How do Christians respond to the threat of Islamic terrorism? We can’t ignore the threat like its not happening, or that its not touching our lives, because it is. So, as a nation do we take up arms and fight in a war against ISIS? Will a war eliminate the threat? Should we prepare for open conflict in the streets and cities of America? After all, we know there are radicalized Muslims living all across America. Islamic sympathizers have recently threatened acts of terror on one of America’s most enduring pass times... the Shopping Mall, with specific threats directed at the Mall of America in Minneapolis Minnesota.
These questions and many more like them are troubling for Christians who are trying to proclaim Christ as the solution to the world’s problems. The Gospel, Salvation, Eternal Life, Peace, these are not the things of conflict. Killing our enemies... is that an action consistent with the Christ we profess to follow?
Consider these realities... each year, thousands of Christian homes and churches are torched or bombed by Muslim mobs, and hundreds of Christians, including dozens of priests, pastors and church aid workers are murdered at the hands of Islamic extremists. The so-called justification varies, from charges of apostasy or evangelism, to purported “blasphemy” or “insulting” Islam. Innocent people have even been murdered by radicalized Muslims over cartoons.
Yet, there is little if any violent retaliation from Christians to the discrimination, kidnapping, rape, torture, mutilation, and murder that is routinely reported from nations with Muslim majorities. Neither is there any significant deadly terrorism in the name of Jesus, as there is in the name of Allah each and every day. Muslim clerics in the West do not fear for their safety as do their Christian counterparts in Islamic dominate countries.
The "Christian world" and the Islamic world contrast sharply in human rights, civil liberties and economic opportunity. An astonishing 70% of the world's refugees are Muslims - usually seeking to live in Christian-dominate countries for safety. Why do you suppose that is? Because killing and retaliation is the furthest thing from the mind of Christians, even from those who have and are suffering at the hands of Islamic extremists. Furthermore, Christians do not and have not made life unbearable for Muslim refugees. Muslims however, are killing fellow Muslims in their own Muslim dominate countries.
At some point the slaughter of innocent people, Christian and Muslim, has to end. Negotiation and compromise do not work. Economic opportunity is nothing more than political hyperbole on the part of western leaders. ISIS started the current conflict and it affects are spreading to all corners of the globe. ISIS and radical groups like them have to be stopped. Is conflict the answer? Can any conflict be considered a “just war”?
Many Christians read what the Bible says in Exodus 20:13... the sixth Commandment “You shall not kill,” and immediately apply this command to war... conflicts that cause loss of life. However, the Hebrew words in this commandment literally mean “the intentional, premeditated killing of another person with malice and murderous intent.”
Let’s step back several centuries to ancient Israel and review several events recorded in the Old Testament. God often ordered the Israelites to go to war with other nations (1 Samuel 15:3; Joshua 4:13). God ordered the death penalty for numerous crimes (Exodus 21:12, 15; 22:19; Leviticus 20:11). So, God is not against killing in all circumstances, only murder. War is never a good thing, but sometimes it is a necessary thing. In a world filled with sinful people (Romans 3:10-18), war is inevitable. Sometimes the only way to keep sinful–wicked people from doing great harm to the innocent is by engaging in war.
In the Old Testament, God ordered the Israelites to “take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites” (Numbers 31:2). Deuteronomy 20:16-17 declares, “However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them…as the LORD your God has commanded you.” Also, 1 Samuel 15:18 says, “Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.” Obviously God is not against all war. Jesus is always in perfect agreement with the Father (John 10:30), so we cannot argue that war was only God’s will in the Old Testament but changed to pacifism in the New Testament. God does not change (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17).
Jesus’ second coming will be exceedingly violent. Revelation 19:11-21 describes the ultimate war with Christ, the conquering commander who judges and makes war “with justice” (v. 11). It’s going to be bloody (v. 13) and gory. The birds will eat the flesh of all those who oppose Him (v. 17-18). He has no compassion upon His enemies, whom He will conquer completely and consign to a “fiery lake of burning sulfur” (v. 20). Scary to say the least.
It is an error to say that God never supports a war. Jesus is not a pacifist. In a world filled with evil people, sometimes war is necessary to prevent even greater evil. If Hitler had not been defeated in World War II, how many more millions would have been killed? If the American Civil War had not been fought, how much longer would African-Americans have had to suffer the pain of slavery?
