Crossposted at Street Prophets
I found this link through DucttapeFatwa’s diary here on Booman Tribune:
God told me to invade Iraq, Bush tells Palestinian ministers
President George W. Bush told Palestinian ministers that God had told him to invade Afghanistan and Iraq – and create a Palestinian State, a new BBC series reveals.
Bush is a scary, scary man.
Nabil Shaath says: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I’m driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, “George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.” And I did, and then God would tell me, “George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq …” And I did. And now, again, I feel God’s words coming to me, “Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East.” And by God I’m gonna do it.'”
At least when these guys were on a mission from God, it was funny.
One thing I have noticed about the stories in the Bible about God talking to people and giving them a mission of some sort, is that they are usually reluctant at first. Moses is told that he will lead the people, and he tries to beg out of it–“You don’t want me. I’d be no good at that sort of thing. I’ve got this stutter, you know.”
Jonah, as my kids learned in the Veggie Tales movie, was told “Go to Ninevah.” Jonah says, “Gotcha!” and promptly sets sail–in the opposite direction.
Whether these stories literally happened, or are an allegorical expression of the faith experience of a people, what stands out to me is the fact that God is often seen commissioning people to do things they find difficult. Challenging. Scary. Seemingly impossible, or at least implausible.
God, at least in my experience, seems pretty unlikely to say, “Attack Iraq, kill thousands of people, get oil contracts for your rich friends.” I don’t think Bush needed any higher power to tell him to do that. But apparently he needs to invoke a higher power to justify it.
Who does God call, and for what purpose? And what does the call sound like…or feel like? Susan B. Anthony once said,
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.
That quote reflects my thinking to some extent. Again, in the Bible, we really don’t see examples of God calling an individual for some person, where the person says, “Cool! That’s what I was planning to do anyway, but now I’ve got your Divine Stamp of Approval. That’s really going to come in handy!”
If you believe in a divine entity, who offers us guidance in some way when we are looking for it, how does that happen? What does it look like, feel like, or sound like to you?