CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
October 3, 2004
PLEASE LIFT UP THE FOLLOWING:
Our congregation Our college students
Our nation, military and leaders Various friends, relatives and co-workers
David and Leon in the Navy
COMING UP:
Oct. 30 - Hobo Party at the Cruthirds
RADICAL DISCIPLESHIP WITH GOVERNMENT
“Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s (Luke 20:25).
The disciple’s relationship with government has always been debated and again today because of the war in Iraq and with terrorism. On one side there are the words of Jesus, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Therefore war is wrong for the Christian and the disciple should not even support war. All wars are unjust. We should practice the words of Jesus to turn the other cheek. If we do not believe that this will work then we lack faith in the words of Jesus and are more in tuned to culture. On the other side is “love your neighbor.” This view says that we have the responsibility to help our neighbor if he is under attack. There is such a thing as a “just war” and that if we follow the ideas formed over the centuries to such an idea, then we can go to war. And there are views in between these.
I think there are good points on both sides. So how should a follower of Jesus deal with government and war? Let’s look at some scriptures and then try to work out a radical idea of our relationship to government.
It is clear from scripture that God rules the universe (see Psalm 29:10). “He changes the times and seasons; he sets up kings and deposes them” (Daniel 2:21). In Acts 17:26, Paul tells the Greeks that God set the times and places people would live. In Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar was the ruler and in Acts it was Nero. In the prophets God called several nations and rulers servants though neither recognized Yahweh as God. In Romans 13, Paul states that God has established the authorities and that they are God’s servants, bearing the sword “an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.” In the Hebrew scriptures (and in Revelation), God often used other nations to punish people. Israel punished Canaan (see Genesis 15:12-16). Assyria and Babylon punished Israel. And God makes it clear that He is the One doing this (see Deuteronomy 32 and Amos 4). Then there is Jesus’ statement to give to Caesar what is his. Sorting all of this out is difficult if not impossible. And since we do not have prophets today, it becomes a guessing game at best and arrogance at worse.
The pacifist uses love of enemies to state that we should avoid war. Christians should not be in the military, or if so, oppose an unjust war rather than obeying without thinking. Since Christians are on both sides of this issue, that becomes the debate. Propaganda emphasizes hating one’s enemy and government encourages this. There is a confusion here in using Matthew 5. Is Jesus speaking to individuals, nations or both? In reading the pacifist point of view, they seem to mix them, saying that a nation should practice it. It seems so simple in their eyes. Some question arise in my mind. If my neighbor is attacked, is it not right to come to his aid? Or closer to home, if my wife is attack, and I have the means to intervene, using whatever force is necessary, should I not do that? What priorities do we have? Is the love of enemies more important than loving neighbor? Is either more important than loving one another as disciples?
A complaint from some is calling certain nations evil. In our age of political correctness, making such a value judgment is considered wrong. Yet God was angry with Israel and put them under a woe when they called what was evil good and what was good evil (Isaiah 5:20). Even Jesus did this, especially in connection with speech, identifying evil and good speech (Matthew 12:33-36). Is there evil out there? Yes, without a doubt! There are rulers who abuse their people with starvation, who persecute those who do not agree with them, and murder at will. Should we ignore this? Is that loving our neighbor or our enemy? Is that loving God who created humans in His image (Genesis 9:6)? I don’t think so. Does that make everyone who lives in an enemy nation an enemy? No. God has raised up nations for reasons that we do not always understand. He raised up the current President for certain purposes, one of which could be to face the terrorists who have enslaved millions. I don’t know. It is something to consider.
