A Christian approach to war

Are you in favor of the constional right of free speech or against it? It seems as if many people or in favor of it as long as it supports their point of view?

 

LE, your view of war seems to be very OT; lots of 'smiting' of unbelievers, etc. That is not the pattern I discern in the NT, however. Both Jesus and Paul taught submission to the civil government as ordained by God, no matter how 'ungodly' that government was (and they didn't come much more ungodly than Ancient Rome); Jesus similiarly preached non-violence in the Sermon on the Mount. Both of these principles, particularly the latter, should inform the Christian approach to war; not necessarily in favour of pacifism, but in the ways of conducting wars referred to in my post on the first page of this thread, and not in the way of a blanket assumption that the US military are automatically being 'salt and light', simply by virute of their being the US military

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

That's exactly my point. That what is considered to be in the best interest of the US is not something that is firm or stagnant.

OTOH, when allies like, say Germany and France, discourage us to go to war, we all of a sudden question their allegience. Hence, views on war alone are not necessarily suffifient litmust tests for what constitutes an ally.

 

Not me. I don't blame France or Germany for not having wanted to get into the quagmire in Iraq. I wish our officials had been as smart.

 

No. But I would say that illegally circumventing and undermining trade restriction resolutions (based on signed treaties) comes very close.

It is quite apparent that many of our "allies", especially the French, were in league with Saddam. Kind of calls in question their motives for opposing our war plans, huh? Especially considering that many aspects of the "Oil-for-Food" scandal would not have come to light if Saddam had still been in power... perhaps none of them. Certainly the political dynamics would have been much more favorable to the violating parties.

 

Huh? Never heard of wickedness in high places, etc. - in the NT. Principalities? Huh? Put on the whole armor of God, etc. NT. Do not forget Iraq has been under demonic influence probably longer than any other geographical area in the World. It is the birth place of civilization. Where sin first entered into the world. Where rebellion against God entered onto the earthly scene. Tower of Babel. Babylon.

Gotcha. The people who are in bondage under evil madmen like Saddam, and women in particular in Afghanistan, under the Taliban, oh, we should have just let them rot and fill up the mass graves and be subject to their civil government, as it was ordained by God. If they would have known any better, they would have been born somewhere free. Great Christian concept, Bro. Matt. But perhaps you are right about that, it would have saved the blood of American and British troops being spilled on the ground, so I'm with you on that. And those people don't appreciate all we've done anyway. It would have been the easy road, for sure. Blessed is the Peacemaker.

I included the Brits in the salt and light blanket assumption, don't forget - Coalition Forces.

No hard feelings, Matt Black. You're my favorite limey.

 

LE, thanks for that, I think

I personally take the NT as fulfilling and interpreting the Old; thus all the 'smiting' and 'exterminate, exterminate' (at the risk of sounding like a Dalek!) passages in Deuteronomy and Joshua have, for me, to be interpreted in the light of NT passages such as Jesus' preaching in Matt 5-7, and I would interpret the Eph 6 'full armour' passage similarly. For me, any Christian approach to war has to be informed by that kind of interpretative framework.

Thank you for including the British army in the 'salt and light' category, but I am not sure we merit this designation any more than the Americans. I find it odd that you and others elsewhere complain - rightly in many instances - that American society has rejected Christian vales (particularly in your blue states I guess) and yet somehow illogically leap to a statement that that same society has produced an army that is 'salt and light', bearing the light of righteousness to all it touches...

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

As a footnote to the above, consider this:-

http://www.singingmountain.org/bush-versus-jesus.jpg

I particularly liked the reference to the war on terror.

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

Lady Eagle,

I'm still trying to resolve your "if one person comes to Christ it was worth it" position.

Some have come to Christ as a result of the 9/11 attacks. Does that mean that the attacks, too, were justified and right?

 

Matt, it is a new age site, so not surprising how they would pick and choose scripture to bash Bush and war on terror. C'mon, man. I wasn't born yesterday. Isn't the kundalini thingy about raising the serpent consciousness in the spine/sexual blah, blah mystical whatever. It's satanic garbage. And their pic of Jesus was effeminate. What an insult!

 

I asked a rhetorical question, PA Jim, go back and read my post.

 

I've no idea where it comes from; someone emailed it to me and I just thought it was rather ironic. If I've offended and breached BB rules, I apologise and invite the mods to delete the link (I've also posted it on the 'Govt obligation' thread if the mods need to know so they can delete it there too). Regardless of the source, however, some good points made IMO on the OT/NT worldviews...

Yours in Christ

Matt

 

LOL, check out your sources, Matt, LOL. They forgot the most important Bible verse of all:

"I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

And, yes, the link should be deleted. (Don't feel bad, after I posted a Stormtroopers link one time, I learned the lesson well of checking out the home page - it happens.)

 

I asked a rhetorical question, PA Jim, go back and read my post. </font>[/QUOTE]But even a rhetorical question has a point...and I disagree with the point you were making. Unless I don't understand what you meant.