CO process, phase 1

Hey all, I really need to get an update out, and start a small discussion. As most of you probably know thanks to the networking genius of facebook, I’m ENGAGED! Holy crap….I said when I was very young that I’d get married @ 23, that’s so strange in a new age “the secret” kind of way. I’ve met my match, and knew he was just that very early on. Finally- someone who smells worse than I, someone who gets turned on when I fart in his face….oh the love. We plan on marrying on the North Shore in Hawaii on November 11, Veteran’s Day! It will be a very simple ceremony, the exact opposite of what I expected I always wanted in my wedding.

Well, I’d love to update but there will be more time for that later. I’ve got bigger fish to fry at the public “church pitch-in.” Recently, I have decided to apply for official status as a Contentious Objector in the military. I realize now, after 4 years at Bible College, that my faith in God forbids me to kill people, or in my case, train to kill people. I am still wrestling with the issue of whether or not I want to request for complete separation, or remain in the military as a “noncombatant.” Technically, I am in a noncombatant position now as an Admin/Support person. The conflict I am facing is training each year with the rifle, and having to use that weapon should I get deployed to Iraq.

I would be curious to hear from my friends in the Bible College/Scholarly network on this issue of militarism. I already feel strongly that there is no such thing as a “just war.” What I’m struggling with now I think relates just as much to a Christian who finds themselves working for a business whose values conflict with everything the Bible stands for. Can you be part of a system yet spiritually remain pure from what that system stands for?