Rev. David Holwick G
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 23, 2003
Deuteronomy 20:1-4
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I. Wheaton College, 1974.
A. Mandatory ROTC classes. (Last Christian college to have this)
Irony - I had turned down a 4-year full ROTC scholarship.
Main writing assignment at Wheaton ROTC: The Just War Theory.
This was the first time I had to wrestle with the radical
teachings of Jesus.
B. Should Christians always oppose war?
Many Christians are speaking out against intervention in
Iraq.
President Bush's pastor even made a television ad
challenging him to disavow war.
The local Roxbury Clergy Council is considering a peace
vigil.
What would Jesus want YOU to do?
C. The earliest Christians did not serve in armies.
1) There is no record of a Christian soldier before AD 170.
2) Pagans criticized them for not defending the empire.
a) Why defend a government that persecutes church?
3) War was thought to be incompatible with demands of Christ.
Tertullian: "If we are commanded to love our enemies,
whom are we to hate? If injured, we are forbidden to
retaliate. Who then can suffer injury at our hands?"
4) Legalization of church under Constantine changed attitudes.
a) Compromise with culture, or realistic response?
II. Jesus and pacifism.
A. Jesus came in peace.
1) The Old Testament predicted he would be the Prince of peace.
2) At his birth the angels announced "peace on earth."
3) When he was arrested, he did not resist, though he could
have called upon thousands of angels.
4) When his disciples defended him, Jesus healed the wound
they caused.
B. Jesus taught peace.
1) Love your enemies.
2) Turn the other cheek.
3) Do not resist evil people.
C. How far do we take it?
1) Should his teachings be taken literally?
a) Mennonites and Quakers do.
1> They also live in rural areas far from war zones.
b) Many of Jesus' teachings are exaggerated - pluck out
eyes for lust, etc.
1> Is his teaching on pacifism in the same vein?
2) Is it limited to heaven or a perfect realm on earth?
a) It would be easy to be a pacifist in the millennium.
b) It is far more difficult in Bethlehem or Baghdad.
c) However, a few people have been pacifists in the
worst circumstances. Is this the "narrow way"?
III. Why most Christians are not pacifist.
A. We believe in the depravity of human beings.
1) Pacifism invites the wicked to run amok without fear of
punishment.
a) (What would Saddam Hussein give UN if no troops there?)
b) Unchecked, evil will spread over the earth.
2) Like individual human beings, but only more so,
nations are selfish and need to be constrained.
a) God instituted government to restrain evil. Romans 13
1> Police for local justice.
2> Armies for international justice.
b) It bears the sword for this reason.
1> Personal ethics in both the OT and NT call for
forgiveness and non-retaliation.
2> National ethics does not.
B. Augustine's five principles of a Just War.
1) A just war must have justice and good as its goal.
2) It must be motivated by love, even love for the enemy the
Christian is seeking to kill.
3) War must be conducted with a minimum of cruelty.
4) It must be declared by a legitimate authority.
(Public authorities, not private citizens)
5) It must be started only as a last resort.
IV. The reality is harsher than the theory.
A. The church has not been effective at restraining war.
1) It tried to make war illegal on certain days.
2) Bishops could lead armies but not shed blood.
a) Instead of using swords, they used maces (crushing).
B. The church's own wars have been the worst.
1) Crusades. (one target was Christian Constantinople)
2) Wars against heretics and other denominations.
C. Often, we sound like a rubber-stamp for godless government.
After Mark Twain's death, a paper was found in his belongings.
He had submitted it to his publisher but they had rejected it.
It was a short story about a church dedication service for
a group of its young soldiers who were marching off to war.
The pastor gave a long and eloquent prayer.
At the end of the service an old man stepped up to the pulpit.
He began a prayer of his own:
"O Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts,
go forth to battle -- be Thou near them! [...]
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds
with our shells;
Help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of
their patriot dead;
Help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of
their wounded, writhing in pain; [...]
We ask it, in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of
Love... Amen."
#20803
V. Spiritual principles.
A. We do not live in a perfect world.
1) But we can make it a better world.
2) Love is more effective than violence.
a) We can overcome evil with good.
B. We must oppose evil.
1) We cannot be lulled into thinking all people are basically
decent and well-intentioned. They are not.
2) But understand that we ourselves can become evil.
