If imagination has no authority why do we imagine laws to justify war?

Question

If you are going to use the Bible as authority for justified killing then I assume, like the Muslims, you live by the Old Testament, believing - erroneously - that God instructs His own creation to slaughter His own image?
What the old partriarchs and Kings did was NOT God's sovereign will and God did NOT command anyone to kill their neighbour. What they imagined as instructions to destroy their enemies is what God permitted but Jesus issued no such command. "I have come to SAVE not to DESTROY"
God permits us to break His commandments but He does not COMMAND us to break His commandments. THis is the same then as it is today.
SO, those who use the Bible as a divine justification for war are in for a big surprise when they meet Christ.

No answer has better informed me than what I already know but I was hoping to hear the truth.
At the end of the day, if you don't know the truth, you don't know anything,

Answer 1

Without law and order, man has no freedom.

Answer 2

I'm using the Crusades as an example here, so if you're looking for more contemporary issues, ignore this:

Christian Side - Led by: Corrupt Priests & Roman Catholic Church

The army, down to the very last soldier in this epic, was a peasant. Grew up in a Fuedal System, farmed and worked for someone else contained in a current day's area of a single "large" city block. Most people wanted to get out and explore the world, or even just get killed fighting somewere other then the farms. The leaders of the Church had more power poilitically and socially then anyone else. They had the power to make good and evil, they could send one to heaven, or damn them to hell. While i do not believe any one person had this kind of true power, in Fuedal Europe, they had this kind of mental power. They presented people with a simple choice: "Go and fight gloriously for your GOD and win back his Holy Lands" or "Stay and work on the farms until you die." Wanting to get out, most people chose to fight, I would fight as well, considering the curcumstances.

Islamic Side
I unfortuanantly do not know as much about this faith as I do my own, but it was a politicaly fought religious war over the Holy Lands.

My explination on "Divine Right" to fight - people cannot see each others as equals, hate and improper education has led most to never give other religions a chance, I practice the Roman Catholic Faith, however i believe all the monotheistic religions have formed together and branched out, Judeism (Jews) have the same roots as Christianity, but do not acknowledge the second half of their beliefs, and the Islamic (Muslims) share the same hold lands, so i believe that all these religions are tied as one, like a Hydra, that all are conjoined at the base, but the heads are independant of each other, but if the body were to fall they would all fall, however if a head were to fall, it would only double, and i think that's exactly what is happeneing in our world

Answer 3

If you research the Christian Bible very carefully, you'll find that the name of God is Jehovah.
And if you look for a description of Jehovah you'll find that he is a God of War. In every sense, he is the perfect warrior. Loving, merciful and kind to those who accept him, and wrathful to those who defy him.
This is not to say that all the wars justified by religion are in the right. In these cases it is man who makes that call, not God. However, the Islamuc jihad, is a very real thing even in Christianity. We simply cannot use it because we do not have God's direct comman.
So while the religious wars of today are usually very wrong, God's will must sometimes be carried out through violence. As some very religious soldiers told me, "There are some people in this world that need killing."

Answer 4

You're making a very good point; the Bible should not be used as a justification for any war. People who do this are going a little over board in their beliefs.The Bible should a tool to help create peace and to show to those who will listen the way of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. As long as we follow this path and believe in what we know to be true, we should not need to justify any war for we should be bring peace not violence. As you said, they will be in for a big surprise. When the judgment day comes, those whom you speak of will surely be in shock. What made you ask this question? I'm curious, really.

Answer 5

Good question! And I totally agree with you!!

When I read the Bible, I see that the only time that God blessed war was in relation to taking back their promised land (ie, the Children of Israel taking Canaan back) or when they were under direct attack. When they attacked a land for selfish motives God did not bless that military action.

I simply cannot see Jesus taking a gun and destroying another person for any reason.

Answer 6

First, I do not use the bible to justify anything except that it is a book for a specific desert tribe.

Otherwise, when any human being on this planet dies, they will be in for a big surprise when they find out that what they think of as god is just that - something they thought of.

Answer 7

The old testament has God supporting all sorts of wars, battles, and killings in his name. He even helped quite often. Jericho was my favorite, but Moses drowning Pharoh's entire army was also impressive. We don't have to imagine laws to justify wars, or fear the wrath of Jesus for having them. We simply have to follow the examples God gave us of when war is just. Jesus said that the Old Testament was valid, and supported its teachings.

Answer 8

Men of the Old Testament did not use Biblical Doctrine to wage wars. There were many wars/battles in the OT that God directed to happen and gave instructions to men to carry out.

As far as your NT interpretations, yes you are correct. God has spoken that we should love our neighbors and love our enemies. Vengeance shall be his and ours is to love everyone and follow his words.

Answer 9

The French, Belgians (neutrals), Dutch, Danish, Norwegians, British Channel Islanders have been liberated from occupation by potential of an aggressive German military. many international locations in Asia and the Pacific have been liberated from occupation by potential of an aggressive jap military. Barbaric and savage behaviour advance into stopped against the Jews and different victims of the Holocaust. 2 brutish, imperialistic regimes have been stopped. Colonialism in its worst variety, 2 hundred years until now, advance into on no account as undesirable as this. undemanding human freedoms have been restored for the time of Western Europe and Asia How lots greater justification do you want? The Russians have been part of the reason of WW2 (alliance with Germany and invasion of Poland) and that they did no longer fix the freedoms in jap Europe. they simply fought the Germans after Hitler attacked them - yet that's a various political ideology and had no bearing on the justifications for the west going to war. EDIT: lots of the land Hitler took - France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, British Channel Islands, Czechoslovakia and so on weren't in any respect German and weren't taken away on the top of WW2. Poland advance into restored by potential of the Treaty of Versailles even yet it advance into Polish until now Germany got here into life in 1871, so i'm afraid it rather is a foul argument.

Answer 10

Same old Christian missdirection.

Are you aware that more people have been killed in wars and insurections based on christian doctine than any other? If Christianity had not come into existence we would be standing on each others shoulders to find space by now.

How many terrorist organisations have received funding from official christian charities including English and American church groups?

Let him without sin cast the first stone!

Answer 11

God doesnt do it if you read bible he created Earth created man kind and said that we may use it how we wish and he sent Jesus to help us out but were just idiots and killed him but we believed after that when hhe rose from dead but the destruction of wars is about nations arguing with each other and trying to steal oil gas and other stuff from other countrys and nations.