{"id":53739,"date":"2018-07-22T20:59:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T01:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=53739"},"modified":"2022-09-17T21:02:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T02:02:05","slug":"how-can-a-christian-serve-god-when-the-military-rules-are-not-conducive-to-serving-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-a-christian-serve-god-when-the-military-rules-are-not-conducive-to-serving-god\/","title":{"rendered":"How can a Christian serve God when the military rules are not conducive to serving God?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>My husband is a soldier in the military. Currently, he is on a 14-month deployment (technically, he&#8217;s overseas for 9 months and training during the other time). He is adamant about not reenlisting being that he has not been able to worship, nor will he be able to unless he finds fellow soldiers who are Christians. Also, he isn&#8217;t able to raise his child and be a husband other than providing financially. He believes he isn&#8217;t in fellowship with the Lord because he isn&#8217;t able to obey the Lord&#8217;s commandments since he&#8217;s not in the current state to do so. I am starting to believe that as well.<\/p>\n<p>My question: How can a soldier serve the military and also serve God when the military&#8217;s rules are not conducive to a soldier serving God?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>I agree that it is difficult, but it can be done in most circumstances with some effort. A 14-month deployment is unusually long and the fact that it forces him to leave his wife and child behind for that long is not good. I don&#8217;t blame him for deciding to find another career when his enlistment is up.<\/p>\n<p>A brother in Christ and a friend of mine, Darryl Treat was an officer in the Air Force. He wrote an answer just before his retirement on a similar question:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-christian-serve-in-the-military\/\">Should a Christian serve in the military?<\/a>\u00a0There are several points that he made that I think are important:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You need to be a strong Christian because there will be many temptations to let service to God slide since you are in an area where no one knows you.<\/li>\n<li>You need to actively search for a local church or fellow Christians near the post where you are assigned. Let me know where he needs to find other Christians, and I can try to locate someone in the area.<\/li>\n<li>You need to get actively involved in the work and not be just a pew warmer.<\/li>\n<li>Conduct Bible studies with whoever you can find who is interested.<\/li>\n<li>If there is no local congregation, often you can set up a worship service at the base chapel. There might not be many of you, but it is one way to get the word out that there are Christians in the area.<\/li>\n<li>If you are isolated but have access to the Internet, many congregations, including La Vista, broadcast their services for their members. You can always listen in. It is not a substitute for being with fellow Christians, but it is better than nothing at all.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In regard to family life, take advantage of modern technology. Use Skype or Facetime often. Text frequently to let each other know you are thinking of the other. Even if he can&#8217;t get them immediately, they will be waiting for him when he does get back online.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: My husband is a soldier in the military. Currently, he is on a 14-month deployment (technically, he&#8217;s overseas for 9 months and training during the other time). He is adamant about not reenlisting being that he has not been able to worship, nor will he be able to unless he finds fellow soldiers who&hellip;<\/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,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[310,368],"class_list":["post-53739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-government","tag-military"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11368,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-soldier-to-kill-in-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":53739,"position":0},"title":"Is it right for a soldier to kill in war?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Shortly after my fiance and I get married I will deploy to Iraq for the first time. I, being an infantry soldier, am trained to kill. It has always been a major concern of mine to kill in war, and I wonder if this is a sin recognized by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12116,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/all-we-have-in-common-is-our-love-for-god-is-that-enough-to-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":53739,"position":1},"title":"All we have in common is our love for God. Is that enough to get married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello there, I\u2019m in a serious relationship. It took me a while to come to terms with it because we were friends initially. My boyfriend is an awesome guy, he loves and serves God and is caring to people around. He\u2019s passionate about work, his students, family, church, etc..\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34381,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-know-that-im-serving-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":53739,"position":2},"title":"How can I know that I&#8217;m serving God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: OK, simple question: I want to know what I can do to just serve God and know it's Him I'm serving. Answer: \"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","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":53739,"position":3},"title":"How are conflicts between military service and God&#8217;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 &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":41588,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-an-elder-an-elder-for-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":53739,"position":4},"title":"Is an elder an elder for life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A brother in our area is claiming to be \"an elder for life\" even though he has moved from one congregation to another and has not\u00a0been a serving elder in either. He was an elder for a congregation, but that eldership was dissolved because of his domineering attitude and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-any-biblical-support-for-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":53739,"position":5},"title":"Is there any biblical support for war?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is there any biblical support for any country or human being to be in all-out war or conflict? Answer: Actually there are hundreds of passages that support the concept of war.\u00a0 War is one of those topics that pacifists have to work hard to try to get it out\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53739\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}