Jesus said those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.
2007-09-17 07:47:42 · 29 answers · asked by Jason W 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Divine War vs Human Conflicts.
Nearly 300 times in the Hebrew Scriptures
& twice in the Christian-Greek Scriptures,
God is given the title "Jehovah of armies." 1 Sam 1:11
As Sovereign Ruler, Jehovah commands a vast army of angelic forces.
Josh 5:13-15; 1 Kings 22:19.
The destructive potential of this army is awesome. Isa 37:36.
The destruction of humans is not pleasant to contemplate.
However, we must remember that God's wars are unlike petty human conflicts.
Military & political leaders may try to attribute noble motives to their aggression.
But human war invariably involves greed & selfishness.
In contrast, Jehovah is not driven by blind emotion.
Deut 32:4 declares: "The Rock, perfect in his actitivty,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness, w/ whom there is no injustice; righteous & upright is he."
God's word condemns unbridled rage, cruelty, & violence. ---
Ge 49:7; Ps 11:5.
So Jehovah never acts w/out reason.
He uses his destructive power sparingly & as a last resort.
It is as he stated through his prophet Ezekiel:
"Do I take any delight at all in the death of someone wicked,'
is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah,
'and not in that he should turn back from his ways and actually keep living?' "--
Eze 18:23.
It is unwise to think that we know better than God
or to assume that he has behaved unfairly.
We can b sure that when God fights,
he has good cause for doing so.
Why the God of Peace Is Compelled to Fight.
After praising God as " a manly person of war,"
Moses declared: "Who among the gods is like you,
O Jehovah? Who is like you, proving yourself mighty in holiness?" Ex 15:11
The prophet Habakkuk similiarily wrote:
"You are too pure in eyes to see what is bad;
and to look on trouble you are not able." Hab 1:13.
Although Jehovah is a God of love,
he is also a God of holiness, righteousness, and justice.
At times such qualities compel him to use his destructive power.
Isa 59:15-19; Luke 18:7.
So God does not blemish his holiness when he fights.
Rather, he fights 'because' he is holy.--Ex 39:30.
God Acts to Remove Wickedness
The Deluge of Noah's day was a case of intervention.
Says Ge 6:11,12: "The earth came to be ruined in the sight of the true God and the earth became filled w/ violence.
So God saw the earth and look! it was ruined,
because all flesh had ruined its way on the earth."
Would God allow the wicked to snuff out the last vestige of morality left on earth? No.
Jehovah felt obliged to bring a global deluge to rid the earth of those who were bent on violence and immorality.
It was similar w/ God's judgement against the Canaanites.
Jehovah revealed that out of Abraham would come a "seed" through which all the families of earth would bless themselves.
In harmony w/ that purpose, God decreed that Abraham's offspring would be given the land of Canaan, a land inhabited by a ppl called Amorites.
How could God be justified in forcibly evicting these ppl from their land?
Jehovah foretold that the eviction would not come for some 400 yrs--until :the error of the Amorites" had " come to completion."* Ge 12:1-3; 13:14,15; 15:13,16; 22:18.
During that period of time, the Amorites sank deeper and deeper into moral corruption. Canaan became a land of idolatry, bloodshed, and degraded sexual practices.---
Ex 23:24; 34:12,13; Nu 33:52.
The inhabitants of the land even killed children in sacrificial fires.
Could a holy God expose his ppl to such wickedness? No!
He declared: :The land is unclean, and I shall bring punishment for its error upon it, the land will vomit its inhabitants out." Lev 18:21-25.
Jehovah did not kill the ppl indiscriminately, however.
Rightly disposed Canaanites, such as Rahab and the Gibeonites, were spared. Josh 6:25; 9:3-27.
*Evidently, the term "Amorites"
here includes all the ppl's of Canaan.
Deut 1:6-8,19-21,27; Josh24:15,18.
2007-09-17 09:07:38 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Good news / bad news 1) There's nothing in the Bible that would prevent you from becoming a fighter pilot for your country. 2) There is no way in God's green earth I would turn over an airplane to the type of person who wrote that "question." Sorry, Sparky.
