey everyone, today is Kevin's birthday!

By: John the Statistician

John the Statistician — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

"A Better Title" perhaps? :-P

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 30 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Seriously, I can't keep up with the changes of this blog's title! ;)

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 30 Nov 2000 00:00:00 +0000

Clicking on the photo should take you to its original home on flickr. I don't recall if a larger size was available there.

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Kevin, can you send me a larger version of this photo?

By: John the Statistician

John the Statistician — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Imagine if we took that seriously, and sent as many peacemakers as soldiers. Now there's a surge.

The US military is actually catching on to this. You can't just capture a town, remove apparent threats, and leave. To combat an insurgency, after you secure a region, you actually have to build something that says: we will help you build a society. If some sources in the Pentagon at the time are to be believed, that's why this war undertaken in the first place.

It's unfortunate we've alienated our European (because they are better at securing peace, generally) and Asian (because it's really their oil trade routes we're trying to open). Otherwise, we could bring in people with no apparent military stake.

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

There's nothing wrong with the content of the sign, but I worry about the way people take it, or possibly how they mean it. The word "love" has come to mean (in one sense), "turn a blind eye toward." Like the saying goes, loving someone means never having to say you're sorry. Of course, this is the same criticism leveled against Jesus when he ate with IRS auditors and porn stars, so take it with a grain of salt.

Christian love means that one ought always to be ready to forgive if the sinner repents. (And as a corollary, that we should pray that sinners repent.) But it doesn't mean that we have any obligation to forgive the unrepentant sinner–indeed, Paul recommends to "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved." Calm and persistent love towards those who are hateful against us–and a willingness to admit to any real sin on our part–is the kind of love that Jesus commands his disciples to have.