Alzheimers

I believe that we were actually in danger of being conquered by the Nazi/Japanese war machines. Were we really threatened by the Viet Cong or Iraq? My answer would be no but you have the right to your own opinion.

 

Both my 93 year old mother and her 95 year old sister are in a nursing home with Alzheimer's. Ironically, they're in the same room. Occasionally my mother recognizes that (I think) but my aunt is completely out of touch with the world. She sleeps most of the time. I think we keep people like my aunt alive mainly for us not for them. Thank goodness my mother still has periods of lucidity. She really brightens up when both my brother and I visit and it certainly warms my heart. We talk to her mostly about her childhood and her parents as well as our childhood and my Dad who died 32 years ago.

I agree that this is a very, very difficult issue to deal with. I certainly want my mother to live longer but to me my aunt is already gone. They think my mother has some form of cancer but didn't even run the tests because it was the doctor's opinion that my mother couldn't tolerate them.

I thank God that both of these two fine women are strong in their Christian faith. That's about all they have at this point but then that's really all any of us has.

 

We've been hammered on the BB that anyone who VOTED for Obama has the blood of millions of aborted children on their hands. That's much more far fetched than my statement because voters don't directly kill people as soldiers do.

 

You have declared that people who fight in unjust wars are murderers. And I asked you how we determine that and who determines it. So if you are going to continue to call Christians murderers because they fight in a war that you consider unjust, you should start a thread to support this view and explain why we should abide by your concept of just and unjust wars.

 

I think part of the reason this thread went off topic is because the quesiton is somewhat inane. How could any Christian say that a person with Alzheimers is no longer a person?

It is not man's perogative to evaluate whether someone with Alzheimer's has the right to live or not. No matter how they appear outwardly, God "sees the heart" and there may be something the Lord is doing in that person we can't see. So we absolutely do not have the right to end such a person's life. (Btw, I have an aunt with Alzheimer's).

There's a related story on this about Corrie Ten Boom who apparently lived her later years, as I recall, in a unconscious state and her caretaker talks about how taking care of her led her to see the Lord working in this situation for both her and Corrie Ten Boom.

I don't know where this story is, unfortunately, or who wrote it.

 

This is what King Henry the Fifth had to say about that consept via Shakespear:

 

*sigh*

I hate perpetrating off-topic stuff, but would you please quit referring to our soldiers as murderers? It is classless, even for you.

And quit backtracking, claiming you don't mean it. Of course you do. It's crass, mean-spirited, and ungrateful. We're all tired of it here.

 

It's ok,,we went to war for freedom,,freedom for all!

By the way, we were invited by the besigned government of South Korea to fight on their behalf. We didn't invade any country. War is hell and no one enjoys killing anyone, let alone seeming innocent people.

Our motto is "Never again". That is our constant hope, that we never have to go to war again.

Cheers,

Jim

 

I have tried to resist the temptation of getting involved in this discussion, but if it's just your opinion about which wars are just (WW 2) and which wars are not... why do you keep calling those of us who served in combat in Viet Nam as murderers. As far as I know being a murderer is not a matter of opinion.

No sane individual who fought in the wars you consider unjust ever enjoyed a moment of warfare. My father who fought in WW2 had nightmares of what he saw for 20 years afterwards. I know because he told me when I awoke from one of mine 4 years after I was in country.

You seem to write like we enjoyed combat and the deaths we inflicted on enemy combatants. We didn't. We still pay the price of that time.

I don't think we fought in Viet Nam so that we could maintain freedom here, we fought so we could try to keep the South free. And since 1975, they have been controlled by those we fought against. And Christians are being persecuted by those we fought. The tribal groups such as the Hmong and the Montagnards have been systematically decimated.

No we weren't fighting for your freedom to call us murderers, we were fighting for their freedom.

 

Excellent post! JC have you ever read or been exposed to the history of the Montagnards? Do you think they consider US Soldiers murderers?



Thank You for your service Tom Bryant. If you ever in Southeast Ohio look me up. I would like to shake your hand and buy you lunch.

 

You don't HAVE to abide by anything other than your own beliefs and you conscience. Just answer me this.

1) Did the soldiers in Hitler's Nazi army do a good or bad thing in following their Fuhrer?

2) Secondly, is the United States perfect in that we only engage in just wars or are some of our wars unjust. If they are all just, why do you make that claim?

3) If the war is unjust, are our soldiers acting in God's will or not?

4) Since all the leaders of American Christian denominations including Catholics declared the Iraq war to be unjust EXCEPT the SBC why do you consider it to be a just war?

