I am wondering what the Bible says concerning going to war for unjustified reasons? What if a country deceives its people and claims reasons for going to war, but there is evidence that does not justify war? How do Christians and Christians in the military handle this type of situation?<\/p>\n\t
A government’s authority, whether they recognize it or not, is derived from God. “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God<\/em>” (Romans 13:1). When a government makes decisions that are contrary to God’s teachings, Christians are required to obey the higher authority. When the apostles were told not to teach, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard” <\/em>” (Acts 4:19-20). And on another occasion, “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” <\/em>” (Acts 5:29).<\/p>\n This means that no Christian can give blind obedience to rulers. It is for a similar reason that at the end of World War II members of Germany’s army were tried for war crimes. The world, in general, recognized that Hitler’s orders were morally wrong and so the soldiers were held responsible for not making morality a higher standard.<\/p>\n It should be remembered that disagreeing with a government placed in authority is not a light matter. Just because you disagree is not enough because you are not God. It cannot be a matter of personal opinion. It has to be established by what God has said that what is being demanded by a rogue government is wrong.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I am wondering what the Bible says concerning going to war for unjustified reasons? What if a country deceives its people and claims reasons for going to war, but there is evidence that does not justify war? How do Christians and Christians in the military handle this type of situation? Answer: A government’s authority,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,392,931],"class_list":["post-31806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-lying","tag-war"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24110,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-the-revolutionary-war-be-justified-in-light-of-romans-13\/","url_meta":{"origin":31806,"position":0},"title":"How could the Revolutionary War be justified in light of Romans 13?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can I ask your thoughts on something? Just a little while ago I read: \"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7736,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-think-the-american-government-would-be-better-run-by-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":31806,"position":1},"title":"Do you think the American government would be better run by Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you think the American government would be better run by Christians? Do you agree with the separation of church and state? Answer: Those claiming to be followers of Christ generally hold to a higher moral standard than those who reject Christianity. Since the government is involved in ideas,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19633,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-are-conflicts-between-military-service-and-gods-will-handled\/","url_meta":{"origin":31806,"position":2},"title":"How are conflicts between military service and God’s will handled?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read the article on your web site about\u00a0Christians and military service\u00a0written by a friend of yours. It's a question that I am grappling with right now. There are quite a few things in his article that I am compelled to question. One of them is the section under\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-a-christian-wife-obey-her-non-christian-husband\/","url_meta":{"origin":31806,"position":3},"title":"Must a Christian wife obey her non-Christian husband?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible states that a woman should obey her husband, but what if he is not a Christian husband? He believes in Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit, but he does not set forth a Christian lifestyle. I know a woman can still be religious on her own and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1300,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-we-do-when-the-government-is-involved-in-our-child-rearing\/","url_meta":{"origin":31806,"position":4},"title":"What do we do when the government is involved in our child rearing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What do we when outside government authorities are involved in our child raising? \u00a0 Answer: This becomes a difficult question to answer well because much depends on the reason the government has seen fit to interfere. 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