Tag Archives: Military

The Case for Non-Participation: The Powers

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I should have clarified in the last post that I’m specifically talking about non-participation in the military. The term “pacifism” brings lots of different ideas to mind, so I thought the term “non-participation” might be more helpful.

As I said before, the second major topic is that of the powers. In the biblical world view, the spiritual world and the physical world are connected. They aren’t identical, like in pantheism, but they aren’t separated by a great gulf, like deism. Specifically, Satan and his allies are at work in this world, just as God and his hosts are at work in this world. The Western mind has trouble accepting that; biblical writers wouldn’t have questioned it.

The nations are deceived and controlled by Satan (Luke 4:6; John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; 1 John 5:19; Revelation 20). They seek their own survival above all. In the Bible, Israel was to seek God and trust that He would see to their survival, but they had a hard time with that. They wanted to be like the nations around them, and they eventually got their wish.

Every nation, no matter how good or how evil, sets itself up as an object of worship. They demand obedience. Pledges and oaths. Talk of allegiance and loyalty. History taught in a way to instill civic pride and patriotism.

Even as the Bible teaches that authorities are to be respected and obeyed, it also warns us that the powers behind these authorities are limited by God, but they are not godly themselves. When God’s Kingdom comes in its fullness, they will not be a part of that Kingdom. They will be destroyed as the enemies they are. (1 Corinthians 15:24)

Though we live among the nations as strangers and exiles, living out a diplomatic mission as ambassadors of Christ, we are not to make ourselves a part of these nations. Their wars are not our wars. Just as the powers they serve are not our God, so their aims and goals are not those of our God. We are soldiers, but it’s a different army with different weapons.

Paul warns against trying to eat at the table of demons and at the table of the Lord. We can’t serve two masters.

The Case for Non-Participation: Citizenship

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The strongest argument for non-participation has to do with a Christian’s citizenship. It’s a case I’ve made before, but I feel strongly enough about it to address it again. To be honest, I think that a true understanding of citizenship limits a lot of the nationalistic expressions and patriotic stances that I see in Christians in the United States.

For many, there almost seems to be a conflation of the Kingdom of God and the nation of the United States. (“God bless the U.S.A.” is less about God and more about the U.S. A.) What’s good for the U.S. is good for God. That attitude runs contrary to what I see in the Bible, where Christians are to live as strangers and aliens, seeking a heavenly city rather than an earthly one.

No man can serve two masters. No one serving as a soldier in the Lord’s service should be distracted by the “civilian affairs” of this world. You can’t be an ambassador of one nation and full-fledged citizen of another.

We are citizens of a nation that spans all earthly borders, includes all nations and races, speaks every earthly tongue. The good of every person on this earth is our business. The welfare of every nation on earth is our concern. Our main prayer is that we be able to lead quiet lives, able to spread the good news of God’s reign.

I don’t see how serving in the military of any one country can fit with that stance. Again, I’m in no place to condemn those who make a different choice. But I know that growing up, I never heard this teaching. I thought patriotism was a natural part of Christianity and military service a necessary part of patriotism. My aim is to help others at least recognize that they are making a choice, one that can have powerful consequences.

Hypotheticals and Hitler

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I’m always intrigued both those who claim to be able to rewrite history, even in hypothetical form. From those who claim that Africa would be a major world power were it not for colonialism to those who claim that it was U.S. meddling in Latin America that destroyed many countries’ economies, these people seem to have an insight into history that most of us can’t claim. You would think that Marty McFly and his time-traveling DeLorean would have shown us the intricacies of altering the flow of time, but we don’t seem to have learned our lesson.

When discussing Christian non-participation in warfare, many say that a world history without Christians fighting in wars would be a story of horror after horror. Many point to Adolph Hitler as the ultimate example. “What if we hadn’t stood up to Hitler?”