2016-05-17 06:00:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many people make the mistake of believing the Bible says, “You shall not kill,” and seek to apply this command to war. However, the Bible actually says, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). The Hebrew word literally means “the intentional, premeditated killing of another person with malice.” God often ordered the Israelites to go to war with other nations (1 Samuel 15:3; Joshua 4:13). God ordered the death penalty for numerous crimes (Exodus 21:12; 21:15; 22:19; Leviticus 20:11). So, God is not against killing in all circumstances, but rather only murder. War is never a good thing, but sometimes it is a necessary thing. In a world filled with sinful people (Romans 3:10-18), war is inevitable. Sometimes the only way to keep sinful people from doing great harm is by going to war with them.
2007-09-17 07:54:18 · answer #3 · answered by Freedom 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
What would Jesus do in Iraq? He’d offer compassion, he’d feed the hungry, he’d even pray for the enemies. What he’d really do is give American Christians — Republicans and Democrats alike — something to think about.
During his famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said three things relevant to the subject of war:
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Turn the other cheek.
Pray for your enemies.
Here's something else we know. Three-quarters of the U.S. population consider themselves Christian. That translates into about 224 million Americans.
So why are so few of us taking the teachings of Jesus seriously when it comes to this latest war? Out here in the heartland, only a handful of churches are even talking about it.
2007-09-17 07:53:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Tell you what. You go to Israel or somewhere in the middle east, and you set up a christian nation that refuses to defend itself and turns the other cheek. Pretty soon those cheeks will be full of wholes. If you return in 3 years alive Then I'll say "fighting should never be practiced, we should all throw down our weapons and never lift a finger in retaliation."
Essentially Im saying this. No matter what god said about it 2000 or more years ago, the reality is that if you dont fight, you are going to be killed. essentially even if you dont live by the sword your still going to die by it when your enemys come knocking.
Does God like fighting, no. ddo we have a choice in the matter? Also no.
2007-09-17 07:54:15 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
The Encyclopedia of Religion states: “The early church fathers, including Tertullian and Origen, affirmed that Christians were constrained from taking human life, a principle that prevented them from participating in the Roman army.” In his book The Early Church and the World, Professor C. J. Cadoux writes: “Up to the reign of Marcus Aurelius at least [161-180 C.E.], no Christian would become a soldier after his baptism.”
A radical change that took place in the fourth century. The Catholic work A History of the Christian Councils explains: “Many Christians, . . . under the pagan emperors, had religious scruples with regard to military service, and positively refused to take arms, or else deserted. The Synod [of Arles, held in 314 C.E.], in considering the changes introduced by Constantine, set forth the obligation that Christians have to serve in war, . . . because the Church is at peace (in pace) under a prince friendly to Christians.”
As noted above by another user, Jesus said "those who live by the sword will die by the sword." The beginning of that verse says "Return your sword to its place."
Romans 14:19 19 So, then, let us pursue the things making for peace and the things that are upbuilding to one another
The book History of Christianity, Edward Gibbon wrote that first-century Christians “refused to take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire,” and that “it was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes.”
Paul wrote: “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage warfare according to what we are in the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly.”—2 Corinthians 10:3, 4.
2007-09-17 08:04:35 · answer #6 · answered by ldybugg93 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
No, it does not say anywhere in the Bible that we should go to war for our country.
The wars in Biblical times where allowed because it was the war of God not against another country. It was necessary to have God's will be done. Today, wars are not God's but men's. it is one government agaisnt another.... killing even the innocent people.
2007-09-17 11:51:22 · answer #7 · answered by Agape 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's great to love your neighbor, but unfortunately, sometimes your neighbor wants to kill you, in those cases you have to fight back. That whole turn the other cheek story is confusing. At that time, it was an insult to be struck on one side, so by turning the other cheek, you were actually insisting on being treated as an equal, as only inferiors were struck on the wrong side. It wasn't a plea to all christians to become dishrags after all.
2007-09-17 07:56:38 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Consider Mt. 10:28, 26:47, 52-53 and Pr. 29:25. We must maintain christian neutrality even in these tough times.
2007-09-18 03:22:25 · answer #9 · answered by Meemaw's Pride & Joy 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes God says it is ok to fight for your country. Look at all the wars in the old testament.
Murder is planning ahead and lying in wait to kill one particular person. Killing while protecting your home and family is not classified as murder.
2007-09-17 07:54:41 · answer #10 · answered by 9_ladydi 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