Major Mike's Musings» Blog Archive » Why Would Jesus Not Waterboard?

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August 7th, 2007 by Mike

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In response to an earlier post, where I defended waterboarding as not being torture¹, my sister-in-law, Georgette, asks, “Would Jesus Waterboard?”

An excellent question.

I first answered, “No. But then Jesus already knows the truth so He wouldn’t have to waterboard anyone to get it.” To which she asks, “Is that the only reason he would not waterboard?”

No. Here are two more reasons²:

First, Jesus preached, “Love your enemy,” in the Sermon on the Mount.

You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.³

So I don’t believe Jesus would inflict pain on his enemies, even the mild psychological pain that waterboarding does.

Second, Jesus’ mission was to die at the hands of his Enemy, Satan, in order to provide humankind a way back to God. In allowing Himself to be crucified, Jesus provided forgiveness to all, even to His enemies. No, I don’t think Jesus would waterboard those whom he was meant to save.

OK, so there are three reasons why Jesus might not waterboard. What other reasons are there, do you think?

- - - - - footnotes - - - - -

I was not addressing the moral issue of waterboarding [↩]
Out of many, I suppose [↩]
Matthew 5:43-45 [↩]

9 Responses

Yo Kid writes:
August 7th, 200711:07at

Here’s how far away my brain is from this topic: when I saw the word “waterboard” I thought of Hawaii and wondered why Jesus wouldn’t want to hang out on Maui.

So, on to the question at hand. I think Jesus plays a huge, gigantic, unimaginable game way above the flow of the daily life we live in; waterboarding would be entirely irrelevant to anything Jesus would be “about.”
bb writes:
August 7th, 200715:22at

What is waterboarding? Isn’t that done on surf?
georgette writes:
August 7th, 200720:11at

Hi Yo Kid (Stacey)
You’re right Jesus does hang out on Maui. I’ve seen him there with his brothers Buddha and Muhammed.
And you are so right, waterboarding is far away from anything a truly compassionate being would be involved in.
My favorite reasons Jesus would not water board are numerous.
And I believe he would say, May all the children of the universe be PEACEFUL…May they all be HAPPY…May all beings be SAFE…May they AWAKEN to the light of their TRUE NATURE…May all be FREE… Doesn’t’ leave a lot of room for torture.
Love U
This is fun
Scoop writes:
August 7th, 200721:59at

Would Jesus waterboard? I think it’s a simple no: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
georgette writes:
December 4th, 200722:16at

Who ever explained water boarding as mild psychological pain?
Mike writes:
December 5th, 200700:26at

I said that. My “captors” told me, after my waterboarding session where I refused to give anything but my name, rank, serial number, and date of birth, that the next step was to put a pistol to my head and threaten me. (They did that later and when I refused to talk they said, “We would have shot you, stupid.”) Now, those of you who know me, know I’m not that brave, so waterboarding must not be as big a deal as folks are making of it.
georgette writes:
December 5th, 200722:24at

Interesting.
Have you ever wondered what your response would have been if you were in a Abu Ghraib type place and not in SERE school? I can’t imagine the experience anywhere.

What do you think of John McCains position on torture techniques (like waterboarding)? Think he is just making a “big deal” of his experiences? I kinda like the guy. He’s not to bad for a Republican.

Hey you guys are cruisin again??? I just saw the little countdown gizmo on your page.
Where u goin? Have fun.
Say hi to my sis for me.
luv u
Mike writes:
December 6th, 200716:35at

What happened at Abu Graib was unconscionable. The things they did there were humiliating to the prisoners and were for no purpose but to humiliate them.

I’ve wondered what my response to waterboarding would be had I been in a North Vietnamese prison camp like John McCain was. I’m sure he wasn’t waterboarded in prison camp (probably was in SERE school), but he was really tortured. One of the things they did was to tie his hands behind his back, then tie his elbows together behind his back. If that wasn’t bad enough, they then tied a loop around his wrists (hands and elbows still tied) and hoisted him off the floor until his shoulders dislocated.

Considering that, I can certainly understand why he’s against any kind of physical or psychological interrogation techniques including waterboarding. I just don’t honestly know if I’d be against or for all forms of these techniques in spite of the soul searching I’ve done on the subject.

And I certainly don’t have anything against folks who are opposed to waterboarding on moral grounds or because they’ve given the matter lots of thought and concluded that waterboarding is torture. It just irks me that a host of folks are against it because it’s politically expedient to do so (I know a few people like that) or they have reach their conclusion because somebody else told them what to think.
————————————–
Anyway, I’ve always liked McCain. I kind of thought he’s been liberal leaning until Giuliani and Romney got into the race. At least McCain has not changed his stand on the issues in order to cater to the conservative side of the Republican party.
—————————————
Yep, just a couple of days until the cruise. We’re going with a bunch of folks who work Operation Shoebox. Should be lots of fun. We’re going Carnival for the first time.

Char says, “Hi!”

Love you, too. Hugs to Myron & Lori.
georgette writes:
December 6th, 200721:08at

Oh my CARNIVAL… I’m confused I thought carnival was celebrated at the beginning of lent?
It will be very fun!! Be careful you know how we Portagees act when we start dancing and drinking.
I’m pretty sure we are not into waterboarding so its ok.
On a different note,as far as the folks that disagree with torture because it is politically expedient or someone told them what to think, they need to hang out with different friends. But we have the same thing on the other side, backers of torture “enhanced interrogation techniques” because the party leader issues an order allowing it. These being but not limited to
Waterboarding (until 2006)–Sensory deprivation–Hooding–Beating–Burning–Electrocution–Stripping prisioners naked–Forcing prisioners to perform or mimc sexual acts–Mock Executions–Use of Dogs–Subjection to hypothermia–Withholding food, water or medical treatment. Sounds unbelievable but that is what our government has been allowed to do. I shudder to think we actually do these things. We have a lot of undoing to do somewhere, sometime, somehow.

I congratulate those that take the moral ground on torture. I believe they are practicing compassion.

Regarding those that believe it is alright to harm one another,I try patience and hold nothing against those that believe differently than I.

Although I have never been subjected to anything close to torture “practice” in SERE school or “real” torture in Vietnam or Abu G or Gitmo or other undisclosed secret prisons in this world of ours, I know fully well this is unacceptable to me. I don’t need to suffer to know it is wrong. But, that is me and my belief system. Heck I carry bugs outside so not to harm them. This practice lessens my suffering in a wierd way. Crazy to some but true to me.

Have fun cruisin’.

“Peace is not the absence of violence it is the manifestation of human compassion”

Oh yeah, Mitt’s hair is just to perfect.