Isn't it wrong for Christians to support a policy of distroying your neighbor in case he might distroy you?

Question

It has been well proven that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11, but our country has voiced it's policy of killing other people just incase they might be able to kill us someday. Was this the message of Christ? To kill your neighbor just in case he might kill you someday?

Answer 1

Answering your question must keep two things in tension. On the one hand there are the commands of God to punish the wicked nations occupying the Promise Land upon Israel's entry into it back in the first six books of the Bible. Couple this with God's using neighboring nations to oppress His own people in the rest of the "historical" books in the early portion of the Bible, and one finds a God Who uses nations (righteous or unrighteous) to punish unrighteous nations as a whole. On the other hand there are Christ's commands to love one's neighbor. Although the original context referred to fellow Israelites, Jesus applied this rule to a hated half-breed nation between the northern and southern portions of His nation. He even went a step further by instructing His followers to love their enemies.

So, on the one hand one finds the Christian God commanding nations to kill nations for their immorality. On the other hand one finds the Christian God commanding love toward one's neighbors and enemies.

This dilemma has been a matter of frequent discussion throughout the history of the Christian church. What is the Christian position on every type of violence from self-defense on a personal level to world war on a global level? Should Christians advocate taking up the sword to punish evildoers, or should they advocate a pacifist position? If you haven't become familiar with Augustine's "Just War Theory" I'd recommend researching it. His position, slightly modified to fit a variety of circumstances, has become the cornerstone of subsequent Christian positions on violence and war.

Answer 2

I think it comes down to separation of church and state...being in Iraq is a state issue not church. My personal enemy would be a child molester, I can love him because he is a child of God but I'm all for punishing him before he gets his hands on one of my kids, if I found information that led me to believe he was going to molest a child, in loving my enemy, I would find a way to get him busted to prevent this harm from coming to a child and possibly himself (cuz if it was my child he molested, forget all morals, I'd kill him) ... the government found information that led them to believe that the Iraqi government was going to harm us so they busted them before they could. The message of Christ was to forgive your enemy, you need love to do that, it was not to sit back and watch them kill you and the people you love

Answer 3

you know...that is what i expect from someone that has the facts all screwed up..........hate Iraq isn't the problem..think you need to study the truth ....know wonder the world is the way it is....people only hear what they want to hear.....to heck with the rest....i sick of the excuses about americans....get your act together or stay out of it....