Tag Archives: pacifism

The Case For Non-Participation: Jesus’ teachings

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As we look at reasons for not participating in any nation’s military, it’s obvious that we need to look at what Jesus taught, as well as the rest of the New Testament. I read a piece by Patrick Mead where he claimed that the only way to support pacifism was to cut certain portions out of the New Testament. While I understand his feeling (I feel the same toward military involvement), such an attitude is counterproductive to biblical discussions. I won’t claim that those who choose to participate ignore Scripture. I disagree with them on how to interpret certain passages. And I think their interpretation is more reflective of our culture and society than it is of biblical teaching.

At some point, we have to take the Sermon on the Mount (and the Sermon on the Plain in Luke) seriously. The sayings are hard. As I’ve written about before, some want to explain them away through various creative strategies. But we can’t get away from the fact that Jesus taught that it’s better to let an evil man have his way than to retaliate. Turning the other cheek, letting people rob us and take advantage of us, loving enemies… none of these things are easy nor come naturally. Jesus was saying that what is natural isn’t right, that we have to overcome our human impulses and replace them with spiritual ones.

“Those who live by the sword die by the sword.” These words were spoken as a rebuke, not merely as a commentary on life. Jesus wasn’t just saying that his disciples weren’t to defend him at that moment. He was saying that there are those who live by the sword… and they aren’t us! We aren’t them. Jesus’ followers are not to live by the sword.

What about the New Testament passages that talk about Jesus coming to execute judgment on his enemies? Aren’t those violent passages? Of course they are. Which is why Paul reminds us that vengeance belongs to God. He will do it. Just as we aren’t to judge because there is only one judge, we aren’t to avenge because there is only one avenger. Passages that show God doing violence argue against our doing the same.

We live in a militarized society. That colors the way we read Scripture. It leads us to look for every exception and every loophole to allow us to follow the current of our culture. We need to recapture the countercultural spirit. We need to seek to be a holy people. Jesus called us to a higher standard. I think we need to stop trying to talk our way around that and merely seek to live it.

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?