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A Sure Shot for Jesus--Removing Blind Spots

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Message Grant Lawrence
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Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army....Source: ABC News

I am not sure what the meaning behind the bible codes on the high powered rifle sights. But I guess that the company putting them there must think it will help make the shooter a better shot. Or perhaps the company thinks that it will give the shooters more comfort in their holy work.

Jesus may not be too keen on Bible codes on high powered weapons though. He had this thing about 'turning the other cheek.' I don't think he would think blowing off a person's head with a high powered weapon would qualify.

But being a student of the mind, I find it strange that people can kill others while thinking about the 'Golden Rule' and the 'Love' of God.

Maybe I am just not able to have enough faith.

Still on a deeper level, humans have a tremendous capacity for ignoring inconsistencies in the way their values differ from their behavior and actions. Or perhaps they really have not internalized those values, but actually hold other values that they don't want to admit.

People like to justify their actions and their behaviors and they like to justify themselves. They call upon socially accepted values and proclaim their belief in them. But on another subconscious, or barely conscious level, most people value things that promote their own self wants and desires. They use religion, spirituality and higher values as a way to justify their own selfishness and wants. It is a sophisticated way to do what one wants without having to face up to it.

This blind spot in our motives goes beyond individual behaviors and it includes choices made by groupings of people. Nations and societies like to justify their crude selfish and greedy choices as something higher. They excuse invasions as 'Freedom, they excuse exploitation as 'Liberty,' they excuse war as fighting for 'Peace,' and they excuse all manner of violence and abuse as 'Democracy.'

So the soldiers shooting for Jesus are simply engaging in the same moral blind spot that is being used by the rest of society. One might call this cognitive dissonance, but in general we aren't really bothered by our moral blind spots. Cognitive Dissonance is often strong when we believe something about ourselves and then do something against that belief. If I believe I am good but do something bad, then the discomfort I feel as a result is cognitive dissonance."

Initially, the soldiers shooting for Jesus usually will not feel any discomfort arising from their actions and their beliefs, just like we as a society don't feel any discomfort about the inequities that exist all around us and the War Machine we have created and feed. Unfortunately we are not experiencing much cognitive dissonance as a society.

But our choices are not without consequences both physical and emotional. Many of those shooters for Jesus will come home with PTSDs and may have to face severe emotional difficulties. America presently is in a 'state' of denial as it shoots and bombs for 'freedom' and 'democracy.' Indeed we are a nation built on denial. We have built a society on a denial of our past and our present.

No matter how high-minded we like to think of our actions, if they are based on crude, selfish motives then there will generally be unhelpful consequences. We can move beyond the consequences of our blind spots but it requires real awareness. We have to adopt a mindfulness that looks, uncritically at first, at our thoughts, words, and deeds. Once we take a clear look at our real values and choices then we will not be victims of our self and societal imposed blind spots.

Removing those blind spots will not make us better shooters of men or will not help us invade more countries, but the clarity we see will help us make better and more humane choices.
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