War is NOT a Jesus thing

[5stringJeff]

Originally posted by Psychoblues
Many of the propagators of this war in Iraq, as well as the war against terrorism, claim to believe in Jesus, the Christ, the Saviour. How do the teachings of Jesus reconcile your beliefs in WAR? Even the Crusades, that attempted to annialate Islam, proved that war and force would not be successful.

I'm a Christian, I can't for the life of me understand why God-Like aspiring people might embrace WAR of any nature, and much less this one. Maybe overly religious people are drawn to WAR, I am not.

Can't let this one go (though I doubt Psycho will answer directly, as he has shown a pattern of posting and leaving).


How do Christian teachings reconcile with war? First, realize that Jesus understood the reality of war. In fact, He said, 'Do not think that I have come to bring peace. I have come not to bring peace, but a sword.' Jesus did preach love towards others as individuals; He did not preach that no nation should ever make war on another.

During all of Christ's time on earth, not once did He rebuke soldiers for their occupation. In fact, three soldiers hold a place of some honor in the NT. The first is a centurion who Jesus declared to have more faith than any of the Israelites. The second is the centurion at the foot of the cross, who said that "Surely this man was the Son of God." The third was another centurion named Cornelius (if I remember correctly), who was the first Gentile to receive the word of Christ. So it's obvious that Jesus does not look down on soldiers just because of their occupation.

The early church was pacifist in nature; however, Just War Theory as we know it today originated with some of the early church fathers. I think that the US has generally followed the standards of Just War theory - though I'm sure that would be a subject for another thread.