Scatter the nations that delight in war. Psalms 68:30b (NLT)
If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably
with all. Beloved, never avenge
yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance
is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed
them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you
will heap burning coals on their heads.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil
with good. Romans 12:18-21 (NLT)
When President Bush addressed the nation a few weeks after the
September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Pentagon and
also a plane which crashed in Pennsylvania before it could complete its
mission, he ended with these words:
Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been
at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.[1]
We are now a dozen years (and two
wars) on the other side of those words.
And now we face yet another crisis – this one is Syria and the
unfathomable Sarin (nerve) gassing of men, women and children by action of the
president of Syria. Syrians killing
Syrians.
For the last few weeks the news
has been filled with what response, if any, the United States should make. Typically the President, Republicans and
Democrats are at each other’s throats politically.
Russia, Syria’s closest and strongest
ally wants to get everybody to the peace talk tables. On Tuesday of this week President Obama
addressed the nation, ensuring us that if the Russian initiative fails,
military strikes by American bombs would deter President Assad (and other
so-called rogue nations) from further use of these weapons of mass
destruction. The President said he would
do this if Congress will agree, “…because this cause is so finely just”[2].
Several questions are begged with that thinking:
¨
What is a just
(or righteous, justified) cause sanctioning war?
¨
Does our
contemplation of engaging in war over the recent terrorist-tragedy in Syria constitute
a just
war? Is this something worth
sending our sons and daughters to die for?
¨
If so, how
should this war be conducted?
¨
What if we
lose?
(Even more
perplexing, what if we win?)
I want to do (at least) two
things this morning:
a.
I want to
answer all your questions, and…
b.
I really
want to run home, jump in bed, pull the covers over my head, and not think
about war, so it will go away forever.
It has occurred to me that both
my wishes are unrealistic.
1.
I cannot
answer all the questions. This is way
above my pay grade, and therefore I have as many questions as you do.
2.
Pulling the
covers over my head doesn’t make anything go away. It only makes the darkness much more my
reality. This thing is here, and we must
deal with it!
Why? Why grapple with the ethics, the motives or
“justness” of our cause? Because we
must!
Because grappling with our
motives, God’s law, Jesus’ compassion, and the seeming endless contradictions
of war
and peace is what keeps us from just striking-back in blind rage. It is what separates us from the
terrorists. It’s what keeps us from
doing what they do; becoming what they are – evil!
And so, let’s grapple with the
questions:
What is a “just” war?
We look to history, and historic
theological interpretation for beginning points; from the Westminster
Confession of Faith[3]
we find a 350 year-old reference to Christians getting involved in government,
and participating in just war:
It is lawful
for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called
thereunto; in the managing whereof, as
they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the
wholesome laws of each commonwealth; so for that end, they may lawfully now,
under the New Testament, wage war, upon just and necessary
occasion.
In the 13th century,
Thomas Aquinas said, for a war to be just, three things are
necessary – public authority, just cause, right motive.[4]
Just war – a phrase derived from
commentary on the Scripture. Aquinas
used three terms,
Public Authority, or the favorable support of
those governed.
Just Cause, when the provocation is clearly
initiated of evil.
Right Motive, when the end, or aim of
response is righteous.
In the current situation, it would
appear, even at this early stage of investigating, that not all three
conditions exist:
While the provocation was an evil
attack on the unsuspecting and innocent; which is clearly evil, and…the end,
our purpose in responding, as stated by our president is to stop
acts of terrorism; a righteous motive, the third leg of Aquinas’
requirements seems lagging behind! Not
all, or even a majority of the American people have the will to respond; the
consent of the governed is missing here.
If our government decides to lead
us into a warrior response, the conditions of just cause do not appear validated.
Will Our Response be “Infinite Justice”?
Every thinking Christian should
have a conflicted sense of heart feelings about this. As believers we know what Jesus said, Love
your enemies – overcome evil with good.
As human beings with natural feelings, we want to scream, Love
‘em? Take ‘em out! Get those suckers! Make ‘em all pay!
As members of a freedom-loving,
justice-seeking nation, we also understand that justice – even our imperfect
system of justice – requires prudence, fairness and measured responses. To act this way requires patience,
forbearance, and resources of stamina and wealth.
We certainly must respond. Exactly how is the agonizing part. As much as the cause of a war-response must
be just, so the conduct of the war must pass the same scrutiny. All forms of war are not acceptable; pro’s
and con’s weigh heavily:
¨ Surgical Warfare is an option, as in the Gulf War and Iraq. We suffered minimal casualties because our
technology beat-up the enemy before our ground troops met them head-on.
But the term “surgical
warfare” is misleading. It is
cleaner for us to drop laser-guided bombs – but the so-called collateral
damage, the deaths of civilians – women, children – this is not
surgically-clean. It is hardly different
than crashing a hi-jacked Boeing 767 into a marketplace building.
