Should a Christian Serve in the Military?

In an honest attempt to answer the original question...

It depends on the reason for asking and what "should" means. Does it mean "is it our duty to serve", or does it mean "should I refrain because of religious reasons". I don't know exactly because it's kind of vague.

If you're asking if it's our duty... it depends. Yes, if you are able to, and you know that your family and fellow countrymen would benefit from your service and others like you, sure, I believe it's our duty. Who else is going to fight? The problem is that most people nowadays don't believe that there has been a situation that is worthy of this definition since WWII. Nobody believes that going to Iraq for 6 months will directly benefit their family and home. Therefore there is a dwindling sense of duty. Whether or not you believe this is up to you, but it's a big question, because if you sign up, it's almost guaranteed that you're going to the big show over in Iraq for at least 6 months.

Now, if it's "should I refrain because of religious reasons"... normally I would say this wouldn't matter, so no. There have always been soldiers, always will be. Many of those soldiers are good Christians and fighting for a good cause. All throughout history there have been Christian soldiers, yet this has never been questioned until very recently. Why? Mainly because of Vietnam and Iraq. Our government tries to do a little too good, so they invade a country and try to fight the individual terrorists within that country and not the entire country itself, not the official army commanded by the official government in official uniforms. So what happens is that you cannot win a war like this. This happened in Vietnam and history is repeating itself right now. What starts out as a noble cause ends up as a sloppy mess because this situation is unfixable. In the meantime, lots of people, mostly bleeding heart liberals, take what they see and twist it around and make it seem as if the American soldier is bad, making our potential bright young men to question whether they should enlist even though they normally would.


So basically, I guess my answer, at least in my opinion, is that normally, our country fights good fights, does good deeds, helps good people abroad, and protects our good people at home, so you should be unapologetic and never feel even slightly ashamed that you could call yourself both a Christian soldier and an American soldier.

However, given the current situation, which is just a small blip in history, it would be perfectly understandable if you chose not to enlist due to recognizing that we are in the middle of an absolute unwinnable mess that includes questionable morality and not wanting to voluntarily be a part of it, which you are almost guaranteed to be if you enlist right now. BUT, this does NOT mean that I think that anyone should look down on the American soldiers themselves.

Basically I feel that if anybody is going to question or judge anybody given the current situation, you should direct your anger towards our intelligence agencies. They are the #1 reason we are over there. Why do the protesters single out the soldiers and not these agencies? It's not the soldier's fault, it's the intelligence. All the president can do is rely on the information that our agencies give him. If our agencies tell him there are stockpiles of WMD's and they're doing everything possible to plan a use for them and claim they have hard evidence proving such a thing, then how can anybody judge the president for making a decision based on that information that he has been given? Furthermore, how can anybody judge an American soldier who is also Christian for being a part of this? They were told it was a good and necessary action, just like the president was told.

But yeah, my biggest problem is that back in WWII you wouldn't have these slanderous anti-military comments directed towards our soldiers.

 

HERE, HERE, all you out there. They will lay down their life for you.

 

That was a wonderful well thought out response to his question. And even though in my own beliefs I couldn't enlist for reasons already expressed, I do agree with much of your post. I'm also all for appreciating, respecting, and supporting the men and women who serve. I respect their commitment and beliefs just as I hope they would respect mine.

 

If we were fighting terrorism why did we pull most of our troops out of afghanastan where the terrorists were?

 

Allied manning levels in Afghanistan have been and are
likely to remain at 20,000. There has been no
"pull most of our troops out" taking place.

Strange that nobody has mentioned much scripture here except Acts 10
which supports the serving of a Christian in the military???

 

While the U.S. troop level in Iraq is 150,000 or more? Explain why.

 

What is the US Troop level in Germany, occupied in 1945?
Why are US troops still there?

 

A "hotter" war zone that requires more troops to deal with the situation. Hello....

 

For the same reason we'll still have troops occupying Iraq 20 years from now, to maintain US control of the area.

 

Would you have sent your son to die in Iraq?

 

Amen, Brother StraightANdNarrow -- you are so RIGHT ON! :thumbs:

I retired from working with the Military after 36 years
back in Aug 2006. For the 32 years before that,
I helped make WMD delivery systems smarter.

(I note a lack of use of scripture in this topic,
I'll not skip the scripture. My Sunday School lesson
tomorrow contains

1 Pe 2:13-15 (KJV1611 Edition):
Submit your selues to euery ordinance of man
for the Lordes sake, whether it be to the King, as supreme,
14 Or vnto gouernours, as vnto them that are sent by him,
for the punishment of euil doers,
and for the praise of them that doe well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing
yee may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

In April 1952 (55 years ago, less a couple of weeks)
I was told this:

Romans 10:9 (KJV1611 Edition):
That if thou shalt confesse with thy mouth
the Lord Iesus, and shalt beleeue in thine heart,
that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saued.

