God Bless the USA inscribed on munitions

[JohnL]

Then there are the “messages” written on bombs and other munitions by the Muslims and during WWII by the Germans and the Japanese. It’s part of the mindset of combatants in war time and all sides do it. Is it right? I don’t think so. But I also don’t think it’s right to accuse only one side of doing it when they all do it with or without permission of the leadership.

Did you serve in the military?

Out of those commenting here on hearsay unofficial practice I would be the only one in a position to have actually spoken to service members who did or did not.

While I admit to having no first hand experience with this, I know the military and how it works. The act of nose art and the various laws/regulations that have popped out illustrates that graffiti is something that happens. To argue that Japan, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Muslim countries do it while the US doesn’t is nothing short of propaganda.
Can you point to any official statement or evidence that any of these countries required it or encouraged it? I doubt it but even if you could that doesn’t negate the US doing the same on occasion unofficially. To argue otherwise is making US servicemen something they most assuredly are not.

You've completely misunderstood what I said. Try rereading it again. I have family who served in WWII and family serving now in the Middle East. So yes, I do know what is going on.

I don't read JohnL's post as making the claim that any country officially required or encouraged it. In fact, I think he's saying basically the same thing you are.

Thank you!

[Bootstrap]

Aren't lots of Christians and Jews saying we are supposed to hate and fear Muslims?

I think it's a problem when we do it too.

Who is saying this? I haven't seen that.

Wife: I’ve had family members say this or something pretty close to it. At one point, one of them insisted that Muslims could not be saved because they came from the line of Ishmael. I don’t know where she stands on it at this point, but I know that another family member of mine at one point was sure Islam was the antichrist, and was very strong about them being the enemy, and figured that most of the ones that repented were doing it to trick people/marry Christian wives, and then bring them back to Islam. I don’t know if they’ve changed at all since the last time we talked about it since we try not to get on that subject, but I do know that they didn’t think their child would want to go to any event that had a Muslim lady at it (event in question was a meet up for disabled people, and one of the disabled happened to be Muslim.)

So I don’t know if anybody would actually straight up say we are supposed to hate Muslims, but I do think that it is not uncommon to see, although most often (from what I’ve seen) from Christians that barely attend church.

And I think that is also true of Muslims. Few Muslims would say they hate Christians. Clearly, there is violence in the Bible and in the Quran, but that does not mean that most Christians or most Muslims promote violence against people of the other faith.

Which ... is not surprising. Remember that the Ku Klux Klan always said they do not teach hate. We are usually blind to our own hate. And hypersensitive to what feels like hate from their side.

[Bootstrap]

I did some research before I turn to my brother regarding inscribing bombs with “God bless the USA” because that was really disturbing. My results so far:

“Based on the provided search results, there is no evidence that the US military officially inscribes bombs with the phrase "God Bless the USA.

But some photos of bombs with handwritten messages have gone viral. Some people treated them as patriotic, others found them disturbing. I find them disturbing.

So the issue isn’t whether it’s official. It's not. But when photos like these go viral, they still affect the way some Muslims perceive us.

And I think your point still stands: what reflects Christ is love, forgiveness, and self-sacrifice.

[Ernie]

So I don’t know if anybody would actually straight up say we are supposed to hate Muslims, but I do think that it is not uncommon to see, although most often (from what I’ve seen) from Christians that barely attend church.

And I think that is also true of Muslims. Few Muslims would say they hate Christians. Clearly, there is violence in the Bible and in the Quran, but that does not mean that most Christians or most Muslims promote violence against people of the other faith.

I agree that this is the case currently. But was there a time when this was not the case?

[Soloist]

Then there are the “messages” written on bombs and other munitions by the Muslims and during WWII by the Germans and the Japanese. It’s part of the mindset of combatants in war time and all sides do it. Is it right? I don’t think so. But I also don’t think it’s right to accuse only one side of doing it when they all do it with or without permission of the leadership.

Did you serve in the military?

Out of those commenting here on hearsay unofficial practice I would be the only one in a position to have actually spoken to service members who did or did not.

While I admit to having no first hand experience with this, I know the military and how it works. The act of nose art and the various laws/regulations that have popped out illustrates that graffiti is something that happens. To argue that Japan, Germany, Russia, Ukraine and Muslim countries do it while the US doesn’t is nothing short of propaganda.
Can you point to any official statement or evidence that any of these countries required it or encouraged it? I doubt it but even if you could that doesn’t negate the US doing the same on occasion unofficially. To argue otherwise is making US servicemen something they most assuredly are not.

You've completely misunderstood what I said. Try rereading it again. I have family who served in WWII and family serving now in the Middle East. So yes, I do know what is going on.

I don't read JohnL's post as making the claim that any country officially required or encouraged it. In fact, I think he's saying basically the same thing you are.

Thank you!

As I said, I did misunderstand you. Thank you and Ken for clarifying what you were actually saying.

[JohnH]

Wife: I’ve had family members say this or something pretty close to it. At one point, one of them insisted that Muslims could not be saved because they came from the line of Ishmael.

That's horrible!

So I don’t know if anybody would actually straight up say we are supposed to hate Muslims, but I do think that it is not uncommon to see, although most often (from what I’ve seen) from Christians that barely attend church.

It is true there is a certain constituency of people who are sort-of Christian but don't attend church and may have a bunch of divergent beliefs.

[Bootstrap]

So I don’t know if anybody would actually straight up say we are supposed to hate Muslims, but I do think that it is not uncommon to see, although most often (from what I’ve seen) from Christians that barely attend church.

And I think that is also true of Muslims. Few Muslims would say they hate Christians. Clearly, there is violence in the Bible and in the Quran, but that does not mean that most Christians or most Muslims promote violence against people of the other faith.

I agree that this is the case currently. But was there a time when this was not the case?

The Crusades are one clear example, but there are others.

There have been times on both sides when religion got tied to political power and violence against the “other” was justified. Even then, not everyone went along with it.

[JohnH]

The Crusades are one clear example, but there are others.

I've found it interesting when people cite something that was literally a millenium ago.

I also find it interesting contrasted against what the Muslim world was doing, which was basically engaging in endless wars of conquest.

[temporal1]

.. gone viral. ..

It’s up to consumers to become sophisticated-enough to understand, “viral” is “just viral”, not the Word of God.

“Viral” is another form of historical “news” reporting, which generally features UNCOMMON, even freakish, incidents.
What is normal and common is generally ignored, esp in “news” reporting. (msm included, of course.)

Most of all, peace doesn’t sell. Pot-stirring is profitable. Don’t take the bait.

i look forward to more sophistication/discernment in consumers wrt the internet, tech, social media.
“More” is not sophistication. It’s just more.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/diction ... istication
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discernment

If graffiti on munitions “goes viral” - that’s a clue that it’s overall shocking, unwanted, offensive, freakish.
Careers are built on that very formula.

[barnhart]

So I don’t know if anybody would actually straight up say we are supposed to hate Muslims, but I do think that it is not uncommon to see, although most often (from what I’ve seen) from Christians that barely attend church.

Right. There’s a need to know their agenda, they do have one (if you listen to the testimonies of former Muslims) that is not the same thing as hating them.

Is not hating the standard Jesus raises?