¨ We could just close our borders to the world. Us four
and no more is never a Christian response.
It doesn’t square with how we all got here in the first place. Without exception every one of us is the
child of an immigrant from the Garden of Eden.
It also doesn’t square with the
Great Commission, which tells us to spread the Gospel, and to welcome
strangers.
Personal
Conflict
what to do?
Am I conflicted over what should
be done? You bet!
Do I have an answer as to what
should be done? Yes, emphatically
so! We must pray.
We must pray that we will keep
the perspective of Christian people, engaged in a just war, in a just way.
Here are the perspectives I see
we should keep:
Perspective #1.
Keep the High Cost of War in Your Mind
War is extremely costly. It is not only the price tag of a radio-controlled
drone, or a Phantom Jet; war costs life.
Will Rogers once said, You can't say civilization isn't advancing;
in every war, they kill you in a new way.[5]
A 5th century
philosopher had it this way: In
peace sons bury fathers, but war violates the order of nature and fathers bury
sons.[6]
The high cost of war is
incredible. One preacher I read said, …our
casualties in Vietnam were 58,000 dead, but there have been 75,000
Vietnam-veterans' suicides since the war--more than our casualty list.[7]
Perhaps the highest cost of war
is that it drives us to animal-like behavior.
Keep that high cost of war in your mind.
Perspective #2
Keep the Higher Price of Peace in Your Heart
War is not a good option. Sometimes it is the only option. It should never be greeted warmly. The commander of our troops in Desert Storm 20
years ago was Norman Schwarzkopf. The
general was interviewed by Ted Koppel, and he gave his understanding and
philosophy of war: I would never want to serve under
a general who enjoyed war.[8]
Loving peace and keeping peace
are vastly different in the toll it takes on a person. Loving peace only requires wanting to live
without conflict. Keeping peace has a
higher price of sacrifice.
My father hid his tears in 1967 when
his son got on a plane bound for Vietnam.
A year later he soaked my shoulder with tears of joy to receive me back
home. Yet, there were those who did not
make it back. What did their fathers
think? What will I think if my son now has
to go to Syria?
There is a high price for peace
and safety from terrorism. Is it worth
it? Only if freedom and justice are more
highly prized than fear and cruelty.
We would do well to listen to the
voice of the prophet:
No, O
people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to
love mercy, and to
walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 (NLT)
Keep the high cost of war in your
mind, the higher price of peace in your heart…
…and…
Perspective #3
Keep the Only Prince of Peace on His Throne
Wars begin with days of
flag-waving to display love for our country and her ways of freedom and
justice. The real sacrifices take a lot
longer.
It is never easy to sacrifice,
but if you are assured of the rightness – the justness of the cause –
then the sacrifice must be made…or we trample under the cause in cowardly
excuses.
Spiritually, this has happened
before. Satan, the master terrorist attacked
the whole of humanity in the Garden of Eden.
Sin took our spiritual freedom.
A tower of cross beams was raised
on a hill called Golgotha – and the sacrifice was made. The terrorist thought he had brought down the
tower to the shame of the heavenly host.
But, out of Friday night’s rubble
came Easter morning’s message, as clear and strong as on the day of creation – The
sacrifice is complete – don’t look for the living among the dead. The life I bring is abundant and free.
That war had the highest cost –
some souls lost for eternity.
That peace was bought with the
highest price ever paid – the blood of Christ, the Lamb of God who took the
sins of all man, so we might be forgiven.
That Prince of Peace now sits at
the right hand of the Father – a throne like no other.
And he sits on another throne –
located in the hearts of all true Christ-followers. One may rightly say, “What can I do in such
matters of international relations, world peace or war? I’m just one person.”
That is true, but as it has often
been said, Jesus would have gone to that cross for you – one person, if you had
been the only person on earth.
And, therefore, what happens in your heart is of eternal significance to
Jesus. What you think and how you live
cause him eternal peace or anguish.
So, in the name of the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, you struggle with this, and then live out your
struggle. Because your neighbor next
door to where you live, who also is eternally significant to God, is in need of
how you will love him; and so is your neighbor in Syria!
[1]
President George W. Bush, Televised national address, September 20, 2001
[2]
President Barak Obama, Televised speech, September 10, 2013, WH.Gov, at
approximately 13:40
[3]
Westminster
Assembly of Divines, 23.2, 1647
[4]
Bob
Phillips, Book of Great Thoughts…,
(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1993), 326
[5]
Will Rogers (1879-1935) -Edythe Draper, Draper's Book of Quotations for the Christian World (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1992).
[6]
Herodotus (C. 484-C. 425 B.C.) , Ibid
[7]
Bruce Larson, When Your Enemy Prospers, Preaching Today, Tape No. 78.
[8]
Earl Palmer, Weighing Others Heavy, Preaching Today, Tape No. 134
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