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What Would Jesus Do? Do We Care?
By Holly Dailey, Harwinton
If you were to read the New Testament for the first time to decide how Jesus felt about war, you would never come away with the conclusion that God gives us the freedom to decide who should live or die. There was certainly no "Just War" theory laid down.
This subject needs to be approached with an open mind, aware that we have been influenced by a lifetime of being taught that war is a necessary evil. I am not a "peacenik," I am a Christian. (If you are not a Christian, then you are not obligated to understand or agree with Jesus and His teachings.) War makes sense to people who are not thinking of heaven as their eternal home. If your focus is on this earth only, then you will fight to make this country safe and secure at all costs.
I understand the logic behind protecting ourselves from aggressors. True, the enemy is afraid of a more powerful army for a time, but this never resolves the basis for the conflict in the first place. We are caught in a trap of policing the world to keep under control all the people who hate Americans and see our "Christian" nation as hypocritical.
True peace does not include "might is right." Of course, because we carry a big stick people leave us alone—sometimes. They also often find ways like 9/11 to fight their battles. We think we are invincible, and yet that horrific act showed that we are not untouchable. Although we have relative safety here, there are millions of Americans and Christians around the world who experience hatred, anger and persecution, which are increasing as our country becomes more aggressive.
Radical Islam is not a peaceful religion. Radical Christianity is. The two religions are diametrically opposite on this point. Christians are infidels to radical followers of Islam and a threat to their religion, and they have permission to declare jihad on the infidels. There are many Islamic governments that kill and imprison people for sharing their faith in Jesus, especially with a person of the Islamic faith—it's written into their laws. Just believing in Jesus can bring severe repercussions. To catch a glimpse of what Christians every day around the world endure, check out sites like <www.persecution.com>.
In 2003 God is not so important to people in America, and therefore it is easy to convince them that war is OK with God. I believe that idea helps motivate people. It is not that people are so virtuous as to really fight for God, but people need to be convinced that God is on their side, that they are fighting a "Just War" that God endorses. If people thought God would be angry with them for killing, especially when they are facing their own mortality, no one would go to war. This happens on both sides, in different ways, with the same results.
Throughout history, even sincere leaders needed people to ignore the fact that the New Testament does not teach war. Radical Christianity is often too hard a path to follow. As Jesus said, the road is wide that leads to destruction and many there are who follow it, but narrow is the way that leads to life and few there are who find it. History has proven that wars lead to more wars, and to more destructive wars, resulting in the actual and potential horrors we have today. If we would only learn from history.
I urge you to look into the New Testament yourself before deciding such important matters. There have been times in history when common people could not read the Bible and had an excuse for blindly trusting the interpretation of others. That is not the case today, and we are without excuse before God for killing people He made and died for. These are the same people to whom Jesus commanded that we spread the "Good News" of the gospel of Christ. How will they understand the love of Christ from the bombs we drop? We cannot drop tracts of how Jesus loves them from the same plane that death and fear come from. I understand that we are trying to free the world from dictators and tyrants, but is that what Jesus told us to do?
If the Christian church stood united on this issue, Hitler could not have raised up an army to kill Jews. There were brave Christians from many denominations who gave their lives speaking out and resisting Hitler. Other people blindly followed their leaders, believing that Jesus does not have a problem with killing. The Christian church of that day did not stand up united against Hitler. In that void, and with their silence, they allowed the evil to take root and the momentum to build. Although Hitler was nurturing atheistic thought, he had not yet fulfilled his goal—when he came on the scene Germany was not an atheist country. Luther began the Reformation in Germany, which became the Lutheran church. Now we can look back upon the evil and marvel at how it happened, as I'm sure the German people do. If they had followed the teachings of Jesus it could not have happened.
If left to men to decide what a "Just War" is, we are left with no foundation at all. Even good men have limited wisdom. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, taught only restraint and forgiveness. Men like Gandhi paid a price for their non-violence, yet he was honored as a man who made a difference. Our wars have not raised even our own country to a higher moral plane. Our country is not more moral or honorable than it was a hundred years ago, but then the foundation of our country has always been war and strife.
The first English settlers of America came here for religious freedom. Yet they had religious freedom here, and still fought the Revolutionary War because of "taxation without representation." Money is never a good reason to kill another human being. Jesus, when asked about paying taxes, said: "Whose inscription is on the coin? … Then render unto Caesar what is Caeser's and to God what is God's." The colonists were definitely being taxed without representation. Both sides involved in the war considered themselves "Christian," yet both could clearly not have God on their side. Both prayed for victory against the other and, after each battle they won, God was thanked for giving each the victory.
The Civil War was an example of man's cruelty. Both sides were from the same "Christian" roots: brother fought against brother and a country was divided that had fought together against England not so long before. You've seen the historic movies depicting each side invoking God's blessing for their battles and saying that God was with them as they slaughtered each other. This time the noble or "Just War" was fought over the issue of slavery. But behind that was a lot of pride and issues like secession from the Union. I imagine the North did not approve of the free labor from which the South made its wealth. The fact that many idealistic young men fought for the freedom of the abused slaves is true. Although that was a courageous thing to do, it doesn't make that war ordained by God.
Although there is a great deal of good that comes out of this country, we are not viewed by others as loving followers of Jesus. That is each person’s decision to make, of course, but when Jesus does not bless or protect our nation we should not blame God. He is the only one worthy and wise enough to judge righteously. Are we to be God's children made in His image, or are we changing God's image to look like what we want Him to be?
Leaders too easily use words that unquestionably declare God's blessing on America, like we are telling God what to do. If we really want God to bless America, we have to do what he has told us to do. So, America, how about if we bless God? Then we would be in line for Him to bless us.
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