Let’s look at our history for a minute. We are not perfect but we have faced our wrongs and attempt to make corrections. Unfortunately it has often been done after much bloodshed. We fought the Germans and the Japanese in World War II. It was bloody and hate motivated many. Hindsight sees revenge as motives to some actions like the fire bombings of Tokyo and Germany and the dropping of atomic bombs on two cities in Japan. But after four years of bloody warfare in the Pacific, the thought of millions of causalities in invading Japan was terrifying to the leaders at that time. While this might seem callous, the dropping of the atomic bombs could be considered a motivation out of loving one’s neighbor to prevent further bloodshed. When it was over we found how horrific these societies treated their own citizens and others. R. J. Rummel has done us a service in his studies which he entitled Death by Government. He said that free societies rarely if ever go to war against each other; they work out their differences. But closed or dictatorial societies abuse their own people in times of peace to the point that in the 20th Century over 150 million people died at the hands of their own governments. I think that the United States built its base on Biblical foundations, loved our enemies and turned them into neighbors. And are we not attempting to do this in Iraq? Our enemies there were those who sponsored terrorism. We have brought supplies and hope to a formerly enslaved people. Yes it cost the lives of some. Yet we made a great and consecrated effort to avoid collateral damage. While there have been abuses (because sinful man is involved in this), for the most part positive things are happening.
Evil must be taken into account and faced. How well have the pacifist views worked? I’m sure they would argue that those views haven’t been tried hard enough and long enough for them to work. How long is long enough? Even God’s patience has limits. M. Gandhi is often mentioned as an example. He wanted the British to turn over rule of India to Indians. So he “peacefully” protested. Eventually the British left. However Gandhi has a darker side that isn’t often mention and a number of people died, both Indian and British. Nevelle Chamberlain attempted to find “peace in our time” by appeasing Hitler in the later 30s in Europe. On September 1, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and plunge the world into war. Evil cannot be appeased. During the war, theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer attempted to live the pacifist view in Nazi Germany. But in 1943 he eventually saw the evil of Hitler, became involved in a failed attempt to assassinate him, and was arrested, imprisoned and executed in April 1945. Martin Luther King Jr. likewise used a pacifist worldview to make changes in the racial views of America. His lead I think brought about changes. Unfortunately, there were those who preferred violence and the turmoil of the 60s occurred. And while King advocate no revenge, today there are those who want to be paid for the effects of racism. Unfortunately too, some Christians were racists (and still are) rather than loving one’s neighbor. Makes one think, especially in churches of Christ, how that God is no respecter of persons, that we can justify such a position.
I think that we should make every effort to avoid war. It is easy for those of us who have not been in battle to speak of war but with more stories being told by World War II veterans, one can quickly see that it is inhuman, it brings out more than the worse in people, and that it leads to or causes ungodly attitudes. By the same token, I’m thankful that there are Christians in the military and in government. I think it is here that balance and patience can be brought to bear on difficult situations and choices. I don’t think Christians want to run off to war, especially today, but they also recognize the dangers of evil.
But there is also a danger when Christians are in control if they are not radical disciples. History is full of Christianity fighting wars among each other. Before the Muslims used the sword as convert or died, Christians did. Not a positive view of Christianity, is it. When Christians controlled governments in Europe, there was the threat of following the beliefs of the state or being persecuted including horrible deaths for those defined as heretics. And others such as the Jews where likewise threatened. Evil can arise even among Christians. Even today, there are those who argue that we need to be a “Christian” nation to the point of anti-Semitism and racism; no one who is not like us can belong. And why didn’t we intervene in Rwanda’s civil war between two tribes, both of whom had Christian influences? What happened there?
Radical living in relation to government then involves Biblical principles. One could chose not to vote; some have advocated that (David Lipscomb and Jim McGuiggan for different reasons). Others might become conscientious objectors. Quakers have taken this position, served as medical personnel in the military saving lives rather than taking them. Other objectors have paid a price for such refusal. Some members of the church were imprisoned for refusing to serve during World War I. Frank Worgan, an English preacher refused to serve during World War II and was imprisoned for over a year. If I remember right, it was either because of pacifist views or he thought the war was wrong on other grounds, and I admire is willingness to take such a stand. He served a congregation where a number of U.S. Air Force personnel worshipped and I attended a number of times. Radical discipleship is living with my views even if I do not agree with yours. I might be a pacifist and you are not. We can still work together even though we disagree here. I’m not a pacifist by the way. This means we need to pray for our enemies and treat them in godly ways even if they do not do so to us.
There is certainly much more to this. Individually, I chose to love my enemies and seek what is best for them. But I also chose to love my neighbors and if necessary get involved in rescuing them. As a nation, I would want to encourage the same though it is difficult. Maybe we will talk more about this later.
George B. Mearns