Neither shalt thou stand idly by the blood of thy neighbour Lev 19:16

[Open Heart]

Today President Trump ordered the bombing of Syria in retaliation for the deaths of civilians -- including children -- from a poison gas attack. Using poison gas in any way for any reason is agreed upon by the world to be a war crime.

Now I really hate Donald Trump, as those who follow my posts can tell you. But I have to say I fully support him in this action. I thank God he had the CHUTZPAH to do it. And I'll tell you why:

All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing. A bully is able to bully because all the good kids around him allow him to. Even his teacher and the office staff tend to go easy on him, "Oh you;re not going to do this anymore are you? Good, now trot on back to class. After all boys will be boys." In adult life, we have big bullies with big guns. They are the bosses who hold your jobs over you, the social worker who threatens to take your kids for no good reason, the troll on the internet that is ruining your social life. And then there are the super bullies: tyrants big and small, whether the heads of cults who use brainwashing to get you to commit suicide, or the heads of state who use poison to keep his peasants from revolting. And they are enabled because the good people of the world sit around and do nothing.

When I was in junior high and was bullied, I felt it was a bigger sin that those who knew better, those who were "good kids," did nothing to help me. I couldn't understand it, and I held them responsible. I have never forgotten that lesson. Indeed, that early experience and what I learned from it has guided my adult choices. It led to things like seven years of Kung Fu lessons. It led to learning how to shoot a gun. It led to teaching my kids to always defend themselves and anyone they see in trouble -- even if it means getting in trouble with teachers. And it effects my reactions to things like civilians getting gassed by tyrants.

There is a difference of opinion about how to translate Leviticus 19:16. Some translators render it "Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life." Other translators render it, "Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is threatened." Having studied this verse with the Jews, who are experts on the Hebrew, specifically the Hebrew of the Torah, I know that it is the latter that is the more accurate. The translation I have used in the Title is the JPS (A Jewish Bible). Leviticus 19 / Hebrew - English Bible / Mechon-Mamre

It is not enough to not be a bully myself. I have to intervene when someone else is being bullied. Bombs away, Donald Trump.

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

There is a difference of opinion about how to translate Leviticus 19:16. Some translators render it "Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life." Other translators render it, "Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is threatened."

It says "your neighbor", not "people on the other side of the world".

 

[Armoured]

It says "your neighbor", not "people on the other side of the world".

If only Jesus had given us clear instructions abut who our neighbour is.

 

[W2L]

What happens when our bombing raid kills civilians? Are we standing against their blood?

 

[Armoured]

What happens when our bombing raid kills civilians? Are we standing against their blood?

~500,000 Dead Iraqi civilians. You tell us?

 

[W2L]

~500,000 Dead Iraqi civilians. You tell us?

How many did Saddam kill? To be honest, i dont know what to think of war, so i put it in Gods hands.

 

[Armoured]

How many did Saddam kill? To be honest, i dont know what to think of war, so i put it in Gods hands.

Depending who you ask, about the same, over 24 years iirc.

 

[W2L]

Depending who you ask, about the same, over 24 years iirc.

Thank you.

 

[Truthfrees]

MOD HAT

Posts have been removed as off topic.

 

[Open Heart]

It says "your neighbor", not "people on the other side of the world".

With airplanes and the internet linking us so fast, everyone in the world is my neighbor.

 

[Open Heart]

If only Jesus had given us clear instructions abut who our neighbour is.

Jesus was more concerned with BEING a good neighbor, including to those who hate us outside our own People.

Being a good neighbor means helping the citizens of Syria, who have been attacked by robbers and left to die on the road to Jericho.

Given that the world is in contact instantaneously, and can respond almost immediately to incidents, I would say the whole world is our neighbor.

 

[Open Heart]

What happens when our bombing raid kills civilians? Are we standing against their blood?

This is a very good question, one that bothers me a lot, so I'm glad you have asked it. I basically consider the alternative:

• Far more citizens will die if we don't bomb. It is an act of compassion. Consider how many citizens have died since the first poison gas attack because Obama did not bomb.
• The world will be in a terrible place if the use of poison gas is allowed. It is an act of self preservation.
• Our weapons are highly specific to their targets, minimizing civilian deaths. Moral precautions are taken, mitigating responsibility.
• The deaths of civilians are not intentional -- they are not the targets, unlike the killing of civilians with the poison gas. This puts their deaths on a morally different level.

There are six confirmed dead due to the strike. This compared to the hundreds of thousands killed during the war.

 

[Open Heart]

duplicate

 

[SoldierOfTheKing]

With airplanes and the internet linking us so fast, everyone in the world is my neighbor.

In the context of the verse you quoted, "neighbor" meant "brother Israelite". Thank you for sharing your opinion as to how technology changes the meaning of the verse, but that's what it is, an opinion.

 

[Armoured]

This is a very good question, one that bothers me a lot, so I'm glad you have asked it. I basically consider the alternative:

• Far more citizens will die if we don't bomb.

That's a highly arguable proposition. If there is this one attack, maybe so. But these things have a tendency to spiral out of control, and before you know where you are, you invade Iraq and kill a hundred thousand Iraqis.

 

[Open Heart]

In the context of the verse you quoted, "neighbor" meant "brother Israelite". Thank you for sharing your opinion as to how technology changes the meaning of the verse, but that's what it is, an opinion.

That's what it meant to an Israelite. Is that what it means to us?