It seems to me that if we’re going to play the hypothetical game with Hitler, there’s another point to be considered. What if the German Christians had refused to fight? 94% of the German population identified itself as Christian in the 1939 census. What if they had said no to nationalism? What if they had refused to be pawns in a political game? What if the church had consistently taught the preeminence of our heavenly citizenship over our earthly one?

During World War I, the Kaiser’s armies had marched into battle with belt buckles that read “God is with us.” What if Christians everywhere roundly rejected the notion that God chooses sides during war? What if the Christian church around the world had consistently taught pacifism through the centuries?

We wouldn’t have had to worry about Hitler.

Obviously, it’s folly to think we can change one aspect of history without seeing an infinite number of changes. The entire course of history would have changed long before the 20th century had Christians everywhere refused to fight. But if you want to ask “What about Hitler?” then you should be prepared to really examine the question.

No greater love

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I’ll continue the series on non-participation soon, but I’m not quite ready to do that.

In the meantime, I wanted to share something that has troubled me at times. It came up again this Memorial Day. When talking about soldiers and their sacrifices, people like to quote John 15:13—”Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

It’s hard for me to connect the words of a man going to die on a cross with what soldiers do. One gave himself willingly over to his enemies; one prefers to see his enemies die rather than die himself. One died not only on behalf of his friends but also on behalf of his enemies (which would be us, according to Romans 5:10); it’s almost a given that soldiers work off of an us/them mentality.

As far as laying down one’s life, I rarely see soldiers choosing to give up their lives. Admittedly, they choose to risk their lives. But apart from suicide attacks, like the kamikaze pilots in WWII, few soldiers go into battle planning to lay down their lives.

It seems to me that using these words in this way ignores most of what Jesus was trying to say. Or am I wrong?

Making a Case For Non-Participation

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I’m going to shift terms a bit. Since the term “pacifism” brings up many different images in people’s minds, I’m going to focus for now on non-participation, that is, Christians abstaining from military service. I’ll try and lay out some of the reasoning in today’s post, then work on the individual ideas over the next few days.

First, and foremost for me, is the subject of citizenship. That’s a major topic on this blog, one that some grow tired of. I don’t tire of speaking about it, because I see so much confusion around me on the topic. The saying: “The Bible says that we should be good citizens” rarely goes unchallenged. (I agree that the Bible says we should be good citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, but that’s rarely what the person making such a statement is talking about). I believe that when discussing the idea of citizenship, the saying: “No man can serve two masters” fully applies. As a citizen of the Kingdom of Christ, I can’t afford to become entangled in the affairs of another kingdom.

The second topic that comes into play is that of the powers behind the nations of this world. We too often buy into a Western point of view, a sort of dualism that separates the physical and the spiritual. That’s not a biblical world view. Though God uses and limits the kingdoms of this world, they are under Satan’s rule. I’m fully aware of how that sounds to Western ears; I’m asking us to try and see things from a different world view, what I think is a more biblical world view. In the Bible we see a direct relation between spiritual powers and the nations of this world.

The third topic has to do with Jesus’ specific teachings which place limits on the use of force. Obviously this is included in the first point, for if we are members of Christ’s Kingdom, His teachings about how to live in that Kingdom apply to us. While He did not come to contradict the Law, He did come to redefine much of it. His words “You have heard it said… but I say…” were part of a re-envisioning the Law. Where vengeance was once part of the code, forgiveness has replaced it. Where there was once a defining of “neighbor” and “enemy,” Christ applies love across all lines. Where the limit was once the taking of life, now Christ even forbids anger and hatred. I’ll even include here what Paul says about leaving all revenge to God. (And the teaching of Revelation, as discussed last week)

A practical consideration has to do with the deceit and trickery that surrounds modern government and modern warfare. Somehow we seem to be so aware of this element when it comes to matters of domestic policy, yet are willfully blind to it in military matters. Attempts to peek behind the curtain are labeled “bashing America” or being unsupportive of our troops.

That should be enough to start the discussion. I’ll probably add more as the discussion goes. But those general areas should be enough to get us started.