I Know I Said I Wasn't Going To Talk About It!

As I have deliberately started thinking more about the war in Iraq, I can't help but think about the controversy. One of the arguments about the war is that so many of our young men and women are dying in Iraq.
Every day we read about more deaths of our American soldiers. Does anybody stop to think about how many lives we are saving because of it? Have we forgotten that freedom costs something? Do we actually think that our freedom is not at stake if we do not try and oppose the work of terrorism.
Do we have a draft system that is in effect? Do we think that these men and women who are dying have not counted the costs before they volunteered for the military. If they didn't, then they have made a foolish decision in the first place.
And what about these wives and mothers who are deployed to Iraq? How in the world did we ever let this happen? Why are these women even enlisting in the military when there is a war a stake? Well, women wanted equal rights, didn't they?

And what about these miners in Utah? I don't think anyone should be forced against their will to put their lives in jeopardy on such a slim chance of finding anybody alive, but if someone is willing to put their life on the line for someone else, should we really prohibit that? The Bible says that rarely will someone die for another, but who of us wouldn't jump into the water to save a drowning person? We don't even think about the danger. Just because we have the chance to think about it, and then make that choice, should we be denied that choice, just because someone else decides noone else should die?

This all may sound rather crude, but if you just think about history itself. From the beginning of time there has been killing. Pride, power, jealousy, envy, greed can all lead to killing. As long as man is dominated by his sinful nature, there will be killing. Do we just allow it? No, we try to make peace, and often compromises can be made. Throughout the centuries there have always been wars. For some, it was and still is a way of life.

People are going to die. As much as we don't like it, we might as well accept it. When it happens to us, to a friend, a family member, a loved one, we react differently than when we read about it with someone we don't know. But we can prepare ourselves ahead of time, by 1) accepting death as a fact of life and 2) understand that life truly is eternal and we have a choice about where we spend eternity (otherwise known as life after death. It all sound ironic, doesn't it?