War is a terrible thing. Some wars are more “just” than others, but war is always the result of sin (Romans 3:10-18). At the same time, Ecclesiastes 3:8 declares, “There is…a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.” In a world filled with sin, hatred, and evil (Romans 3:10-18), war is inevitable. Christians should not desire war, but neither are Christians to oppose the government God has placed in authority over them, should conflict become the only option to defending and eventually protecting the innocent (Romans 13:1-4; 1 Peter 2:17).
For centuries many Christians have believed that in any given war, usually one side of the conflict is evil while the other side is righteous or just. In the most basic terms, those who hold this view generally say that the aggressor (the one who starts the war) is guilty of sin, while the defender (the one fighting to repel the aggressor) is not. From the standpoint of the latter, the cause is just and participation in the conflict (even to the point of killing the enemy in self-defense) is morally justified. This is the concept of a “just war.” The following list comes from Arthur F. Holmes, War and Christian Ethics (Baker, 1975), pp. 4, 5.
- A just war must have a just cause, i.e., there must be a just reason for entering the war in the first place. And according to the just war view, The only morally legitimate reason for going to war is self-defense.
- A just war must have a just intent, in terms of what it attempts to accomplish. The only morally legitimate goal in war is the restoration of peace, with justice for both friend and foe. Vengeance, subjugation, and conquest are unjustifiable purposes.
- A just war must be the last resort for resolving a dispute. War should be entered upon only when negotiation, arbitration, compromise, and all other paths fail. Of course, when a nation comes under attack, these more preferable solutions may be impossible.
- A just war must have a lawful declaration by a recognized governmental body. Only lawful government has the right to initiate war, for the use of force is limited to the state and its legally authorized agents; it is never the prerogative of individuals or parties within the state to use force on their own authority.
- A just war acknowledges the immunity of noncombatants. Every effort must be made to avoid involving the non-fighting and non-participating population of the attacking nation in actual combat where casualties may occur. Those not officially serving as agents of the government in its use of force, including POWs and medical personnel and services, should not be permitted to fight and are not to be subjected to violence.
- A just war must have limited objectives. If the purpose of war is peace, then unconditional surrender is an unwarranted objective, as is the destruction of the enemy’s economy or political institutions.
- A just war must be fought with limited means. Only sufficient force should be used to resist violence or restore peace. The criterion for ‘sufficient’ is not decisive victory but the restoration of a just peace.
These principles for a just war seem to be a very neat and reasonable set of rules. All of them, however, are fraught with ambiguity and are subject to individual interpretation. For example, what counts as self-defense? Does this include preemptive strikes? Who qualifies as a combatant? Could combatants include civilian sympathizers? How can such rules be applied in the age of terrorism (ISIS), when enemies are no longer defined in terms of geo-political boundaries?
Despite such difficulties in application, the concept of a “just war” is still valid. The presence of these difficulties, however, makes it all the more crucial that a nation’s leaders, those who must interpret these principles, be men and women of good moral character who have no personal agenda in waging a conflict.
The most important thing Christians can be doing in a time of conflict [war] is to be praying for godly wisdom for our leaders, praying for the safety of our military forces, praying for quick resolution to conflicts, and praying for a minimum of casualties among civilians on both sides (Philippians 4:6-7).
Christians in the 21st Century are living in the New Testament age. Has Jesus given us a way of love and non-resistance that rules out conflict? No. In Matthew 5:38-48... He forbids personal vengeance, as does Paul in Romans 12:17-21. But in the latter context the inspired apostle clearly shows that God executes His own vengeance on evil-doers through the civil government (Romans 13:1-4). In comparing Romans 12:19 with Romans 13:4, we see that even in the Christian era “just conflict” is God's way of providential judgement on evildoers.
It is the God-given duty of the civil government to maintain an environment where justice, peace and hopefully righteousness prevail and where we can live our Christian lives unhindered by the stress of violence (Romans 13:3, 4; 1 Timothy 2:1, 2; 1 Peter 2:13, 14). This must be done even if the government has to resort to the sword. A soldier who participates in warfare on behalf of his government (not in a spirit of personal revenge) is not breaking the sixth Commandment... “Thou shall not Kill.”.
NEXT TIME: How about personal self-defense? What does the Bible teach us about protecting ourselves and those closest to us... our families?