I first confessed Jesus as my Lord in
April 1952 (55 years ago, less a couple of weeks)
while believing in my heard that God had
raised Jesus from the Dead. Then I was
saved (and am saved and am being saved today,
and my salvation was complete then and
will be completer at some later date) and
Jesus became not only my Lord but also my
Savior. Again today I confess: "Jesus is
still my Lord and my Savior".

By my faith and my practice:
It is good for a Christian to serve in/with
the military.

Yes, I enabled everybody's discussion
on this board by my Christian/military lifestyle.

Fifty times as many people died in car wrecks
in the USofA as U.S. military died due to
action in Iraq. This happened each of these past four years

 

Those car wrecks are often referred to as "accidents", as in not on purpose. The deaths in Iraq of 3,230 soldiers, the 23,417 non-mortal casualties, and the killing of 200,000 to one million Iraqis were on purpose and were avoidable events.

 

Rufus_1611: //The deaths in Iraq of 3,230 soldiers,
the 23,417 non-mortal casualties,
and the killing of 200,000 to one million Iraqis were
on purpose and were avoidable events.//

The number of death among the Iraqi
is probably about 400,000. But it wasn't
Allied armies that killed them, it wast Iraqi
and Foriegn Muslim terrorists who killed
them. And those same terrorist
would have killed somebody, somewhere
in the world. The allied armies have
made Iraq a better place to live.
BTW, Sadam probably had
4 Million Iraqi killed -- where do I hear
you bleading heart liberals crying about that?

note: 4,000,000 is ten times 40,000.

BTW, the topic is about 'should a Christian Serve in
the Military'. I think it is alright and scriptural.

 

If we have made Iraq a better place to live why are all the Iraqi's who can leave the country doing so. Of course we've been such a good friend to them that we've only allow a handful to enter the U.S.? I believe the number was about 65 last year.

 

If you agree that 400,000 is the current number dead, isn't this an appalling number to you? What is the number of dead Iraqis that will cause you to be offended? 1mil, 2mil? If Saddam has killed 4mil, that is offensive to me. If Bush has killed 400,000 that too is offensive. If that makes me a bleeding heart liberal so be it but as a Christian I don't really care for people killing each other...guess I'm crazy like that.

As to the OP. Christians should not serve in the military, those who live by the sword will die by the sword (research depleted uranium to see how this is and will come to pass). Yes, I know about the centurion but I gotta wonder how many tours he signed up for after learning about Jesus.

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" - Matthew 5:44

"Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." - Matthew 26:52​

 

Rufus_1611: //If Saddam has killed 4mil,
that is offensive to me.
If Bush has killed 400,000 that too is offensive.//

It seems to me, were that true, that
Bush saved 3,600,000 Iraqi that Suddam
would have killed.

Rufus_1611: //As to the OP. Christians should not serve in the military,
those who live by the sword will die by the sword (research
depleted uranium to see how this is and will come to pass).//

Sorry, to me that seems to 'nanny-nanny-poo-poo'
people who put their lives on the line to
give you the right to have your own opinion.
Of course, so did I. You have the right to be
wrong as often as you wish.

Rufus_1611: //Yes, I know about the centurion but I
gotta wonder how many tours he signed up
for after learning about Jesus.//

That is nonsense. The Centurion was a Centurion
as long as he lived.

 

Rufus,

how can you totally ignore the point that Ed just made that most of the 40,000 Iraquis killed were killed by the terrorists, not by Allied soldiers?

 

I suppose that's one way to look at it. Boy has 12 dogs, bully #1 kills 6 of them, bully #2 kills bully #1 and then kills 3 of the remaining dogs. When whiny boy cries about his 3 recent dead dogs bully #2 asks what are you complaining about? I just saved three of your dogs.

Standing armies do not give me the right to have an opinion. Rights are not of men they are inalienable God given rights, and a document known as the United States Constitution preserved my rights, back when people paid attention to it.

Proof-text?

[Edit: Fixed Quote Box]

 

The point about 4mil being 10 times more than 40,000? I'm not sure what you are getting at? There are 200,000 to 1 million dead Iraqis and another 1-2 million that are refugees. There are 3,000+ dead U.S. soldiers, 10s of thousands more injured and hundreds of thousands that will be seeking care at our veterans hospitals. Do you totally ignore these things...I can't.