[Search for users] [Overall Top Noters] [List of all Conferences] [Download this site]

Conference lgp30::christian-perspective

Title:Discussions from a Christian Perspective
Notice:Prostitutes and tax collectors welcome!
Moderator:CSC32::J_CHRISTIE
Created:Mon Sep 17 1990
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1362
Total number of notes:61362

836.0. "Bosnia" by CSC32::J_CHRISTIE (On loan from God) Thu Jan 27 1994 20:37

The situation in Bosnia reminds me of Uncle Remus' Brer Rabbit and the
Tar Baby.

We're frustrated by it.  We don't like it and we want to do something
about it, but we know that if we get involved, we'll become hopelessly
enmeshed.

We also know wringing our hands will not make things better, either.

What can we do to help bring about shalom in this volatile region?

Peace,
Richard

T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name
DateLines
836.1JUPITR::HILDEBRANTI'm the NRAFri Jan 28 1994 12:314
    I would send weapons to the Bosnia people so that they could defend
    themselves.
    
    Marc H.
836.2AIMHI::JMARTINFri Jan 28 1994 15:5813
    I don't mean to belittle whats going on over there but I have to ask
    it.  What makes the US have a moral responsibility in Bosnia over the
    24 other hot spots in the world.  I was thinking in particular of 
    Angola.  I vaguely remember learning that Monrovia in Angola was named
    after President Monroe as it was establish as a free colony in the
    17-1800's?  Here is a country torn apart and began under a
    European/American influence and foundation.  
    
    Help me if I got this wrong about Angola.  I see a heart wrenching 
    crumbling society in Bosnia and am not belittling it.  I guess the real
    question is, Where does America draw the line?
    
    -Jack
836.3I'll keep on praying but don't know what else to doCVG::THOMPSONWho will rid me of this meddlesome priest?Fri Jan 28 1994 16:0310
    It seems to me that there is no solution in Bosnia that doesn't
    involve military action. At least unless the combatants decide to
    stop on their own and that's unlikely. Embargoes do not work. And
    worse still they punish the innocent more then the guilty.

    I don't know what the US should do. I don't know what Europe should
    do. But for their own self interest, if nothing else, Europe should
    be doing most of the "fixing" that goes on.

    			Alfred
836.4GRIM::MESSENGERBob MessengerFri Jan 28 1994 16:216
Jack,

Monrovia is in Liberia, not Angola.  Both Angola and Liberia have been
undergoing civil war.

				-- Bob
836.5AIMHI::JMARTINFri Jan 28 1994 16:284
    Thanks, I was thinking there was a 50-50 chance I had the countries
    confused.  
    
    -Jack
836.6Where do we draw the line???CSC32::KINSELLAWhy be politically correct when you can be right?Mon Feb 21 1994 21:3336
    
    Jack raises an interesting question "Where does America draw the line?"
    I think we'd all agree that we can't save the entire world from self-
    destructing.  But we can't just turn our backs either.  War is a
    horrible thing, but it's a reality in this world.  I think we have to 
    try to pick the situations where we really do have a chance in ending 
    the violence quickly.  I remember talking about this over a year ago 
    and there was a debate on whether we should bomb the Serbs one supply 
    route before they could get entrenched.  Then and now that seems like 
    the most logical problem to ending the violence quickly in order to 
    try to give peace a chance.  It wouldn't have been easy.  But it seems 
    that if they could have managed for some fifty years to hold their 
    country together (albeit under an iron fist), there has got to be a 
    way to do it now.
    
    Why Bosnia rather than Monrovia?  I don't know.  I do know that the
    US has more interests in Europe and more allies to work with.  Maybe
    that's the definition of having a chance at a quick ending to the 
    violence.  I don't really know.  Maybe Bosnia is the beaten man on
    the side of the road we're travelling and we're the Good Samaritan.
    I mean look at Somalia.  Gee, we were supposed to be there to deliver 
    food and it turned into a riotous situation to put it mildly.  Sometimes 
    people pick the evil they know rather than the evil they don't know.  
    Maybe because we weren't in a neck of the woods where we are trusted...
    maybe we to alien to them.  I don't know what the US has been asked to 
    do in relation to Monrovia, but I do know we've been asked to help 
    in Bosnia.  I don't think I could turn them away.  Not after the 
    pictures and the stories that I've heard.  I think we have got to 
    find some way to help.  This doing nothing is only allowing more people 
    to be slaughtered.  I remember a statement by Mother Theresa when asked 
    if she felt bad about not being able to help more people.  Her response 
    was "No, I only help the ones God asked me to."  Maybe if we were the 
    Christian nation we once were, we'd know which hot spots we were 
    supposed to be involved in.
    
    Jill