Privates and Generals

[deacon blues]

The LDS Church (and other religions, churches, even cults) often uses war and armies as a metaphor or object lesson to describe how we should view reality: Reality is a war, we are God's army, our side is always good, enemies are always bad, defections are equivalent to casualties.The army/church works best when the chain of command is never challenged.

The problem with this analogy is that history is full of stories of incompetent generals. It is also clear that in this model, privates are more expendable than generals. Losing a general (or a general authority) is a major defeat, while losing a few privates is a tactical move. I like the way the parable of the lost sheep contradicts the "War Metaphor" that is still used. I wish every time a war metaphor is used, a corresponding "Lost Sheep" metaphor, or even "a Band of Brothers" metaphor could be used. Thanks folks.

[Corsair]

A lot of the military motifs in Christianity comes from a long history in Europe where Deus Vult was the slogan that convinced people to join in a military campaign. Several of the crusades recruited people by telling them that this righeous act would guarantee their entrance into heaven. Things did not improve after the Protestant Reformation. One point of the Thirty Years War was the imposition of Roman Catholicism on Protestant parts of Germany. "Onward Christian Soldiers" is a hymn that bothers me. It does not sound like a song that Jesus would ask to sing when He was on the earth.

[Brent]

Just finished reading "Dances With Wolves" and was struck by how at the end Dunbar is explaining to the Comanche that the white man is so angered by traitorous behavior that they will never stop looking for him and will harm the Comanche if they suspect they have aided him.

Thinking on it now Dunbar sees a society unlike his own, the good in it, sees the flaws in his own culture and converts....sound familiar?

[FiveFingerMnemonic]

Just finished reading "Dances With Wolves" and was struck by how at the end Dunbar is explaining to the Comanche that the white man is so angered by traitorous behavior that they will never stop looking for him and will harm the Comanche if they suspect they have aided him.

Thinking on it now Dunbar sees a society unlike his own, the good in it, sees the flaws in his own culture and converts....sound familiar?

As a TBM I once used Dances with Wolves as a joking analogy when inquiring about a friend who left the church. I said "turned injun didn't ya!?".

[Brent]

Just finished reading "Dances With Wolves" and was struck by how at the end Dunbar is explaining to the Comanche that the white man is so angered by traitorous behavior that they will never stop looking for him and will harm the Comanche if they suspect they have aided him.

Thinking on it now Dunbar sees a society unlike his own, the good in it, sees the flaws in his own culture and converts....sound familiar?

As a TBM I once used Dances with Wolves as a joking analogy when inquiring about a friend who left the church. I said "turned injun didn't ya!?".

Just as long as you didn't KO him with a quadruple combo...