Tag Archives: Military

Maybe the early Christians got it wrong

21 Replies

Photo by Ove Tøpfer; from Stock Xchange

I just don’t see it. I’ve read through the New Testament multiple times, and I just don’t see it. I don’t see any evidence of Christians using power, power as the world defines it, to shape their world. Yes, they used the power of the Spirit, the power of words, the power of prayer, etc. But where are the examples of the use of physical force, for example to advance the Kingdom or even to protect Kingdom followers? Where is the political maneuvering to achieve their goals?

“Well, there just weren’t enough of them.” Are you kidding me? If you haven’t done so, read the last post. God prefers to work with the minority.

“Well, maybe they did that, and we just don’t have record of it.” That’s possible, although it seems strange that something that has become such a central part of Christians’ lives today could have been so unimportant then that it wasn’t recorded.

Or am I missing the examples? I read Acts 12 and try to imagine how it would have played out today. James is arrested and killed. Peter is arrested. And the church is just praying and “singing Kumbayah” while Peter is in prison. That’s ridiculous. Storm the prison. Kill the guards. Free the Christians who are held unjustly. Set an example so that Christians in the 21st century will know what God expects of them.

Instead, they depended on God. Wimps. Weaklings. These are the people that one prominent brotherhood speaker says he has no use for. Pick up a sword and fight, you cowards. If God could use Samson and Gideon to win battles against extraordinary odds, He can help you defeat the evil Herod.

Or do you mean to tell me that with thousands of Christians in Jerusalem, they couldn’t take over the Sanhedrin? Or form a rival Sanhedrin to make just decisions? If they’d done that, rather than focus on prayer and the Word, we’d have the examples we need to know how to conduct ourselves.

What am I missing here? Some of you know the writings of the early church better than I. Maybe the church in the second and third century began to use the tools of the world in a way I’m not aware of.

Or do we seriously think that our lives should be so focused on power issues like war and politics when those things are absent from the early church? Does pragmatism trump spirituality?

Maybe you can convince me.

Are you going to kill me?

34 Replies

In exploring our allegiance to our Christian nation versus our allegiance to an earthly kingdom, it might help to view a case study. I know that there is a danger in the use of hypothetical situations, but maybe they can help us stretch our thinking a bit.

Last year, Governor Rick Perry of Texas suggested that Texas might be better off seceding from the United States. I doubt that he was serious in the least, but let’s play with that idea a bit. What if Texas seceded from the Union, followed by some of the other southern states? If a civil war broke out, would you advise Christians to participate in that war?

I guess I’d like to know, just for future reference, which of my brothers would choose to kill me under those circumstances. I doubt I’d be a primary target, but I could be “collateral damage” if Dyess Air Force Base were attacked. Would you kill me?

Should Alabama Christians be bearing arms against their California brethren? Would Christians who have locked arms in fellowship now take pot shots against one another?

Which of you plan to kill my son? He’s of military age. Who will kill my nephews? I’ve got one that is in the military. It would help me be better prepared for that time to come if I knew which of my brothers would be willing to pull the trigger on my family. In similar discussions, I’ve been told that it really doesn’t matter if opposing soldiers are Christians or not. So why don’t we get it out in the open beforehand?

It happened before. It could happen again.

It wouldn’t hurt to decide beforehand where our loyalties lie. Which kingdom takes precedence? Which loyalty is greater? Which master will we serve?

Feel free to comment below, choosing one of the two positions:

  • Sure, I’d kill any of my Christian brothers who were on the wrong side.
  • No, my Christian nation is more important to me. No kingdom of this world can tell me to kill my brothers.

A House Divided

4 Replies

In the last post, we explored a bit the concept of the Kingdom of God as an actual nation. I want to continue to discuss this idea. In a recent post, Patrick Mead discussed some of the implications of rebellion and Christians taking part in such. He wrote: “I cannot imagine a situation in which it would be right for me to call upon my congregation to take up arms and fire upon our own soldiers or policemen.”

As some who commented on the last post pointed out, this same reasoning needs to be applied to our Christian nation. Isn’t it even more inconceivable that members of the same family, the same body, the same holy nation should take up arms against one another? “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another…” unless you find it necessary to shoot one another. Really? Is that what we really believe?

If we understand the fact that we Christians form a single nation, the idea of us taking up arms against one another becomes unthinkable. A house divided against itself cannot stand. We cannot demonstrate love for one another while attempting to kill one another.

Our highest allegiance must be to our true citizenship, to the heavenly nation that we form a part of. The world will never see that as long as we place earthly nationalism above heavenly loyalty. Christians must refuse to place themselves in a situation where they could be called upon to attack fellow Christians.

Jay Guin on Pacifism

Leave a reply

Jay Guin is doing an interesting study on pacifism over on his blog. That’s a topic that I would like to explore sometime; for now, I’ll just point you to Jay’s works and the discussion over there. Pacifism and nonviolence are difficult topics because emotions enter into the discussion, making it hard to work from a base of logic and reason.

I haven’t agreed with some of his conclusions, but I always respect Jay’s study methods. Here are the links to the posts so far:

Introduction
The Early Church
David Lipscomb and Civil Government
John Howard Yoder, Part 1
Part 2
A Culture of Life, Part 1
Part 2
A Thought Experiment
Fitting Government into the Story
A Reply to Guy
Pacifism:  Police and Defensive War, Part 1
Pacifism: In Answer to Tim’s and Guy’s Questions
Pacifism: Police and Defensive War, Part 2

If you’d like to discuss any of the comments I’ve made along the way, feel free to comment here.

When fear leads us away from God, Pt. II

Leave a reply

scaredThe book of 1 Samuel offers us another lesson about the effects of fear. In chapter 13, Saul has his armies gathered to fight the Philistines. They are waiting for Samuel, the priest, to come and offer a sacrifice, beseeching God’s favor. They waited and waited, but Samuel didn’t come. The Israelites grew scared and began to scatter. Saul, seeing that he was losing his army, decided to wait no longer. He offered the sacrifice, even though he knew that wasn’t his job. Samuel arrived soon after and rebuked him for what he’d done.

Why did Saul offer the sacrifice? The immediate catalyst was fear. He was losing his army and didn’t think he could win without that military power.

Now look at chapter 14. Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a different perspective on things. He was willing to attack the Philistines, going into battle with only his armor bearer by his side. How could he attack like that when his father was afraid to do it without the help of an entire army? He remembered what his father didn’t. “Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few.” (1 Samuel 14:6)

That’s the thought that can drive out fear. When we depend on men, fear will be a natural part of our lives. And it will lead us to ungodly actions. But if we can remember that all that matters is whether or not the Lord is on our side, fear will no longer be a part of our lives. Saul feared because he focused on his army. That fear led him to sin against God. Jonathan was brave, not because of his own skill, but because of his trust in God. And he did great things by God’s power.