[Armagan]

Should a Christian go to war?

This question has caused a lot of division in the body of Christ. Should a Christian go to war where he might kill other people when the Bible says to “turn the other cheek” (Luke 6:28)? Is it right to do war against others or does the Bible forbid it?
War is a state of declared, open, and armed conflict between two or more nations. It is sometimes undertaken in self defense as when the U.S. entered WWII as a result of Japan attacking Pearl Harbor. Other times, however, nations unjustly go to war to take spoils from other countries. Murder, on the other hand, is an unlawful taking of life and is always wrong. When nations go to war, it is declared lawful by the countries going to war — sometimes for moral reasons and other times for immoral reasons. Therefore, and immoral war could be considered a form of murder where a moral war could be in self defense. But not all war is wrong.
It is difficult to determine when war would be a righteous endeavor given that leaders of nations are not Christian and could easily have ungodly reasons for going to war. Nevertheless, war is an unfortunate reality in this world and it causes great destruction, misery, and loss of life. It should be avoided if possible and undertaken only as a last resort.
The Bible teaches that we have the right to self defense Exodus 22:2: “If the thief is caught while breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guiltiness on his account.” The Bible also tells us to protect the innocent, Deut. 19:10, “So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, and blood guiltiness be on you.” Also, see “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin,” (Deut. 24:16). If we were to apply these principles to war, I would conclude that war is justifiable when it is in self defense and/or when it is to protect the innocent. Therefore, a Christian could rightfully engage in war given those conditions.

More on war

We can see that war is not a sin in itself since in the Old Testament God sends people into war:

• “Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, ⁵¹“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵²then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; ⁵³and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it,” (Num. 33:50-53).

In fact, God uses war as a means of disciplining nations.

• “I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses, And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord,” (Amos 4:10).

Also, the Lord is called a warrior.

• “The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name. ⁴“Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea,” (Exodus 15:3-4).

From this we can easily conclude that going to war is not a sin. That is, if it complies with the biblical instructions of self-defense and protection of the innocent.
Furthermore, Christians are instructed to be in subjection to the governing authorities whose establishment is from God. This establishment has the right to declare war and to punish its citizenry, even by capital punishment.

• “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. ²Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. ³For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; ⁴for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil,” (Rom. 13:1-4).
• “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, ¹⁴or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right,” (1 Peter 2:13).

Finally, notice that when some soldiers approached John the Baptist and inquired about repentance. John did not tell them to stop being soldiers, but to do their jobs properly, honestly.

• “And some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages,” (Luke 3:14).

From all of this, we can see that going to war is not wrong it itself and that a Christian can go to war under the right circumstances.

[Anonim]

This is a very delicate issue, indeed… There is a classic book regarding this so serious issue. It is an old book, downloadable freely nowadays. Below is an adress from where it can downloaded (go to the blue color texted ‘e book pdf’, right click on it and then click ‘download source’ in the appearing Windows scroll):

http://oll.libertyfund.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticfile=show.php%3Ftitle=648

[Anonim]

Well…I think religions directly lead to war by seperating people into various religions and even branches in religions themselves…I.e., Catholic christians consider themselves as a total different religion than the Orthodox Branch.Same thing can also be said for the Protestant Church.Could anyone tell me why people think so ? Another example for another religion..Well, Shia believers don’t like Sunnites, which are two branches of Islam..And they even fought 500 years ago, which happened between Ottomans and Persians.Jewish traditions have a totally different religious view, like zionism, which makes them the only race that can bargain with the (so-called) God-don’t get me wrong, this is because i don’t believe in god-.And this makes me write this.
Thanks for reading.

[Anonim]

Dear Marty Rock,

I am a Turkish Cypriot and an ex-Moslem. I went to UK in 1971 for my studies. One day, when my heart and mind was a million miles away from the Lord, when I was taken up by the pleasures of this world, I went to see a movie with my girlfriend. I was too busy enjoying her company, when the Lord spoke to me, to my heart, through a few words that were spoken in that film. The film was called “The Cross and the Switchblade”. The Lord Jesus manifested His presence to me, I cried all night and gave my heart to Him. I encountered the Living God. This was not a one-off thing, because His presence continued with me ever since (38 yrs.)

Similarly, a Greek Cypriot who was an Orthodox and whose name is Yannagis (John) also went to UK in 1971 for his studies. His mind and heart was also after the pleasures of this world and whatsoever the Devil could offer to keep us in sin and in rebellion against the Almighty. One day when he was walking along with a friend of his, they have noticed two pretty girls going into a church building and they went in after them and sat just behind them. But a few minutes later, when everybody got up and started to sing a hymn; the words of the hymn touched his heart, and he wept bitterly, calling upon the Lord to save him. He also gave his life to Jesus.

Now, why am I telling you all these? Please notice that, both of us had invisible, man made labels on our foreheads. One said “Greek Cypriot and Orthodox” and the other “Turkish Cypriot and Moslem”. As I have already said, these were man made labels. Two groups of people who in general, hate one another. Two peoples who had war with one another. And what did the world say? And how did they see the event? Headlines read “Christians and Moslems are fighting in Cyprus” and “Yet another war caused by religion”.

But how true are these headlines? Now let us look at the events from God’s point of view. Two men, they both have labels on their foreheads. Invisible still, but this time ‘God Made’ labels. They both read exactly the same, “Son of Satan”. So I was a ‘Son of Satan’, just as much as he was, doing the pleasures of our father the Devil in our bodies and living by the passions of our flesh. Our hearts not at all in compliance with the Lord and not even looking for Him.

These sons of Satan, hated one another and killed one another and then tried to blame it on God. “Religion has caused it” they said. But Jesus says: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you and persecute you. Pray for those who despitefully use you”. But I, being the ‘Son of Satan’ if do not obey the instructions of the Lord and go ahead and kill, how then can I turn round blame the Lord? All wars are caused by ‘Sons of Satan’ but always blamed on the ‘Children of God’.

Praise the Lord. For the two ‘Sons of Satan’ are now, two ‘Sons of God’ and there is no enmity between us. We are brothers in the Lord and we’ll never fight or kill one another. But others, those who are not His, will fight. And they’ll blame our Father yet once again.

I hope the foregoing was a help to you and that perhaps one day you’ll find the Living God, who loved you and gave Himself for you.

God Bless.

[Anonim]

Good morning everybody… Wishes for a blessed Sunday,

Our brother in God Kemal’s explanation today made my day, indeed… Thanks God. It is one of the best explanations I have met to this day regarding this issue. It does not perceives the dilemma from a solely humane viewpoint but from a totally different one. A totally non conventional way… a genuinely Christian way. And it is said in a so simple way… in a Christian way, again.

A Christian who lives really by God never constitutes a reason for enmity, hate and violence. He/she consitutes always, by his/her very existence on this earth a seed of peace, communion and unity. This is exactly the reason the people of old times were saying ‘it is the existence of really pious people that keeps the order of the universe’.

I too am a Turk and Greek culturally and an Albanian by blood, Orthodox Christian by family. It happened to me to have a so multicultural social background. I always did see it as a blessing. And, now I am sharing here my experience in Christ, here with my Turkish brothers and sisters. We, Christians may have racial, ethnic or tongue diversity but in essence we consitute a single borderless nation. And the unity of our nation is nurtured and kept in unity by God himself. The common language of this nation is that of Christ’s love. We do not have needs of earthly borders. We are nomads in Spirit. We are the spiritual descendants of the righteous Abel. He was murdered by his brother but he lives in us :-)

Blessings…

[Yazar]

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