4) If they are not acting in God's will fighting in an unjust war and they kill innocent people why is this not murder?

 

Very true about Korea. And now South Korea (which we protected) is 46% Christian, and in North Korea Christians are persecuted, put in labor camps with insufficient food and clothing, tortured and often killed outright. I'd call that a just war, and I honor my uncle who fought in it for freedom (and saw such horrible things done by the Communists that he can't talk about it).

 

What about Viet Nam and Iraq? I was unsure about Korea but I see VN and Iraq as unjust wars.

 

(1) Viet Nam was originally to fight Communism, which is a wicked, wicked system. I'll say no further than that on a public forum. Those Americans who fought and died there for what they believed was freedom deserve far better than the vicious treatment they got by many Americans when they came back (including my brother, a Maoist at the time). They also deserve far more than to have their sacrifice looked down upon at this time.

(1) At this point in history, whether Iraq is a just war or not is a moot point to me. I refuse to argue this also on a public forum. Many of our soldiers coming home from VN were traumatized deeply by the attacks on their sacrifices by fellow Americans. It would be a wicked thing to do the same thing to our veterans returning from Iraq.

I owe this viewpoint at least in part to my brother, who now deeply regrets his part in villianizing returning VN war veterans. He now works in a charity he founded to help returning veterans of the Iraq war who are suffering physically, emotionally and mentally--and some of them do suffer greatly.

 

I came very close to getting drafted to go to Viet Nam. I took my pre-induction physical but at the same time had applied to Navy OCS. The Navy questioned my physical and I was ultimately disqualified from being drafted on a sports injury (shoulder).

I was a very conservative Southern Baptist engineering student but this experience changed my life. I decided that I was not willing to give my life for a cause I didn't believe in. If I hadn't failed the physical I would have declared to be a conscientious objector. If that hadn't worked who knows I might be a Canadian citizen right now.

I've never had any bad feelings towards those who chose to serve in Viet Nam. I know the kind of situation they found themselves in at a young age. I felt as if I had been backed up against a wall with no good options. On the other hand, I still feel perfectly comfortable with my reaction to that situation and am amazed at how I handled it.

I felt that God had better things for me to do with my life than to die in Viet Nam and I was right.

 

The problem in Vietnam was similar to the problems we had in Korea after Truman fired General MacArthur. Under his leadership we wee winning and gaining ground. The bulk of the war was fought on North Korean soil. When MacArthur was fired, the moral of all troops, not just American, dropped and we saw a considerable number of defeats simply because of moral problems.

In Vietnam, because of political opposition at home, American troops were virtually relegated to a training role. They backed off gaining ground in victories. This went off and on from the US government throughout the battle until the American people were prepared to spit on returning veterans when they had represented the USA most honourably. Shame! shame!

John: I would be interested in hearing your uncle's opinion on Korea and the firing of MacArthur..I am sure he will concur with me.

Remember folks, win or lose, armies fight for right regardless of outcome. I held the hand over at least 150 young boys who died in battle in Korea and visited the mothers of 550 Canadians who died there when I came back to Canada.

Cheers,

Jim

 

I considered joining up, though I had a student's deferment. But I thank God my father talked me out of it, saying I should finish my degree first. But I remember witnessing after the war to a Viet Nam air force captain who had to flee. You can read the story here: http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=42326&page=2

I have deep sympathy for our soldiers who fought there without the full support of their government or countrymen, for the South VN people and military who were so viciously attacked, and for the Christians in VN who were viciously persecuted by the Communists after the war--and that continues to this very day.

God loves the world: Americans, Japanese, Alzheimer's patients, the unborn, Vietnamese, Iraqis, all. And God hates evil. That's where I start. Now, personally I hope the just war discussion will migrate to a new thread or cease altogether.

 

My uncle has never discussed his part in the war with us. By God's grace, though, he came out of it as a gentle, godly pastor and very compassionate soul winner.

I have another uncle who fought in WW2 and was deeply traumatized. We never even knew it until very recently when he shared some of his experiences with my brother.

War is an awful thing to those who fight it, even when it is justly prosecuted. I believe our men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve our full support as long as the war is on. We should leave the discussion on whether or not the war is just to the French and other Europeans (purported allies) who are not there. We Americans (and Canadians, since you are helping in Afghanistan) can discuss the justice or error of it fully after the war.

 

Remember, that whilst our government refused to enter the war in Iraq, we did have over 200 troops already in Kuwait, who remained there and played a vital role with the American troops in Southern Iraq.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Got it! I didn't know that. :thumbs: