What's the point of the Afghan War?

I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan ... I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end.

- Matthew Hoh, a former Marine captain with combat experience in Iraq, in a letter resigning his State Department Foreign Service post in Afghanistan. Afghans, he wrote, are fighting the United States largely because its troops are an unwelcome occupier backing a corrupt national government. (Source: The Washington Post)

Scott Ritter on Afghanistan
"McChrystal Doesn’t Get It, Does Obama?" -- President Obama may have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but if he allows himself to be bullied into supporting Gen. Stanley McChrystal's foray into Afghanistan, he will reveal himself as the worst kind of warmonger.


...McChrystal operates under the illusion that American military power can provide a shield from behind which Afghanistan can remake itself into a viable modern society. He has deluded himself and others into believing that the people of Afghanistan want to be part of such a grand social experiment, and furthermore that they will tolerate the United States being in charge. The reality of Afghan history, culture and society argue otherwise. The Taliban, once a defeated entity in the months following the initial American military incursion into Afghanistan, are resurgent and growing stronger every day. The principle source of the Taliban’s popularity is the resentment of the Afghan people toward the American occupation and the corrupt proxy government of Hamid Karzai. There is nothing an additional 40,000 American troops will be able to do to change that basic equation. The Soviets tried and failed. They deployed 110,000 troops, operating on less restrictive lines of communication and logistical supply than the United States. They built an Afghan army of some 45,000 troops. They operated without the constraints of American rules of engagement. They slaughtered around a million Afghans. And they lost, for the simple reason that the people of Afghanistan did not want them, or their Afghan proxies...

The Victims of Pornography
By Chris Hedges

AP / Jae C. Hong

Adult film stars pose for photos at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.

Hell - a more biblical, believable version

After seeing glimpses of God's glory (in the burning bush and on Mt. Sinai when the radiant "fire" of God's presence appeared), Moses asked the LORD, "Please show me your glory," (implying that he knew there was more to see,
and he'd only seen glimpses of that beautiful, but veiled, glory). Exodus 33:18ff.

God told Moses no man could see his face and live. I take that to mean that a mortal human can't see God in his unveiled glory; it would kill him. We're assured, however, that someday the saints will be made immortal and shall see God's face, i.e., his unveiled glory (Matt.5:8; Rev.22:4). So, God proclaimed his virtuous/glorious character as his fiery glory passed by Moses, who was protected in the cleft of a rock. Again, Moses saw only the veiled glory of God, but he came back down the mountain literally glowing -- like he had some kind of spiritual sunburn. Ex.34:29ff. :-)

In Jesus, we see the glory of God revealed more completely than ever before. And it transforms us. 2 Cor.3:7-18; 4:6. For now, the glory of God's presence resides in our mortality, like a beautiful diamond in a plain clay jar. But someday
all of God's redeemed people will be glorified in a resurrected, immortal form -- a form that's suitable for God's glorious presence.

When Jesus returns "in the glory of his Father" (Matt 16:27), the unveiled glory of God will be visible (in "flaming fire," 2 Thess 1:7), and it will consume those who are not raised immortal (Heb 10:26-27;12:29).

God's unveiled glory will be an awesome, beautiful sight for those who are redeemed and immortal; it will be the Beatific Vision. But for those who have rejected God's truth and grace to the bitter end, it will be too much to endure.

Cf. Isaiah 33:14 (Amplified) The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling seizes the godless ones. [They cry] Who among us can dwell with that devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with those everlasting burnings?

Those who are finally condemned will be destroyed body and soul (Matt 10:28), blotted out of existence, literally, forever. The process of their destruction will last as long as the justice of God determines for each one (Luke 12:47-48); but the result will be total, irreversible, eternal destruction.

Cf. Malachi 4: ¹ "For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ² But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. ³And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the LORD of hosts."

So, considering all of the above, it seems reasonable to me that the "fire," that destroys the ungodly may be the unveiled glory of God. The "destruction" that overtakes them will proceed from the presence [literally "the face"] of the LORD.

They "shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might..."
(2 Thess 1:9 ASV).

^"They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction that comes from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might... " (2 Thess.1:9 ESV alternative reading).

Our God is a consuming fire (Heb.12:29). His holiness and love will finally be seen in unveiled glory throughout all of the universe. God will be "all in all" (1 Cor.15:28). His presence won't have to be mediated to us in a veiled fashion. It will be fully revealed. That will be the greatest thrill of the redeemed and the most fearsome destructive force for the ungodly.

Take their ill gotten gains away

Legal Trouble Spreads to Madoff Family Member

Posted on Oct 2, 2009

AP / Jason DeCrow

Fallen financier Bernard Madoff’s brother, sons and niece are now in legal hot water after a court-appointed trustee filed suit against them on Friday for allegedly pocketing “ill-gotten gains” they received from Madoff’s fraudulent business ventures, according to The Wall Street Journal. —KA

The Wall Street Journal:

The trustee, Irving Picard, alleged in his suit that Mr. Madoff’s brother, Peter, his sons, Andrew and Mark, and his niece, Shana, all received preferential payments or fraudulent funds stemming from Mr. Madoff’s multibillion scheme. These funds enriched the family members, allowing them to fund personal business ventures and purchase homes, boats and cars, the lawsuit says.

Mr. Picard is seeking a return of at least $198,743,299, of which some $141 million was received by the family members in the six months leading up to Mr. Madoff’s arrest on Dec. 11, 2008, the lawsuit says.

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