How do evangelical (fundamentalist) Christians claim to be following Christs teachings when they support war?

Question

War, greed and intolerance are preached and endorsed by 'televangelists' like John Hagee. How can they claim to follow Jesus' fantastic advice when they clearly contradict it?

War is murder - especially a pre-emptive one.

Remember the good Samaritan - he was an Arab.

These evangelists expect their congregation to give lots of money to them and the fellowships are mostly rich and see a lack of wealth as a weakness - Jesus said it would be harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven than for an ox to fit through the eye of a needle.

I know there were wars in the bible but Christians are meant to be followers of Christ. Not pick at bits from the obscure books from the old testement to fit their ideas. A bit like what fundamentalist Muslims do!

Sorry to all the good evangelists who don't!

Answer 1

They are in it for the money? Maybe it's to reinforce good GNP values...? Jesus that i've read about was more about strength to the weak, health to the sick, compassion to the misused and understanding to the misunderstood. A perfect taoist alchemist, restoring balance wherever he goes. How this gets translated into "Kill and die in the name Jesus" is a little beyond me, but that's why i'm a pagan. It seems to me that he'd be sick from things done in his name. Mohammad too for that matter.
bb
t

Answer 2

Before I answer, I am not supporting war! In fact I agree with you. War is murder and there should be no wars. I think the reason why they support war is because maybe they're trying to abide by the laws of the land. Or perhaps they figure that since the Bible has wars in it, then it is not sin in the eyes of the lord. Like a "holy war" or something. I hope I answered your question. Those are the only reasons I can think of.

Answer 3

War is supported in the Old Testament, but not the teachings of Christ.

I can not, in any shape, form, or fashion prove that war is ok, according to the New Testament, which is what Christians are supposed to live by.

I have had a few try to stretch a couple Bible versus to make it fit what they wanted to say, but I can always come back with 10 more that say love and peace is the basis of the entire Christian faith.

If I am supposed to turn my cheek when someone smacks me, how does that give me the right to drop a bomb on another country?

With that being said, I belive in live and let live. If they want to believe that, then that is fine with me. I know the truth, and I will live by what I know and just hope that they come to the knowledge of the truth.

******************************
Several people have posted in here that there are lots of wars in the Bible, and that is true, IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.

When Jesus came, died, and rose, he fulfilled the law. The law is done and over. We live by a whole new Testament.. The testament of Jesus' life and teachings.

Paul said that if you were going to do part of the law, then you were a debtor to the whole law. If you are going to believe part of the Old Testament and justify actions by that, then you are required to live it all, including eating as the Jews were required to eat, allow your husbands to have many wives and concubines, kill anyone that crossed you, in the name of GOD, and sacrifice animals on a properly built altar with a Levite priest.

Answer 4

Your question will never be answered to satisfaction. Many Christians throughout the ages have used that religion to their own ends, especially during the rise of protestants.
IMHO, you can't use a book, even if it is the book of God, to justify your actions. Words can be twisted to fit any agenda, even the words of someone as well-meaning as Jesus Christ. I'm not sure where I heard it, but I recall this quote, "when fascism comes to America it will be holding the bible and wrapped in the American flag."

Answer 5

Ditto to the above responses about war, and also remember that on judgement day many will stand before Christ and be told to depart that he never knew them. I have a snicking suspection that some of those people claiming to be christians will find that happening to them on that day. If a person came to you saying he was a vegan and then had steak for dinner you would probably doubt his statement, the same applies here.

Answer 6

I am not an evangelical Christian but my neighbor is and she does not support Bush, the war in Iraq or greedy tele-evangelists and their mega churches. In fact she does not think religion should have anything to do with politics.

It is one of the things I agree with her on 100%. So you should not generalize too much.

Answer 7

Well, God sent people to war all the time, but preemptive is very iffy. And the money-lovers won't fit through that needle eye with all that cash.

Answer 8

dude dont twist the word of GOD. we christians are to support our government that is scriptural.what we are doing in iraq has been going on for 2000 years it aint new. there will never be peace there if you had read scripture you would have known this...and your idea of our tithing is way off base! yes there has been a few crooked pastoral figures,but as far as our tithe that is between us and GOD!what the church does with it is between the church and GOD, so as long as you tithe dont worry about where it goes, and for the most part the destination isnt in a pastors pocket. it pays part of thier salary yes but it goes into other funds like a benevilance fund to help the needy into building cost and materials alot of things...

Answer 9

Doesn't make much sense, does it? You should see some of the insanity over at Rapture Ready forums. I saw several idiots there justifying the Holocaust.

Funnier yet, when their own contradictions are pointed out to them, they just hide behind the "persecution of the just" line and keep right on doing what they do.

Answer 10

I believe it was for a "camel" to go through the eye of a needle, and I agree that some churches have become to commercial and corporation-like.