Christians and War: Three Viewpoints

1
Christians and WarThree Viewpoints

• Holy War
• A crusade of Good against Evil
• Just (justifiable) War
• Limited war that is tragic but necessary for the
  cause of justice, freedom, and peace
• Pacifism
• Nonviolent love

2
Christians and WarThree Viewpoints

• Common Ground
• Holy War and Just War God occasionally calls
  His people to kill enemies
• Just War and Pacifism Initial instinct against
  violence
• Holy War and Pacifism Clear biblical examples

3
Christians and WarThree Viewpoints

• Common Ground
• All three agree that nothing is worth living for
  that is not worth dying for
• All three agree that courage is necessary if one
  wishes to follow God faithfully
• All three value sacrifice
• All three believe that Christians should love
  their enemies

4
Christians and WarThree Viewpoints

• Disclaimer
• Christian responses to war are not about
  positions
• No Christian has a stake in defending any
  position in and of itself
• Christian responses to war are about faithful
  discipleship

5
HOLY WAR

• A crusade of Good against Evil
• Primary examples
• Old Testament Wars
• History
• OT times, Hasmonean Dynasty (14263 BC), Crusades
  (1095 AD and following)

6
HOLY WAR

• The Theory
• War is an obligation given by God
• War is a battle between forces of Good and forces
  of Evil
• Pursuit of absolute and unlimited goals
• Unrestrained means
• Total War
• War is worship and a sacrifice to God

7
HOLY WAR

• Scriptural Justification
• There is a time to kill and a time to heal . . .
  A time for war, and a time for peace.
  Ecclesiastes 33, 8
• The city and all that is in it shall be devoted
  to the Lord for destruction. Joshua 617
• You must utterly destroy them. Make no covenant
  with them. And show them no mercy! Deuteronomy
  712

8
HOLY WAR

• Scriptural Justification
• You must not let anything that breathes remain
  alive. Deuteronomy 2016
• Now go and attack . . . and utterly destroy all
  that they have do not spare them, but kill both
  man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep,
  camel and donkey. 1 Samuel 153

9
HOLY WAR

• Scriptural Justification
• Do not think that I have come to abolish the law
  or the prophets I have come not to abolish but
  to fulfill. Matthew 517
• This is love for God to obey his
  commands. 1 John 53

10
HOLY WAR

• Strengths of Holy War
• The causes for killing and war are religiously
  significant
• Obedience to God is more important than moral
  squeamishness or cowardly trepidation
• God is the source of victory, not humans
• God does not change What God has formerly called
  His people to do, He may again call His people to
  do
• The only Scriptural witness regarding war is Holy
  War

11
HOLY WAR

• I say to you, Love your enemies. Jesus
• Love is defined by God God is love (1 John
  48)
• God loves the people of the world (cf. Matthew
  545 John 316)
• God kills His enemies (cf. Acts 5111
  Revelation 20910)
• Christians, created in the image of God, can love
  their enemies and kill them

12
HOLY WAR

• In Response to Just War
• Never kill in the name of a Nation
• Killing should only be done in the name of God
• When God calls His people to war it is always
  nothing less than total war in pursuit of
  unlimited goals
• Evil is destroyed, not subdued or made to
  surrender

13
HOLY WAR

• In Response to Pacifism
• God specifically states there is a time for war
• When God calls His people to war the only
  faithful response is to engage in war
• Christians should not constrain Gods freedom to
  command
• Pacifism allows Evil to reign and is therefore
  complicit along with that Evil

14
HOLY WAR

• In Response to War with Iraq
• Our enemies are as wrong as they are evil.
  --President Bush, State of the Union Address
• States like these constitute an axis of evil.
  --President Bush, State of the Union Address
• Our enemies embrace tyranny and death as a cause
  and a creed. We stand for a different choice.
  --President Bush, State of the Union Address
• Christian responsibility
• Wipe out Evil completely and without further
  hesitation