Peace & Love Corp.

Would A Christian Fight In A War?

God is love.
Wars destroy lives.
Christians ought not take up arms to fight.
Christians must obey.
God is love.

Yes, certainly, God is love.
This cannot be more true.

There is zero doubt that conflicts between nations should not be advocated.

However, does taking on a neutral stand and refusing to take up arms to defend your country sound like a Christ-like thing to do?

Much as taking on a neutral stand sounds peaceful and loving,
I find it hard to distinguish it from sitting on the fence.

As the saying goes,
All it takes for evil to thrive, is for good men everywhere to do nothing.

Would World War Two have ended if all American pilots hold on to this notion of a neutral stand and drop no atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Would the Iraqis under the Ba'ath regime be delivered should no countries take the drastic move to dethrone Mr. S.Hussein?

Would the prophecy of the reconstruction of Israel come to past if the Six Day war (and other related military conflicts) was not fought by the young men of Israel?

Yes, God would be the final judge of all things.
And wars are detested by God as they fill the very earth created by God with bloodshed and violence.

But look here, my dear JW friends.
Does promoting a worldview which could only exist in a utopia,
In the fallen world of ours which God has permitted to be in existence,

Bring God closer to the hearts of men?

Is it realistically possible?

True children of God possesses the discernment and understanding of right and wrong.

Yes, Germany may be a Christian country in the wake of World War Two,
And Hitler a supposed devout Christian,
But it is certainly logical to arrive to a conclusion that what they did is wrong.

However, we cannot simply, thus, conclude that Christians should not use arms.

True children of God have the wisdom of God to use arms at the right time, and there will be times when a child of God will have to use arms.

If this sounds inconceivable to anyone reading this,
Tell me,

If all male Singaporean Christians refuses to fight in defence against an infiltrator for Singapore, how would the whole of Singapore perceive the people of God...and eventually God Himself?

The answer cannot be more obvious.

A knife used for a murder can serve the same function as one used for cutting the ropes binding a hostage.

Is God really so much concerned with arms itself?
Or is God more concerned with the heart which uses it?

A soldier, in defence of his country, may shoot another man.
But God knows his heart has absolutely no hatred for the man shot.

And here we have it.

Hatred.

The question is never on a war, a battle, a conflict, or even a fight.

We have it here:

Hatred.

This is essentially what God abhors!

Jesus Himself emphasized in the Sermon on the Mount with regards to murder and adultery, that the heart of the matter, is a matter of the heart.

With my understanding of how my God is, yes, I will most certainly lay down my arms, if my country is the aggressor.

This may come at a price of losing my life, but I am convinced it will be what Jesus would do.

However, God will grant me the discernment to distinguish this from a day when my nation requires me to protect it with arms.

To totally take on a stand of no arms no-matter-what,

Is like a child who closes his eyes, trying to clean up a room,
Without realising the mess he is creating.

posted by Si'er @ Friday, July 01, 2005