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The Line Between Faith and Patriotism

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by Timsings, Jun 25, 2008.

  1. JustChristian

    JustChristian New Member

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    Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
    Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
    Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
     
  2. JustChristian

    JustChristian New Member

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    Mr


    First of all, countries do not make vows. Countries enter into treaties and develop allies. I might be wrong but I'm not aware of any treaty the U.S. had with S. Viet Nam calling for us to intervene in the war with the communists after France pulled out in 1954. We made the decision to get involved to stop the communist advance in southeast Asia (domino theory). president Johnson made the decision to dramatically escalate the war in 1964 unilaterally. I'm not even sure we had the support of NATO or our other allies. (This was back when the U.S. had allies.)
     
  3. NiteShift

    NiteShift New Member

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    SEATO allies (not NATO) Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, and Thailand provided some troops in Vietnam. Also the ROK's.
     
  4. Thinkingstuff

    Thinkingstuff Active Member

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    A treaty is a vow in that both are contracts.
     
  5. Martin

    Martin Active Member

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    ==The Word of God is always first, period. The United States is a great country, but it is far from perfect. If we can't admit its sins and mistakes of the past and present then we are not being realistic. As a history student who focuses on early American history, I am often faced with the sins of early America. And, I must admit, it bothers me. However I have a choice. I can admit that our country has never been perfect or I can lie to myself and to everyone who sits in my classroom (etc). I go with the truth even when it is not what I like. I measure America by the Word of God. When she is wrong, by that standard, I am the first to say so. When she is right, by that standard, I am the first to say so.



    ==I don't condone the use of torture. However I do believe that sometimes the term torture is thrown around rather carelessly. So we have to be careful before we accept the claims of torture.
     
  6. JustChristian

    JustChristian New Member

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    Yes, but it's made between countries not between individuals. Are we personally responsible for the U.S. keeping all of the treaties it has made? We're responsible for electing representatives that hopefully will make the right treaties and stand behind them but we're not individually responsible for keeping them. Individuals are subject to laws.
     
  7. JustChristian

    JustChristian New Member

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    On the question of troops provided by U.S. allies I learned something new. At this web site are the totals from 1960 to 197.

    http://members.aol.com/warlibrary/vwatl.htm

    By far the largest number of troops other than U.S. or South Vietnamese came from S. Korea. In the peak years of 1968-9 the levels were:

    U.S. - 536,100
    SVN - 820,000 (continued to rise while other troop levels went down)
    S. Korea - 50,000
    Thailand - 11,570
    Australia - 7,670
    New Zealand - 550
    Philippines - 2,060 (1966)

    So at the peak levels the U.S. and SVN accounted for over 95% of the total of 1,420,280 troops fighting the communists.
     
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