Mohler's Moral Logic

Speaking of Moral Logic let us consider another of Mohler's moral judgments. Why Mohler? Well, he's considered a respected leading figure in Conservative Christianity. He appears on CNN and NPR. He runs one of the top seminaries in the country and one affiliated with the largest Protestant denomination no less.

He proudly professes to be a leader and he regularly involves himself in political commentary. All of this is supposedly done from a Christian Worldview.

Why pick on him?

In a way Mohler, and he is by no means alone, represents the type of Christian leader that has plagued the Church throughout her history. He is the type of leader that is both respected and praised. While he would argue he's standing for Biblical Truth I would argue he's defending a system, a model and one that has precious little to do with the Kingdom of God. He's the type of man people look up to and yet is actually quite dangerous.

The most dangerous are those who are for the most part standing for sound ideas and Biblical Truth.

I said 'for the most part'.

It's all for naught if standing for the Bible is syncretized with the Counsels of Hell.

It's great that you stand for Biblical Inerrancy but if you use it to promote and condone evil then how does that help the Church?

The most dangerous false gospels are those that more or less express what the Bible teaches but then slip in or add on something... an element which overthrows or undermines the integrity of the Gospel message.

Recently Mohler expressed outrage over Germany's Siemens Corporation and their willingness to do business with Russia's Vladimir Putin. This isn't too surprising. Mohler hates Europe as many American Evangelicals do and criticizes it every chance he gets. In this instance the engineering firm's crime is that they are willing to cut business deals with the likes of Vladimir Putin who Mohler seems to think is the next Hitler.

While I hardly agree with any of his assessments I could certainly tolerate the viewpoint. But not from Mohler. He has no right to critique Siemens or Putin.

Mohler is not just anti-Europe or anti-Putin.

No, in Mohler's world the United States is the 'good' power. And there's nothing more Christian than promoting patriotism and celebrating war as long as it is expressed from a pro-United States position.

Following this line of thinking I guess it should be no surprise that Mohler eagerly praises the recently deceased Jeremiah Denton who was famous for being shot down over North Vietnam and blinking "T-o-r-t-u-r-e" in Morse Code.

Mohler lavishes praise on this 'hero' who helped purchase our freedom and is a moral example of service and leadership.

Really?

This man by bombing North Vietnam made us free? By burning people alive in jungles and smashing cities in a country on the other side of the world... this was service and leadership?

These actions make him a 'hero'?

Remember Mohler says his commentary is distinguished by its Christian Worldview.

Of course to the North Vietnamese this man was part of an ongoing colonial project that after near defeat in 1954 had stolen away half of their country and established a puppet regime. Then when the people resisted the proxy government, the United States responded by unleashing a war that ultimately ravaged three countries and killed millions of people.

Yes it's worth remembering that we wouldn't have been able to watch The Brady Bunch or Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore show if it hadn't been for this effort. We enjoyed these freedoms because the people of Indochina were going to march right over here and destroy our way of life.

They deserved to die.

And of course having lost our freedoms, we Americans wouldn't have been able to 'liberate' the Chileans in 1973 or aid Suharto either as he massacred hundreds of thousands of Indonesians. Our freedom allowed us to engage in those fine projects as well.

In the end the United States failed and Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos all fell to Communist governments. And despite all these grave events, the 'Domino Theory' proved a failure. In fact the USSR and Maoist China almost went to war. It would seem the leaders in Washington didn't understand what was happening, and people like Mohler still don't.

After the Khmer Rouge was ousted by the fellow Communist North Vietnamese (hmmm....) the United States was more than willing to support Pol Pot and his gang of murderers.

I wonder, did Siemens do business with the United States?

Vietnam was fought for nothing and was a moral atrocity. This man that Mohler has elevated as a hero was certainly viewed as a 'baby killer' and criminal by the North Vietnamese and the faction of Americans that still had some notion of Moral Logic agreed with this assessment. They were the only one's willing to tell it like it was.

This would not include Albert Mohler.

