Saturday, March 26, 2022
of Serious Thoughts: Putin's War--The Hand of Cane
Friday, March 18, 2022
Putin's War--The Hand of Cane
Ukraine wants to be part of NATO. NATO is the alliance of democratic nations who agree to mutually support each other if attacked by a rogue nation. Putin does not want Ukraine in NATO and has chosen to call a war to mercilessly attack Ukraine to prevent its joining. This is not Russia’s war, it is Putin’s. Putin controls his nation’s communications so Russians don’t have access to the truth. The US and other NATO nations are doing all they can to support Ukraine short of sending troops—as that would trigger WWIII. We all know this much.
What calls for a closer look is that a world war would immediately become a nuclear war. The world stockpile of nuclear weapons is estimated to roughly be 12,700 warheads. 90 percent of that is held between Russia and the US in more or less equal amounts. Do we realize what a terminal danger this world is in? We have created the possibility of destroying the earth as we know it!
In Deuteronomy 30:15 God’s words are quoted as: “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so your children may live.” Living by God’s laws is simply, ‘Do to others as you would want done to you’. Later Jesus added, ‘Love your enemies’. Living by God’s laws promises life; opposing those laws spells death. . . and that is true, whether or not you believe in a God.
The Bible story of Cane and Able tells of older brother, Cane, who out of jealousy, kills his brother Able. It is a cautionary tale.
On March 16th Pope Francis led a meeting of students in St. Peter’s Basilica at which he read a beautiful prayer by Archbishop Battaglia:
“Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, we implore you to stop the hand of Caine; enlighten our conscience, let not our will be done, do not abandon us to our own doing.
Stop us, Lord, stop us, and when you have stopped the hand of Caine, take care of him also. He is our brother.
Forgive us if, not content with the nails with which we pierced your hand, we continue to drink from the blood of the dead torn apart by weapons.
Forgive us if these hands that you had created to protect, have been turned into instruments of death.”