War and Chaplains

War and Chaplains

http://www.youtube.com/v/YTrwT3Z57Is&hl=en&fs=1

- War is really a vast open air factory where the hours are long, unions not permitted and safety conditions routinely flouted!
No more people died on this planet then would have died if they were not killed in a war. Only their descendants were eliminated, along with all other future possibilities...

A thought about Army Chaplains in WW1 1916:
A British soldier writes in reference, that the majority of chaplains never made it to the front line trenches; "Why should these men who are so fond of talking about heaven be so afraid to go through it's gates?"

One of the most famous criticized chaplains of this time was Bishop Winnington-Ingrm, known as the bellicose "Bishop of the Battlefields", who had already issued a call to "jihad", urging his fellows to "MOBILIZE THE NATION FOR A HOLY WAR"!
He was the leading voice among those chaplains, who "Prayed for victory and thundered from the pulpits for the enemy to be smitten hip and thigh but did not believe in doing any of the smiting themselves".

George Bernard Shaw remarked with withering scorn, "They have turned their churches into recruiting stations and their vestries into munitions workshops. As it has never occurred to them to take off their black coats and say quite simply, "I find in the hour of trial that the Sermon on the Mount is tosh, and that I am not a Christian. I apologize for all the unpatriotic nonsense that I have been preaching all these years. Please have the goodness to give me a revolver and a commission in a front line regiment!".

On the other hand, there were some chaplains who did bring forth the spirit of Christ on active duty, who were willing from the start to serve along side fighting soldiers in the front lines and tend to the wounded on the battlefield. As one soldier remarked about one of these chaplains, " it made us think a bit more of the chaplain, to see how he walked quietly under fire, assisting the slow-moving wounded".

After all what on earth could a chaplain do in a battle? They are bound to be hit and there was certain to be enough casualties without having a wounded chaplain to attend to," but then this sort criticism did not alter these chaplains determination to do what they felt to be their duty.
There were those who argued that these chaplains, "just threw their lives away!", then again by the same logic one who talked like this, would have said that Jesus squandered His.

A burial prayer for 1916 the chaplain/soldier went like this, "Lord, we thank Thee for the example of this brave man who gave his life for his country. Grant him eternal rest and so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom, Amen."

One other quick note of research that I found of interest, is some of the soldiers who were killed in battle were buried at times by Roman Catholic chaplains if they were Protestant, or by Protestant chaplains if they were Roman Catholic. Buried by both if they were from other religions and as one soldier put it, "I do not suppose that the Great Redeemer cares which chaplain buries what man, just as long as it was done reverently."

Sir Richard (A Civilian Sky Pilot)

http://bayo-hunter.blogspot.com/

Remember Veterans Week November 5th - 11th 2009
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