Justifyable War?

[ScottBot]

talk about a one trick pony.

 

[ScottBot]

So, to love your neighbor is to allow him to be maimed, robbed, and killed by a felon?

 

[Giver]

So, to love your neighbor is to allow him to be maimed, robbed, and killed by a felon?

The world has to have a police force. A Christian isn’t part of the world. Jesus has all the power in the world. He can send an angle to save my neighbor if it is his will that the neighbor should be saved. Remember to love Jesus is to hear his Word and live it. (Matthew 10:37-39) “Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

If someone would rather disobey God so as to try and save their mother etc. are they worthy of him?

 

[TruthMiner]

The

 

[TruthMiner]

The world has to have a police force. A Christian isn’t part of the world. Jesus has all the power in the world. He can send an angle to save my neighbor if it is his will that the neighbor should be saved. Remember to love Jesus is to hear his Word and live it. (Matthew 10:37-39) “Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

If someone would rather disobey God so as to try and save their mother etc. are they worthy of him?

And this is the problem.

So many people when confronted with this issue will ask, "What should WE do in such a case?" and forget to qualify just who the "WE" are?

WE the church?

WE the citizens of America?

They are not the same thing. What America should do is not necessarily what the church should do and vice versa. America is of the world; the church is not.

Kinda hard to imagine Jesus and Peter flying Blackhawk helicopters and gunning down enemy Iraqis isn't it?

Seems to me they would rather be wandering about Bagdad healing the sick and preaching the good news.... even if it meant they would be killed by the enemy completely without a "Kill them before they kill you" attitude. Indeed, that is just the kind of life Jesus and Peter lived.

 

[ScottBot]

And this is the problem.

So many people when confronted with this issue will ask, "What should WE do in such a case?" and forget to qualify just who the "WE" are?

WE the church?

WE the citizens of America?

They are not the same thing. What America should do is not necessarily what the church should do and vice versa. America is of the world; the church is not.

Kinda hard to imagine Jesus and Peter flying Blackhawk helicopters and gunning down enemy Iraqis isn't it?

Seems to me they would rather be wandering about Bagdad healing the sick and preaching the good news.... even if it meant they would be killed by the enemy completely without a "Kill them before they kill you" attitude. Indeed, that is just the kind of life Jesus and Peter lived.

Well, I do seem to remember quite a momentous battle in the Book of Revelation in which the armies of God, lead by Jesus defeat the armies of the beast.

 

[TruthMiner]

Well, I do seem to remember quite a momentous battle in the Book of Revelation in which the armies of God, lead by Jesus defeat the armies of the beast.

And so you have a hard time distinguishing between:

1. The man of mercy who rides into Jerusalem to be crucified on a humble ass.

2. The man who thunders into the world on a white horse in glory, to Judge and raise the dead in resurrection life.

Perhaps when you see the difference here, and understand why, then you will see more clearly. The Jews of Jerusalem wanted the second one and so they crucified the first.

 

[ScottBot]

And so you have a hard time distinguishing between:

1. The man of mercy who rides into Jerusalem to be crucified on a humble ass.

2. The man who thunders into the world on a white horse in glory, to Judge and raise the dead in resurrection life.

Perhaps when you see the difference here, and understand why, then you will see more clearly. The Jews of Jerusalem wanted the second one and so they crucified the first.

To the world's benefit.

 

[TruthMiner]

To the world's benefit.

Go then and be conformed to the image of God's Son and kill the enemy before they kill you. Love them not, but kill.

 

[ScottBot]

Go then and be conformed to the image of God's Son and kill the enemy before they kill you. Love them not, but kill.

So, if one neighbor is going to kill another neighbor, which one do I love, the neighbor doing the killing or the neighbor that I stand by and watch be killed? Or should I pray for an angel to come down from on high and smite the offending one? I say standing by and doing nothing is the opposite of love.

 

[TruthMiner]

So, if one neighbor is going to kill another neighbor, which one do I love, the neighbor doing the killing or the neighbor that I stand by and watch be killed? Or should I pray for an angel to come down from on high and smite the offending one? I say standing by and doing nothing is the opposite of love.

You wish to justify an evil act by creating a dilemma where one is to choose between two evils.

That is a devilish craft and does not turn evil into good.

 

[ScottBot]

You wish to justify an evil act by creating a dilemma where one is to choose between two evils.

That is a devilish craft and does not turn evil into good.

I never said kill, I said stop.

 

[TruthMiner]

I never said kill, I said stop.

Ah, so you do NOT advocate killing others before they kill you or your neighbor?

 

[ScottBot]

Ah, so you do NOT advocate killing others before they kill you or your neighbor?

What if they die in my attempt to stop them?

 

[TruthMiner]

What if they die in my attempt to stop them?

Are you asking if evil would be justified?

 

[ScottBot]

Are you asking if evil would be justified?

Evil requires intent.

 

[Giver]

What if they die in my attempt to stop them?

Are you arguing just to argue, or do you feel that, if you were to understand and see the truth that is being discussed, the church would be proven wrong?

Isn’t trying to stop someone in a way that could hurt them offering him or her resistance? :(Matthew 5:39) “You have learnt how it was said: ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance.”

 

[TruthMiner]

Evil requires intent.

So going to war has no such intent eh?

 

[ModernDaySpyridon]

Well, I do seem to remember quite a momentous battle in the Book of Revelation in which the armies of God, lead by Jesus defeat the armies of the beast.

Ummm...yeah...that's an Apocolyptic book...so I'd be careful in any attempts to extrapolate any lessons about participating in America's military from it.

 

[razzelflabben]

Wow, what a question.

I was asked to come here and share a story with you and I shall gladly do just that but first I would like to say a couple of things relating to the question at hand.

Where to begin....Thou shall not kill and yet in the old testament God commanded the children of Isreal to not only go to war, but to kill even the women and children.

I think one thing that needs to be established here is what constitutes a holy or justifyable war. consider why the coi (children of Isreal) we told to kill women and children. These people were worshiping other gods, in fact one of them was especially evil and human sacrifices of babies was routine. These priests would be loud so as to drown out the cries and screams of the baby being rolled down a shoot to his/her death. Many of the religions had preistesses (don't know how to spell it, female priests) these women were hores, prostitutes. These religions did just the opposite of what God wanted for His people, where He wanted freedom, these other religions oppressed. Where God asked the people to Love and have compassion, the other religions were interested in destruction and gain. It was in completely weeding out these "evil" ideas that the people would be safe from them. Thus a justifyable war.

But what then of wars today. One thing few people understanding is that there are indeed two laws. There is God's law, and man's law. Two very different things. Where God's law and man's law coexist, peace rains, where they clash, man must decide how to reconcile the two within an individual heart and mind.

Okay, so time for the story. I am not sure what was in mind when I was asked to share the story, but, here is what I think it's sugnificance is to this topic. When we opperate in the power of the Holy Spirit, nothing can stand against us. That truely is a holy or justified war.

Many years ago, a friend of my sisters came to Christ. She wanted to grow and learn and know God as most new Christians have a passion to do. So one night after a meeting, she began asking we questions about God. I answered the best I could from the bible. As the discussion proceeded, she became angry, so angry that she pulled a knife out of her pocket and tried to stab me. But her hand was held firm by a "hand like" grasp which continued til she released her anger and bent to destroy. God protects His people when they fight the wars He wants us to fight.