Sandy wrote:None of this is new, including North Korea's threats to fire missiles into the water around Guam. What's different is that we've always had a president with the maturity and common sense to read the signals for what they were, and handle them on that basis. Now we don't, and that's a real problem. Thanks, Keith, for the missile defense information. That clarifies a lot of what I've read the past few days.
So here's the United States taking a position that puts millions of people in countries that are supportive allies at risk because our president can't handle a little bit of taunting, and doesn't have an intelligent grasp of the situation. Wonder what Biblical justification his evangelical supporters can come up with for this.
Well I do not fault Trump (on this matter). Kim Jong Un needs to be warned explicitly, imo. Any response should be proportional. But claiming truly that the US has a very big stick, is appropriate.
True, South Korea and Japan could get bombarded with convention and perhaps nuclear/biological warheads in any exchange. But I do not see that that would be our fault. It is a touchy situation, I don’t trust Trump to make the right decision as much as say Obama or Bush, but I can’t fault him to date (on this matter).
As far as Jeffress (Trump’s most vocal “evangelical” supporter) goes, he is an demagogue pandering to a RW religious fringe. He claims biblical support but misuses it badly.
Using Romans 13:1-7 to support a particular action (pre-emptive strike) by a government official (before he even makes it) is not valid exegesis to say the least. Better biblical response is to support the government leaders (when possible) and obediently and honestly pay taxes (Romans 13:6-7). I’ll add (from a broader biblical perspective) we should promote fairer/more effective tax systems and challenge bad government officials when they are obviously acting badly - save those complaints for when they we are quite sure they are in the wrong (Trump’s strong words directed at Kim Jong Un is not one of those times, imo). Trump's inadequate response to Charlottesville is one of those.