3) Power is always dangerous and tempting.
C. The real war is a spiritual war.
1) Our enemies are spiritual more than temporal (human).
2) Our weapons are not the world's weapons.
3) Our general is not like the world's generals.
a) Armageddon and Second Coming.
b) Rev. 19:11 - with justice he judges and makes war.
1> (we lack his insight)
c) Yet he defeats his enemies with words from his mouth.
d) The blood on his garments is his own. Rev 19
VI. Whose side are you on?
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#20803 "The War Prayer," Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), 1905, found at
http://www.geocities.com/athens/4824/war-prayer.htm
This and 20,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Notes from articles:
Christianity Today, October 24, 1988.
"Between War and Peace," by Robert Culver
I. Early church was not involved in military.
A. None in the army before AD 170.
1) Celsus criticized Christians for not defending empire.
2) Military careers were not approved by Christian leaders.
B. Reasons given for non-involvement:
1) War is incompatible with demands of Christ.
Tertullian:
"If we are enjoined to love our enemies, whom are we
to hate? If injured, we are forbidden to retaliate.
Who then can suffer injury at our hands?"
2) The empire needs prayer warriors as well as soldiers.
3) Why defend a government that persecutes church?
4) Their only citizenship was heaven.
a) (political citizenship was rare for Christians)
5) Any government office involved compromise with idolatry.
6) Expectation of second coming.
C. Legalization of church under Constantine changed attitudes.
II. Augustine's synthesis of faith and war.
A. Goal of war must be peace.
B. Purpose must be to secure justice.
C. Must be waged in love.
D. Decided by rulers, not private citizens.
E. Must be conducted with minimum of cruelty.
1) Just war is permissible in an evil world.
2) Church had little success in limiting war and atrocities.
III. Reformation.
A. Romans 13 gives authority of civil government.
1) Humans are lawless and sinners.
2) Civil government must restrain them.
IV. Anabaptists.
A. Clear teaching of Scripture.
1) Jesus' followers do not fight. John 18:36
2) They do not use earthly weapons. 2 Cor 10:4
3) They are commanded to love their enemies. Matt 5:43
4) Evil must be overcome with good. Rom 12:21
5) Christ's kingdom is not of this world.
B. Example of Christ.
1) He is the Prince of Peace.
2) He did not resist evildoers.
3) He healed the high priest's ear.
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Christianity Today, April 9, 1982.
"Justice Is Something Worth Fighting For," by Robert Culver
"Why Christians Shouldn't Carry Swords," by John Drescher
I. Public vs. private ethic.
A. OT commands on non-retaliation.
II. Reasons to reject pacifism: CT 4/9/82, pp. 16-19
A. We believe in the depravity of human beings.
1) Pacifism invites wicked power to do its wickedness
without fear of punishment.
2) Unchecked, evil will spread over the earth.
3) Like individual human beings, but only more so,
nations are selfish.
B. We believe we are our brother's keeper.
1) Pacifists acknowledge world is wicked, but say we
must choose way of peace and love.
2) But we should protect the life and (religious) freedom
of all humans even at cost of our own lives.
a) There are values greater than the loss of human
life.
III. Augustine's Doctrine of Just War. CT 4/9/82, pp. 16-19
A. War is always the result of human evil.
1) We must be willing to oppose this evil.
2) Evil people and nations must be opposed with force.
a) Human governments were instituted for this reason. Rom13
b) It has been given the sword to restrain wickedness.
B. Augustine's four principles:
1) A just war must have justice and good as its goal.
2) It must be motivated by love, even love for the enemy the
Christian is seeking to kill.
3) It must engage in no unnecessary violence.
a) It must be waged only against the agents of war.
4) A just war can never be private attempts at justice, but
collective action by rulers of the state.
IV. Four alternatives in our dangerous world. CT 4/9/82, pp. 16-19
A. Our nation could opt for pacifism.
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From Christianity Today Online:
Stanley Hauerwas argued the Christian pacifist position that violence is
never justified. Hauerwas, professor of theological ethics at Duke
University Divinity School, said pacifism is essential to the Christian
faith. "It's not like you believe in Jesus, and then something about
nonviolence might follow," he told Christianity Today. "Nonviolence and
what it means to be a disciple of Christ are constitutive of one
another."
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