Essay #19: Wars and Rumors of Wars

 by Norman D. Fox -
 
      Jesus said that when we hear of “wars and rumors of wars,” (Matt. 24:6) it would not necessarily signify the end of the world.  Indeed, warfare has been the nearly constant condition of human affairs, and well-meaning efforts to eliminate war have always led to disappointment.  President Woodrow Wilson’s, most enduring quote may be his reference to World War I as “the war to end all wars.”
 
     War has been called “the sum of all human evils,” yet the same war serves in many minds to refute the slogan “War never solved anything.”  Prisoners freed at the eleventh hour from Hitler’s concentration camps might argue that war solved something for them
 
     Historically, Christians have taken sincere positions ranging from total pacifism to the “just war” theory and beyond, some of which are summarized below: 
 
BIBLICAL ARGUMENTS AGAINST WARFARE
      Certainly the Bible says much against violence, leading some to conclude that they are forbidden to engage in war (or even in forceful personal defense) and/or that a Christian nation should never resort to warfare.  Other Christians read those scriptures as warnings to avoid warfare if possible, but resort to it under high ethical standards when necessary.
 
     These arguments from scripture are often made against Christian participation in warfare:
  • Jesus teaches “turning the other cheek” and love of enemies in Matt. 5:38-45.
  • Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate example of not resisting violence (Isa 53:7,     Mark 15:5) teaching us to give up our lives if necessary, and trust God for final victory.
  • Paul in II Cor. 10:3-5 says that Christians do not make war with fleshly weapons, but with spiritual weapons which are more powerful from an eternal perspective.
  • Old Testament physical warfare was conducted by the physical nation of Israel under the direct generalship of God to defend their proper claim to their physical land.  Christians belong to a spiritual kingdom under an entirely different dispensation today.  Indeed, Jesus said “My kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight…” (John 18:46).

THE “JUST WAR” THEORY
     While the term “Christian warfare” may strike us as an oxymoron, many Christians have believed that war is not always avoidable, and should be pursued when necessary on the highest moral grounds by Christian individuals or nations.  This view has developed over the centuries, formalized by theologians such as St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.  
 
      Some of the requirements usually cited as making up the “just war” theory are:
  • Just cause.  This includes at least self-defense or protection of innocents.
  • Right intention.  This means an absence of selfish ulterior motives.
  • Proper authority and public declaration.  Only legitimate governments may wage war, and must not initiate it by surprise attack.
  • Last resort.  All plausible peaceful alternatives must first be exhausted.
  • Proportionality.  The magnitude of the just cause must be weighed against the likelihood of casualties and other evils of warfare.

     A frequent argument against the “just war” theory is that humans are too self-serving to be capable of making the objective judgments necessary to ensure that a war is “just.”
 
WAR AND AMERICA’S FOUNDING FATHERS
      The Americans were already fighting what they considered a justifiable defensive war when they signed the Declaration of Independence.  That document confidently invoked God’s approval, “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions…”  Clearly, they subscribed to some form of a “just war” theory, and felt they had searched their own souls sufficiently during decades of respectful appeals to the British King.
 
      The Articles of Confederation, predecessor to our Constitution, had defined appropriate limits and incorporated rules for warfare, and the Constitution itself substantially preserved this language.  John Jay in the pivotal series of Federalist Papers actually used the term “just causes of war” and its converse, “wars not sanctified by justice” in laying out a moral basis for the Constitution.  Inspired by teachings of great colonial pastors (see Essay #59, part 1 of The Church’s Legacy of Political Influence) and other scholars, they had rejected the “Divine Right of Kings” doctrine which had grown from a distorted reading of scripture (see Essay #54, Unalienable Divine Rights.)   They ultimately denied the legitimacy of King George III to rule America.   
 
      Americans were determined to pursue the oxymoron “Christian warfare,” as nearly as possible.  This produced a remarkably humane war in some respects, which is one aspect of our history that few students are taught today.  (See Essay #13, Psalm 78 and America’s Lost History, p. 2)  There were notable examples of civility, especially on the American side.  For instance, after the miraculous American victory at Saratoga, three United States officers took the pledge of 5000 British prisoners that they would no longer fight, escorted them without assistance from New York to Boston, and put them on ships for home.  The rarity of American atrocities in the War for Independence has generally been matched by the U.S. military ever since.
 
      The Continental Congress often asked the nation to pray, not only for the outgunned American army, but more often for national cleansing from spiritual faults.  A wartime resolution in 1776 called for prayer that the nation might “by a sincere repentance and amendment of life appease His righteous displeasure and, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, obtain pardon and forgiveness.”  Commander Washington often charged his men “to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier.”  Congress had warned the famous Minutemen that the eyes of the whole world were upon them, so they must be sure that “no disorderly behavior, nothing unbecoming our characters as Americans, as citizens and Christians, be justly chargeable to us.”
 
     Now, complicated by rule-defying terrorism,  as America occupies an often-controversial role in world affairs, we can pray that if warfare is necessary, American leaders and military forces will live up to the same standards for which the first generation of Americans strove.
 
For further study:
David Barton, The Spirit of the American Revolution videotape (1994), WallBuilder Press, PO Box 397, Aledo, TX  76008, (817) 441-6044 www.wallbuilders.com.  Also “The American Revolution: Was it an Act of Biblical Rebellion?”  www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissues
 
William Paul, A Christian View of Armed Warfare, 1969, Scripture Supply, PO Box 16337Portland, OR  97216
 
First written May 2011 and revised February 2019. 


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