It is what it is. Vietnam happened. Men were called upon to engage in an unnecessary, contrived and unlawful war (by any standards)... that's one thing.

But to celebrate it?

I can feel bad for Vietnam Veterans and for what they endured. They have to deal with the consequences of their participation. I can feel a degree of sympathy of an eighteen year old guy who was drafted and felt like it was something he had to do.

The Christian response would have been refusal or flight. And this is what many Christians did.

Sorry Albert Mohler, but they were the heroes.

But I do not feel bad when I seem these veterans proudly donning their Vietnam baseball caps. At that point there's obviously been little reflection and no remorse. When I see those people, I just have to remember that they're lost people who do not know Christ. Of course they're going to put their 'faith' in their nation. This Babel called America is all they've got.

So what's Mohler's excuse?

Albert Mohler and his ilk have learned nothing from the Cold War or history at all for that matter. Blinded by his idolatry for the American Empire and Western Civilization in general he justifies evil deeds and even worse... baptizes them.

He's morally outraged that a German company would do business with Russia?

Is he for real?

But Denton was by no means done. No, this fine figure of Christian manhood who dropped bombs and napalm on peasant farmers who never posed any threat to his country left the military and took up with the likes of Pat Robertson.

Now let's not get confused her. Siemens is really bad for dealing with Putin. But Denton working for Robertson's CBN? No problem.

Robertson is an upright man to be sure. If memory serves he also  had a few overseas friends. Let's see, there's Jonas Savimbi of UNITA. He was a nice guy that the US supported during the Cold War and somewhat after. He was involved in all kinds of nice stuff, child soldiers and blood diamonds.

Then there's Charles Taylor and his wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone. More blood diamonds and child soldiers.

And then there's Robertson's special friend from Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko a dictator so loved that when he was finally challenged in the mid-Nineties it seemed like half of Africa teamed up to run him out of power.

We might also mention Robertson's own involvement in African diamond mines, his misappropriation of funds, his stealing of donations and false prophecies.

But at least he stands for Conservative Christian values, right Mr. Mohler?

These guys are okay but Putin... he's bad and anyone that would do business with Putin is obviously lacking any kind of moral compass or logic.

Denton's still a hero though. Pat Robertson at least helped Republican political causes and helped America's dictatorial and murderous allies overseas. But that's okay because they were helping America.

Of course I too believe in the Inerrancy of the Scriptures and it would seem to me false prophets like Robertson and heretical teachers like Mohler are actually far more of a threat to the Kingdom of God than Ho Chi Minh or Osama Bin Laden ever were.

Maybe that's not true with regard to America but my allegiances are quite clear. I'm not so sure which side Mohler is on.

Well, Denton was tortured. We should admire his courage. He was defiant. He didn't give in.

Right.

Well, unlike Mohler in 2010, we followers of Christ would never condone torture to begin with.  But Mohler and most of the Christian Right certainly did after it was revealed that the Bush administration was engaged in widespread torture at Black Sites all over the world. That was okay. He's careful about it but admits that it might be sometimes necessary.  

Mohler says it might be okay if it's to get information that's really needed.

But when bomber pilots who were killing women and children were captured while in the act... no, that's morally repugnant. They shouldn't be tortured. These men are heroes.

Gaining intelligence from these pilots in order to save more Vietnamese lives... it's just not the same is it?

Would Mohler praise Guantanamo prisoners, many of whom unlike Denton are actually innocent, if they pulled a similar stunt? What if they exposed American torture by blinking it in Morse Code?

Mohler's so-called Christian Worldview beggars belief.

God save us from such leadership and wisdom. His people are perishing from lack of knowledge and the political ear-tickling and flattering words of false prophets and blind guides.

These men offer the 'Gospel' on one level but bathe it in the sewage, lies and violence of The Pit.

In Mohler's world we're saved from our sins in order to bomb, torture, kill and take up with the dregs of humanity to build a nation, venerate a piece of cloth, and make a name for ourselves.

A gospel worthy of Nimrod.