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About Jesus Steve Sweetman The Politics of God And The Bible Part 10
The
Politics Of War – Part 2 From
a Biblical standpoint it's clear to me that Christians should not use
violence to advance or defend the Kingdom
of God. It's not so clear to me
that Christians should fight, or not fight, if called upon to defend
their nation. This issue has
been debated for centuries in Christian circles. I
won't end the debate. In my
thinking, the reason for the debate is because the New Testament gives
no specific or clear-cut
teaching on the subject. There's
no verse that says, "don't fight for your nation".
There's no verse that says, "fight for your nation". There
are passages where one can derive some kind of interpretation that
promotes a particular viewpoint, but it's an interpretation.
It's not a statement of fact.
One
example of this is when Jesus told people to give to Caesar what belongs
to Caesar. (Luke 20:25) The
context of Jesus' words concerned paying taxes to Caesar.
Paying taxes is the primary statement of fact here.
Some suggest a secondary meaning to Jesus' words is possible.
They say that if Caesar calls you to serve in the military, you
serve because serving in the military is something that belongs to
Caesar. That may well be
true but the problem with this is that Jesus didn't specifically say
that in this passage. That's
only what some think He might have said if asked. One
basic hermeneutical principle states that you cannot argue a point from
silence, and this argument is based on silence. Jesus
had conversations with Roman soldiers on many occasions but never told
them to leave the army. Some
suggest that's proof Jesus allows military involvement by His followers.
That's speculation too. The
soldiers Jesus encountered weren't necessarily His followers, and they
weren't Jews. They were
Romans. Jesus' ministry was
specific to the Jews, not to Gentiles.
He would have had no reason to tell a Roman soldier to leave his
post.
Another
example of a passage used to support Christian involvement in the
military is found in 1 Corinthians 7:20.
Paul tells his readers to stay in whatever situation they were in
when God called them. The
context of Paul's words concerns marriage.
If you were married when you became a Christian, stay married.
If you were single, stay single.
If you struggled with the sexual pressure of singleness, then get
married. That's not a sin.
Paul
did give two other examples of situations to remain in once becoming a
Christian. If you were a
slave when you met Christ, don't demand your freedom. It you are offered
your freedom, take it. If
you were uncircumcised, don't get circumcised.
Obviously, if you were circumcised, stay circumcised.
Beyond these three situations, Paul gave no other examples of
situations to stay in once becoming a Christian.
Any situation we might add to Paul's list is speculative on our
part. Would Paul have added
military involvement to this list? I
can't say for sure because he never said so.
I know from other passages that there are some occupations that
he wouldn't add to his list. Prostitution
is one. The
apostle Paul lived much of his post-conversion life surrounded by Roman
soldiers. He preached the
gospel to them while in prison or in chains.
We have no record of Paul telling any of these soldiers to leave
their post once they began to follow Jesus.
Any reason we might give for this omission, assuming it was an
intentional omission, is speculative.
In John 18:36 Jesus told Pilate that if His kingdom was of this world, His disciples would fight to prevent His arrest. Does this imply Jesus is in favor of military involvement by His followers? He specifically said His disciples would not fight because the kingdom they would be fighting for isn't of this world. Some suggest that this opens the door for military involvement by Christians because their nation is of this world. They might have a point. On the other hand, Jesus might have simply been speaking on an individual level, not a national level. His statement might be one of self defense than military involvement.
I'm sorry to end this section uncertainty, and with no strong conviction. I lean towards Christian involvement in the military as being Biblically permissible. I wish there was a clear cut statement of fact one way or the other. I've heard the arguments on both sides of the issue. Both sides have compelling arguments, but still, I'm not fully convinced of either.
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