In 1964 the US was the world leader, the city on a hill, the light of the world. The country was financially solid, militarily at the top of our game, way ahead even of the USSR in nuclear weapons and unassailable, An example to the world. But how did we handle that responsibility?
How would we react? We were as patient and kind as we could reasonably be of course, an example of how a powerful nation would handle a potential conflict with a smaller nation. Investigate it and consult with the lessor nation to see what could be done to resolve it. Visibility had been poor as for the umpteenth time the US had sent a destroyer along the coast of Vietnam, possibly far enough away from the shore, checking on radar and radio installations.
Both sides denied having fired the 'first shot' but given that the CIA had repeatedly sent teams up into North Vietnam and eventually bought some fast boats and mounted guns on them and fired at the radar station, the information was available to the President that we had started it, in theory. North Vietnamese patrol boats had launched torpedoes it appeared. Subsequently a bullet was found stuck in the sheet metal of the destroyer USS Maddox. This was photographed and this photo with an account of the conflict was presented to Congress and the Senate voted 88-2 to respond, and the House 416-0.
So started the war that just went on growing until we had killed 1.2 million Vietnamese combatants, 2 million Vietnamese civilians, and some others. Some lucky ones were blown to bits but others were burned alive or just got lots of burns or died from Agent Orange, and that included some GIs there too. Maybe we prayed for the ones we killed, maybe we didn't. Maybe we prayed for their souls, or maybe we didn't. That was our testimony for the Lord when we were the light of the world.
So, what's your idea? To repent means to 'turn around' or ;turn away', not rip your scalp out. For example, if you smoke, to 'repent' simply means quit smoking.
Traditional repentance has been based on sack cloth and ashes. You can get a custom suit and tie made from sack cloth if that better suits your lifestyle.
Everyone has something of which to repent. But in regards to the start of the Viet Nam war, eighty percent of Americans today weren't yet born. As for the war, the north and south VN would have fought even without our participation. It's my understanding that we supported the south to help them combat the communist supported north to stanch the spread of communism.
I am confused. With the title and the poll, I assumed this thread was about the need for repentance, but instead it turns out to be a history lesson about Vietnam.
In what culture? And why should we go back in Middle Ages mode? People used to burn witches alive and stone puffs to death. Should we go back to that?
We messed up badly......... ...... near death experiencer and former Atheist Howard Storm explains this brilliantly.......... https://near-death.com/howard-storm-nde/ Howard Storm’s Near-Death Experience BY KEVIN WILLIAMSPOSTED ON SEPTEMBER 26, 2019 One of the reasons why I take NDE accounts so seriously... is it is like the experiencer all of a sudden seems to connect with Einstein level understanding and wisdom.........!!!!!
You quoted from John 8 so I used an example that goes back about that far, the ashes on Ash Wednesday. Repenting in sackcloth and ashes is mentioned in Genesis when Jacob thought his son Joseph had died, in the Book of Jonah it was how the population of Nineveh repented, David mourning for his son Abner, and in Esther. And yes, we do still burn people alive, in WW2 and Vietnam it was with napalm but now we use something similar in a bomb called Mark 77, though less frequently.
I was busy so I stopped at 4 posts, but I think it took four short posts to produce a rational picture of a key event that started the war in Vietnam and to describe how it grew without good cause from a molehill into a mountain. The war in Ukraine is much the same but we don't have the benefit of as much hindsight on it as we do with Vietnam, that's why I often choose Vietnam for an object lesson in how we can nurture a possible disagreement into a big war.
That was an explanation used at the time for bombing both northern and southern Vietnam. The basic explanation the US public likes is how we stand up for the underdog, and that is a variant of the David/Goliath story, that the US sides with David against Goliath. It works everywhere. Take the current proxy war in Ukraine. The US with NATO, 32 or so countries in total with 25 times the GDP of Russia, are united in standing up to Russia. Where Russia is identified as Goliath, and little tiny Zelenskyy as David.
David had the power of God who is greater than the United States. I think we had an agreement with Ukraine that if they gave up their nukes, we'd help them in war. So it isn't about helping the little guy. It's about a safer world and avoiding nuclear exchanges.
Sorry, I was a bit too blunt; divorces can be complicated especially when it comes to who gets the nukes.
It was necessary to consider the war in Vietnam because we now have a good perspective on it, and certain information once secret is now available. Once Secret Who fired the first shot? Both the US Navy and the Vietnamese denied it. We now know both where right. The three fast boats were operated by the CIA and fired the first shots. The US public has no need to feel guilty. We did not have any involvement in starting the war, we didn't even know what the CIA was doing. And of course we didn't approve it.
Why stop there? How about the nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How about abolishing the gold standard in 1971 and coning billions of people around the world? $35 per ounce then vs $2700 today - it's the biggest scam there is and the USA should practice 'Ash Wednesday' for decades. REPENT, America.
True. But they will soon be in Kazan discussing how to make a new world, and I don't think they will be able to fit the US into it, at least not at first. And never with the G W Bush / J Biden / Kamala Neocons, who rob the world blind and then insist on running it.
To the Neocons war is the answer to every question. Most of the world doesn't think that way. With D.T. and R F K jr. the US can get into step with the rest of the world but only if the Neocons don't start a big or nuclear war before Jan 20th.
