군대의 성사

군대의 성사

A Korean friend and a Saudi friend both, at independently different times, brought up the idea of military editions of the Scriptures. The LDS church has the red covered, handheld set provided for those soldiers who are CO-J-COLDS. And, in terms of just the Bible and the Protestants, there are numerous editions for military use, especially the HCLSB, which have specific editions for the different branches of Armed Forces. I have seen KJV military Bibles and the U.S. Armed Forces Military Bible. And, there are stories of NIV special editions for Special Ops soldiers. These Bibles are everywhere─issued to soldiers who want to find comfort with God in times of harsh times and stressful, depressing encounters with death. 

The US government issuing such Scriptures brings hope to many believers in the west, but to those outside of America, the idea of special Bibles for American soldiers is a strange, almost scary, idea. 

Going to the Mosque near my apartment for the Quran study group, this topic came up among two Saudis, two Americans (me included), an Ethiopian, an Iraqi, and a Tajikistani. The whole conversation started when we were making a comparison between Moses as represented in the Quran and Moses as represented in the Bible, mainly in terms of Moses going against God’s Wishes and striking the rock. The Muslims didn't even know that Moses was in the Bible. They were curious about what I said about Moses from the Bible and they wanted to see the references in the Bible, so I brought out the Marine Bible my former student had given me (in the next post). This caused some interest and a little fear from those in the group. The conversation turned to the idea that Bibles were made for the different branches of American Armed Forces.

So… I started thinking about this idea. 

Iraqi Special Operations Forces (ISOF) (قوات العمليات الخاصة العراقية‎) was organized by the Coalition Forces and aid in helping the Allied Forces during the ongoing struggle in Iraq. 

There might not be much contention against an organization of this kind of allied forces unit, but if they are issued military editions of Qurans, would that be okay? 

In Israel, there is Unit 669 (יחידת החילוץ והפינוי בהיטס) and considering that Israel is America's ally, the idea of this highly trained unit potentially being issued Torahs may not seem that bad, but to the Iraqi and the two Saudis in the group, this was scary and tantamount to religious war. And... well… many people around me opposed Israel.

Iran's special-forces unit has been deemed a terrorist organization by the United States. The Quds Force (نیروی قدس) is what they go by and since Iran is an Islamic state, they use the Quran as they train and study to become better soldiers. The Quran guides them and influences them. 

If they are issued Qurans, would this be okay? How would it be different from the US Marines being issued Bibles?