Self Defense - An excerpt from my Book
What about military service? Most Christians would say don’t serve; or if you do enlist, do so as a conscientious objector so as not to serve in battle. I also thought that would be my case, as I could easily give my life for my beliefs. Then the Lord asked me to think of certain scenarios. Yes, God will talk to you if you are deep in meditation and prayer. When He got to the one about self defense of my household, He said my house was taken over by terrorists; and they were sure to tie up the males to watch as the females (wives and daughters) were raped and killed. Then the males would be killed. If I knew this beforehand, would I do something? I told the Lord that He would have to forgive me; but I would try to stop it from happening——even if it meant deadly force. Then the Lord told me that it would be okay, but I was being a hypocrite. If I could defend my family, I could also defend my country and/or community.
I deducted that God looks at this life as more temporal, and life and death being less important than most of us believe. We know that David, in ancient Judah, was close to God and knew His laws and statutes. Do you think that one of David’s soldiers could have claimed conscientious objector? I think not! Remember, David was dealing with the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, just as all the ancient patriarchs were. Jesus also instructed the ancient Israelites to kill off all the inhabitants of the land they were to possess. Don’t misunderstand me, war is awful and gruesome and should be completely outlawed. In a perfect world, war would be unnecessary——this isn’t a perfect world.
I believe if a soldier is acting on orders that he carries out in a humane fashion, he can stand before God blameless. All war will cause some innocent civilians to be killed. God does not smile on this, but it is a fact of life. Thankfully, when God establishes the kingdom of God here on earth, this will all be over and done.
What about military service? Most Christians would say don’t serve; or if you do enlist, do so as a conscientious objector so as not to serve in battle. I also thought that would be my case, as I could easily give my life for my beliefs. Then the Lord asked me to think of certain scenarios. Yes, God will talk to you if you are deep in meditation and prayer. When He got to the one about self defense of my household, He said my house was taken over by terrorists; and they were sure to tie up the males to watch as the females (wives and daughters) were raped and killed. Then the males would be killed. If I knew this beforehand, would I do something? I told the Lord that He would have to forgive me; but I would try to stop it from happening——even if it meant deadly force. Then the Lord told me that it would be okay, but I was being a hypocrite. If I could defend my family, I could also defend my country and/or community.
I deducted that God looks at this life as more temporal, and life and death being less important than most of us believe. We know that David, in ancient Judah, was close to God and knew His laws and statutes. Do you think that one of David’s soldiers could have claimed conscientious objector? I think not! Remember, David was dealing with the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ, just as all the ancient patriarchs were. Jesus also instructed the ancient Israelites to kill off all the inhabitants of the land they were to possess. Don’t misunderstand me, war is awful and gruesome and should be completely outlawed. In a perfect world, war would be unnecessary——this isn’t a perfect world.
I believe if a soldier is acting on orders that he carries out in a humane fashion, he can stand before God blameless. All war will cause some innocent civilians to be killed. God does not smile on this, but it is a fact of life. Thankfully, when God establishes the kingdom of God here on earth, this will all be over and done.
- 2
- 1
- Show all