Military action is sometimes authorised
For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. (Romans 13:3-4)
Read the WHOLE thing and then think about it.!
Romans 13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?
do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God's revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Daniel 4:17
This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the
most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
New Living Translation
But Peter and the apostles replied,
"We must obey God rather than any human authority.
English Standard Version
in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
The Early Christian View of War and Military Service
1. THE DIDASKALIA
"The Didaskalia
forbids the acceptance of money for the church ‘from soldiers who behave unrighteously or from those who kill men or from executioners or from any (of the) magistrates of the Roman Empire who are polluted in wars and have shed innocent blood without judgment,’ etc."
D. Example of Early Christian Believers
"No Christian (from 70-110 A.D.)...would voluntarily become a soldier after conversion: He would be deterred from doing so, not only by fear of contamination by idolatry, [worshipping a King as ruler] but also by a natural reluctance-and doubtless in many cases by a conscientious objection to using arms."
Harnack: "The position of a soldier would seem to be still more incompatible with Christianity than the higher offices of state, for Christianity prohibited on principle both war and bloodshed...We shall see that the Christian ethic forbade war
absolutely (uberhaupt) to the Christians...Had not Jesus forbidden all revenge, even all retaliation for wrong, and taught complete gentleness and patience? And was not he military calling moreover contemptible on account of its extortions, acts of violence, and police service? Certainly: and from that it followed without question, that
a Christian might not of free will become a soldier."
"Shortly before the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Christians of that city, in obedience to ‘an oracular response given by revelation to approved men there’ left Jerusalem, and settled at Pella in Peraea,
thus taking no part in the war against Rome."
Christians during this second revolt of the Jews against Rome is afforded by ancient scroll and manuscript findings discovered since 1947 in the Holy Land.
A freshly translated letter written by Simon ben Kasebam leader of a Holy Land revolt from A.D. 132-135, refers to a group of ‘neutralists’ in the war between Rome and Jewish insurgents. They are called ‘Galileans,’ and conceivably may be Christians."
(Rev 19:19) for
when Christ is our Captain, then we will fight (2Ti 2:3) Joh 18:36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight
Christ condemned wars and not only unrestrained aggression (Matt. 26:52). But not to return evil for evil (1Pe 3:9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. (Christ had in fact commanded soldiers to do violence to no one and not to be warring or entangleing themselves with the affairs of this life but to endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (Lu 3:14) And soldiers also asked him, saying: And what should we do? And he said to them: no one do violence1 to, no one defame2, and let your salt suffice. 2Ti 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4
No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.)
And in John's vision, Christ is depicted as leading armies and waging war against all the Presidents of the Earth, for the cause of righteousness (Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. ).
[size=4The biblical rules of war require that Christ be the leader before attacking any enemy forces for those who delight in war are destined to be destroyed (Psa. 68:30).
War is not to be undertaken but by the will of God and with our Captain, Jesus Christ. 2Th 1:6 [/size]
A particular danger in wartime is brutality toward those not engaged in combat. Frequently in the history of warfare, soldiers have maimed, raped, and even killed those who did not pose a physical threat to them. Sometimes this has escalated into genocide. The Catechism is at pains to stress the moral illegitimacy of all of these:
The U.S. has not always been committed to this principle.
In the Civil War, World War I, and World War II the United States violated it. Grave violations during World War II included the firebombing of Dresden and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
These were not attacks designed to destroy targets of military value while sparing civilian populations. They were deliberate attempts to put pressure on enemy governments by attacking non-combatants. As a result, they were grave violations of God's law, according to which, "the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral" (John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae 57).
The law of double-effect would not have applied to the cases of Dresden, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki. In these situations though the act (dropping bombs) was not intrinsically evil and though it is arguable that in the long run more lives were saved than lost,
the second condition was violated because the death of innocents was used as a means to achieve the good of the war's end.
[Just War Doctrine]