Post by Bo/Mine Sweeper on Aug 5, 2015 3:42:21 GMT -6
Memes like this one are very popular in Christian and Patriot circles in America, yet they're not actually true. During my 15 years in the army I worked with many other soldiers (the vast majority, in fact) who were either outright atheists or merely religious in their attitudes and beliefs towards God and his Son, Jesus Christ. Since I began in the (mid-1980's) up through today (2015) undoubtedly some of those men and women (later) died in Desert Storm or the other wars against islam our nation has gone through. I know they (the memes) are based on sentiment and seek to honor our dead military personnel (and I'm not trying to dishonor them, either) but the concept of warriors getting automatic entrance into God's heaven is not from the Bible, and would be more of an idea from the time of the Vikings, Valhalla, etc.
We can still say they acted with bravery and died well (and there's no reason not to do that) and that is honorable, but we cannot say where their soul went, after death. That is solely dependent on what they did (or did not) believe, rather than the nature and circumstances of their passage off this plane we know as life on earth. To use a historical example from the last world war, many thousands of japanese soldiers, sailors and marines willingly (and bravely) sacrificed themselves for their nation and Emperor, but did they go on to the place the Bible reveals to us as heaven? No, for they had no belief in Christ as their Savior, though he created them and would have most willingly saved them by his grace, had they believed on him. It is only in the interest of truth that I make these statements, hard though they be.
We can still say they acted with bravery and died well (and there's no reason not to do that) and that is honorable, but we cannot say where their soul went, after death. That is solely dependent on what they did (or did not) believe, rather than the nature and circumstances of their passage off this plane we know as life on earth. To use a historical example from the last world war, many thousands of japanese soldiers, sailors and marines willingly (and bravely) sacrificed themselves for their nation and Emperor, but did they go on to the place the Bible reveals to us as heaven? No, for they had no belief in Christ as their Savior, though he created them and would have most willingly saved them by his grace, had they believed on him. It is only in the interest of truth that I make these statements, hard though they be.