The Cease Fire

It's a disappointment for those of us who want to settle this once and for all, but Israel is a small country with at least 100 rockets falling on it every day. People have been driven from their homes.

Michael Medved reported that on Friday evening in Jerusalem, they used to sound a siren as a signal that Sabbath had begun. Because the siren sent children who had been evacuated to Jerusalem into panic attacks, it has been replaces with a kinder, gentler reminder, a melody played on a mandolin or a similar instrument. Medved ends his radio show with the same music every Friday.

Ultimately, Christians believe the Lord will return in glory and establish peace through his very presence. In the meantime, we have to struggle for it. As a Mormon, I believe that there is current revelation through living prophets, and there are times when the Lord says submit and times when he says fight. Since the founding of the church in this era, Mormons have been attacked and driven again and again here in the Land of the Free. In the Book of Mormon there are occasions when the Lord allowed innocent women and children to be murdered but assured that they did not suffer the pains of death. On other occasions he instructed his people to fight to protect themselves and their families. On one occasion the people were sinful and were taken captives and served as slaves and tributaries until the Lord saw fit to deliver them.

The Church has always encouraged its young men to serve their country in the military when called, and has taught that fighting as a soldier will not be counted as evil so long as the soldier acts honorably.

All this goes through my mind as I think about the cease fire agreement. War is expensive and difficult when it's on your home ground, and I can't blame the Israeli leadership for choosing a hope for peace. However, I don't think this will pan out. Hezbollah will re-arm and begin the fight again at a time of its own choosing. Maybe it will have lost some of its agression after this round, but I doubt it. It didn't really win, but it will think it did and that bodes ill for future dealings with it, and its masters, Syria and Iran. I think that America has much repenting to do before we can ask God to protect us. A significant part of our people probably wouldn't lift a finger to stop terrorism if they thought it would put them in power.
I've never really understood the thinking of pacifists, unless they are as willing to die as the terrorists are to kill them. In fact, nothing about liberalism makes any sense to me. Government welfare programs, legalized dope, abortion, gay marriage: they all seem to only make sense if you don't care whether your society endures and grows. I don't believe that government should do more for people than they can do for themselves, because it's a blunt, unwieldy instrument and it comes with strings attached. Liberty comes at a cost, and we pay for it in many ways. We can lose it quite easily if we fail to do those things that it is based on, such as self government, respecting others, service, etc.

I've wondered many times, why we settled the Korean War the way we did and left North Korea and Red China to oppress and murder their people. The conclusion was that we were just tired of war, and our people just didn't have the will to fight in the face of an enemy which has or might have nukes. That's always bothered me, but then I didn't have to endure the Chosun Reservoir, Pork Chop Hill, Iwo Jima, Corregidor or Cabanatuan. So, we try the cease fire, even though we know it will leave evil intact on the other side. There will be another time, but next time, let's remember General Sherman's advice. Make it as hellish for the other side as possible.