gromitt82
Feb 23, 2010, 08:14 AM
Sometimes I wonder whether we are not spending useful time in debating concepts which are rather irrelevant, bearing in mind that we are supposedly all Christians. It is all very well for us to show off our knowledge of the Scriptures by quoting each other as many verses of the Bible as needed.
But I seldom see any references to really important subjects.
For instance, the other day I read an interview with Stefan Schmitt, director of the International Forensic Program.
See: International Forensic Program (http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/forensic/)
In this interview Mr. Schmitt was referring to the brutality and torture many Governments do not hesitate to “legally” practice when allegedly is needed for the so called “security or political reasons”.
In this respect he was pointing out to the well-known episode of the Afghanistan war when the “lord of the war” Abdul Rashid Dostum (former pro-Soviet during the soviet war and now fighting jointly with the US Special Forces) allegedly suffocated as many as 2,000 prisoners in container trucks, following the Taliban surrender of Kunduz, in an incident that has become known as the Dasht-i-Leili massacre.
Mr. Schmitt claims he denounced before the President Bush Administration and the Pentagon that the US forces were aware of this massacre and did nothing to stop it. But the Bush Administration paid no attention to his statement and denied him any further permission to proceed with the investigation until now, when it seems President Obama has asked him to continue and try to get to the bottom of the problem.
In this interview, Mr. Schmitt also claimed to be absolutely shocked at how the different European Governments (French, German, Spanish, English, etc.) were ignoring, and even denying, the massacres that were being carried out in the ex-Yugoslavia, during their conflicts between 1991 and 1995.
Not to speak of the Rwandan civil war between Hutu and Tutsis in 1994, where the death toll is estimated in well over one million people (20%) of the total population, while it faced a considerable amount of impassiveness on the side of the Western World.
Though it is true that there are a number of NGO (Red Cross, Amnesty International and many other Christian ones) that work in different areas of the world trying to alleviate and bring some help to all these suffering people, the true responsibility of what is going on, especially in black Africa and certain parts of Asia and Latin America, lies on the greed of Western Governments and multinational organizations which do not hesitate to set their economic interests before their collective consciences, in many cases, supposedly Christian.
Politics and economy unfortunately prevail over the basic principles set out in the UDHR, where the 3 first distinctly clear rights therein also appear in most Constitutions of our Western countries, i.e. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status; and everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Actually, these principles are not that new for Jesus already pointed them out in His Gospels as a must for ALL of us to follow.
But, while most of us probably believe in good faith that we abide by them, we certainly do not, for we keep on looking with a fair amount of unresponsiveness and apathy to what is going on in this world of ours or, at the very best, we shrug our shoulders while claiming there is nothing we can do about it.
Americans are mostly concerned by what is going on in their country and how it will affect them. We, Europeans, are doing exactly the same or even worse, for we should at least truly yearn towards a United Europe but actually, starting with Great Britain and ending up with Greece, we all tend to follow the famous idiom “Every man for himself (and the devil take the hindmost)”.
Our way of living is very comfortable and we have all we need and we intend to keep it like that as long as possible.
Some could say we are being practical. Others might say we are extraordinary selfish and self-centered.
But we keep on forgetting that there will come the day when we shall all be also judged by what we have done for our neighbors…!
So, to sum it up, I would say that there are many more interesting and vital themes for us to debate than reciting by heart all the Books of the Holy Bible, from the Genesis to the Revelation.
I think we should better try to concentrate on the Gospels and remember them constantly to see what we can do to really follow what they recommend us to do…
Gromitt 82
Gromitt82
But I seldom see any references to really important subjects.
For instance, the other day I read an interview with Stefan Schmitt, director of the International Forensic Program.
See: International Forensic Program (http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/forensic/)
In this interview Mr. Schmitt was referring to the brutality and torture many Governments do not hesitate to “legally” practice when allegedly is needed for the so called “security or political reasons”.
In this respect he was pointing out to the well-known episode of the Afghanistan war when the “lord of the war” Abdul Rashid Dostum (former pro-Soviet during the soviet war and now fighting jointly with the US Special Forces) allegedly suffocated as many as 2,000 prisoners in container trucks, following the Taliban surrender of Kunduz, in an incident that has become known as the Dasht-i-Leili massacre.
Mr. Schmitt claims he denounced before the President Bush Administration and the Pentagon that the US forces were aware of this massacre and did nothing to stop it. But the Bush Administration paid no attention to his statement and denied him any further permission to proceed with the investigation until now, when it seems President Obama has asked him to continue and try to get to the bottom of the problem.
In this interview, Mr. Schmitt also claimed to be absolutely shocked at how the different European Governments (French, German, Spanish, English, etc.) were ignoring, and even denying, the massacres that were being carried out in the ex-Yugoslavia, during their conflicts between 1991 and 1995.
Not to speak of the Rwandan civil war between Hutu and Tutsis in 1994, where the death toll is estimated in well over one million people (20%) of the total population, while it faced a considerable amount of impassiveness on the side of the Western World.
Though it is true that there are a number of NGO (Red Cross, Amnesty International and many other Christian ones) that work in different areas of the world trying to alleviate and bring some help to all these suffering people, the true responsibility of what is going on, especially in black Africa and certain parts of Asia and Latin America, lies on the greed of Western Governments and multinational organizations which do not hesitate to set their economic interests before their collective consciences, in many cases, supposedly Christian.
Politics and economy unfortunately prevail over the basic principles set out in the UDHR, where the 3 first distinctly clear rights therein also appear in most Constitutions of our Western countries, i.e. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status; and everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.
Actually, these principles are not that new for Jesus already pointed them out in His Gospels as a must for ALL of us to follow.
But, while most of us probably believe in good faith that we abide by them, we certainly do not, for we keep on looking with a fair amount of unresponsiveness and apathy to what is going on in this world of ours or, at the very best, we shrug our shoulders while claiming there is nothing we can do about it.
Americans are mostly concerned by what is going on in their country and how it will affect them. We, Europeans, are doing exactly the same or even worse, for we should at least truly yearn towards a United Europe but actually, starting with Great Britain and ending up with Greece, we all tend to follow the famous idiom “Every man for himself (and the devil take the hindmost)”.
Our way of living is very comfortable and we have all we need and we intend to keep it like that as long as possible.
Some could say we are being practical. Others might say we are extraordinary selfish and self-centered.
But we keep on forgetting that there will come the day when we shall all be also judged by what we have done for our neighbors…!
So, to sum it up, I would say that there are many more interesting and vital themes for us to debate than reciting by heart all the Books of the Holy Bible, from the Genesis to the Revelation.
I think we should better try to concentrate on the Gospels and remember them constantly to see what we can do to really follow what they recommend us to do…
Gromitt 82
Gromitt82