whose water?

[cellio]

There's not much water available in the Iraqi desert, of course, so most soldiers haven't bathed in a long time. According to this article, there's an army chaplain in Iraq who has a large pool of water for use by the soldiers, but there's a catch: they have to get baptised first.

Unless that chaplain personally collected the water without using any army resources (including protection), I hope they kick him out of there. Because in any other case, it's not his water; it's the army's water. And yes, my reaction would be exactly the same if it were a rabbi who required everyone to pray the daily service first, or a Republican who required you to change your voter registration to his party first, or anyone collecting a fee.

I'm all for having folks along with the army who aren't part of the effort but who do provide support services valued by some members of the unit. But when support staff become parasites, it's time for them to go.

Comments

[fiannaharpar.livejournal.com]

I read that same article on ASCF yesterday and was so incredibly livid I couldn't even think straight. I am a Christian, and that is *not* what Christ taught. Christ denied no one food or drink in the story of the Loaves and the Fishes, and the parable of the Good Samaritan is also quite clear in how you are to behave. In Matthew 25 (http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=MATT+25&language=english&version=KJV&showfn=on&showxref=on):34-46 Christ specifically says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." There is no mention in any of the passage that the requirement was that it was to do this only to those who followed Christ. But to do so to all.

Christ said to love *all*, meaning *everyone*, not just people you like and believe the same things that you do. In my opinion, if Christ saw what this so called "Man of God" was doing, it would break his heart that it was being done in His name.

My faith calls me to love all and to serve all in love, because that's what the New Testament is telling me is how Christ lived and wants us to live. While i'm not always successful, it sickens me that someone is using such a powerful message of love and acceptance to manipulate others. I am hoping that this minister's higher ups in the Baptist church denounce his actions and pray that he will better understand Christ's message through self-reflection and God's intervention.

It saddens me that someone who supposedly is my "Brother in Faith" is such a dimwitted, manipulative, clueless human being. I can not bring myself to believe that someone that was actually *thinking* would still do this.

[cellio]

There is no mention in any of the passage that the requirement was that it was to do this only to those who followed Christ. But to do so to all.

Indeed. The message is supposed to be about love (for all, as you said, and not just a select few), and as I understand it one of the highest goals is to emulate Jesus. (Also to do good works in general, yes?)

[fiannaharpar.livejournal.com]

Doing good works in general *is* following Christ's example, and by that emulating him. This minister is failing in that, big time.

I've been trying to find out if anything was done about this idiot, and i'm coming up with nothing. I can't even find who to talk to with the US Army to find out if they are planning to do anything about it. Does anyone here know this stuff?

[magid.livejournal.com]

Looks like something is being done (here (http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/001769.html)). The comments are well worth reading, too.
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[tangerinpenguin.livejournal.com]

There is an open question here of exactly what is going on, and (based on my limited experience) no reason to believe the article characterized it completely correctly. Many branches of Christianity practice baptism by immersion. It's a one time thing, and calling it a "bath" is a pretty substantial exaggeration, although to anyone who had gone several weeks maintaining minimal hygine, any even momentary dunking is probably meaningful in an a not strictly spiritual sense. If that's all that's happening, and he's "advertising" this by emphasizing the fact that you get dunked rather than the spiritual value, it's a lot different than if he's saying you get a pool pass for the day and all you can drink if you get baptized. Still too much the "OK, I'll give you a WHOLE LOLLIPOP if you'll go to Sunday School" approach to reconcile fully with my sense of honest Christianity, but some of the writeups on this are, I suspect, giving him credit for a lollipop that is much bigger and less neccessarily implicit in baptism anyway than what's going on, on the strength of a journalist who's motivated to get cute with his angle so that a fluff piece with no real bearing on the news would sound interesting enough to get published.