Thoughts on War, part 7

Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it? Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This man could not finish what he started to build.’ Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand? And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14: 28-33

We are four weeks into the US/Israel War with Iran, and this scripture keeps echoing in my head. Because war has historically been the LAST option for us - after diplomacy, negotiations, discussions between major players , justifications to the American people and to the world and approval from our elected representatives in the House and Senate - entering a war SHOULD be a process of counting the cost. Not only the financial cost, but the cost of military and civilian lives, the cost of rebuilding after destruction of towns, villages and cities, and the loss of industries for decades after the war ends. In those deliberations, in normal times, there is consideration about how a war effort will affect the economy, the daily lives of our people and - in the case of any operation in the Middle East - gas prices.

I must ask, did anyone in leadership count the cost of this war? Did anyone consider the ramifications of destroying the infrastructure of refineries and waterways used to move oil from the Middle East out into the world? Did anyone consider that strikes within the country would also hit civilian targets like schools, hospitals and marketplaces? Did anyone consider that rising gas prices would negatively affect an already vulnerable American economy?

And if they did consider all those factors, did they share their justifications with the House and Senate or the American people? Luke’s Jesus says it best:

Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand? And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace.