Choosing Sides
I’ve kind of been avoiding asking God about any of the really big questions. Part of it is being afraid of the answers I might get, but even more, I’ve been afraid that if I ask the wrong things that’ll be the end of it. God will stop stopping by. But the never ending troubles in the Mideast finally got the better of me and I asked God how he chooses sides in wars. He said he doesn’t. Ever. It’s like negotiating with terrorists, once you start, it just encourages them.
“Not even in World War Two?” I asked.
Not even then. God said that if he had taken sides, did I really think that there’d have been that many dead soldiers?
He told me my Mom had it right when she taught me that two wrongs don’t make a right and that goes for war too.
So I asked whether he preferred ice cream to frozen yogurt. We went back and forth about the merits of each of them. I don’t think I ever did get an answer to the basic question, but I do remember that God said it was a sad day when Haagen Dazs stopped saying “made only with” instead of “ingredients” on their packaging.
[…] So in the U.S. today is Memorial Day. A day to remember and honor those soldiers who have died fighting in war, serving their country whether it was right or wrong. Bearing this in mind I couldn’t help but think of the song “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition.” To a certain extent, this song comes out of the expectation that God takes sides in wars. Here in the U.S. it’s widely touted that God is on our side every time we go to war. Now last October (in Choosing Sides), God told me that he never takes sides in war. Today I asked him how that applied to the fallen soldiers. If he doesn’t take sides, where does that leave them? […]