Is there any biblical support for any country or human being to be in all-out war or conflict?<\/p>\n\t
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 of the Scripture.\u00a0 To keep this relatively short, I’ll just point out a few.<\/p>\n
God commands Israel to go to war many times.\u00a0 On occasion, he has ordered the complete destruction of a nation (what we would term as genocide in our day).\u00a0 On one such occasion, he not only ordered the complete annihilation of nation, but he punished the king of Israel for leaving one man and a few sheep alive.\u00a0 King Saul was told in I Samuel 15:3 “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.<\/em>”\u00a0 By verse 8 we are told, “He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword.<\/em>”\u00a0 In verse 10 and 11 we learn “Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel: ‘I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.’\u00a0 Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the LORD all that night.<\/em>”\u00a0 A few verses later we learn that God rejects Saul as king.<\/p>\n In the New Testament, we find some different kinds of passages.\u00a0 God does not deal with his people on a national level like he did in the Old Testament and his people are now spiritual people.\u00a0 However, the spiritual people of the New Testament have to live in the reality of the world as it exists — which includes armies and war.\u00a0 So, at no time are we told to take up arms to advance the kingdom.\u00a0 We are told what our attitude toward the military and war should be.<\/p>\n “Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely\u2014be content with your pay”<\/em>” (Luke 3:14).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In this passage, John the Baptist was asked by soldiers on how to repent.\u00a0 I think it is significant that John did not say anything like “give up being soldiers”.\u00a0 He told them to do some things that soldiers of his time were known to have problems with.\u00a0 I find John’s reply very telling because John was not afraid to “tell it like it is” — since he eventually lost his head for telling the king that he was guilty of adultery.\u00a0 If being a soldier was being immoral, John would have said something.<\/p>\n “At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!” Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.\u00a0 The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God<\/em>” (Acts 10:1-5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cornelius ends up being the first Gentile convert to Christ.\u00a0 His status as a Gentile caused problems for Peter, so there is a lot to the story about how this man was chosen.\u00a0 Again it is telling that Cornelius was also a soldier — and considered so worthy that he was chosen to be the first Gentile convert.\u00a0 At no time is he told to quit being a soldier in order to become a Christian, nor is there any record of him changing occupations.\u00a0 He is a Christian and a soldier.<\/p>\n “Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.\u00a0 Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you.\u00a0 For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.\u00a0 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.\u00a0 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.\u00a0 Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor<\/em>” (Romans 13:1-7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This one is a little more complex.\u00a0 It is obvious that Paul is saying that governments exist at the will of God.\u00a0 We like to think that they exist because of the will of man, but Paul said they actually work for God.\u00a0 God has granted to them the right of using the “sword”.\u00a0 A sword does not have many uses outside of police work and military might.\u00a0 Paul is saying that we have to submit to the authorities because they are established by God as his agent to execute his wrath.\u00a0 The execution of wrath is not limited to police work.\u00a0 Sometimes a whole nation becomes so evil that the only recourse left is for God to punish the whole nation.\u00a0 The only difference between police work and war is a matter of size.\u00a0 In our society, we also change the rules, but the effect is the same.<\/p>\nDarrell Hamilton\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 of the Scripture.\u00a0 To keep…<\/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":[368,931],"class_list":["post-9619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-military","tag-war"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17499,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-christians-go-to-heaven-after-killing-other-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":9619,"position":0},"title":"Will Christians go to heaven after killing other Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My wife and I had a discussion about Christians who participate in a war against another country that may have Christians in their army. The question is, will Christians go to heaven after killing other Christians? My wife asked me this many years ago, and I still don't have\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":25105,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-predict-a-future-war-in-korea\/","url_meta":{"origin":9619,"position":1},"title":"Does the Bible predict a future war in Korea?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a friend online who sent me this message; \"I HOPE you know the SERIOUSNESS of this approaching Korean war! The Bible mentions it! So it MUST be a MAJOR MAJOR WAR (to be mentioned in the Bible!) My guess, (for it to be SO MAJOR that\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":1980,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-did-king-david-do-as-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":9619,"position":2},"title":"What did King David do as king?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What did King David do as king? Answer: I don't know if you are asking for a summary of David's accomplishments or what the duties of a king were in David's time. Below is a quick overview: The Accomplishments of King David David successfully defeated the enemies of Israel,\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":32241,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-modern-war-still-determined-by-god-how-can-a-person-determine-which-is-the-right-side\/","url_meta":{"origin":9619,"position":3},"title":"Is modern war still determined by God? How can a person determine which is the right side?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been reading and examining the book of Kings lately. I am currently in II Kings, and it's been quite worth the read so far, to say the least. I find there's a lot of lessons throughout the two books. It's interesting the amount of detail that can be\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":28621,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-kill-the-amalekites\/","url_meta":{"origin":9619,"position":4},"title":"Why did God kill the Amalekites?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering, for example, when the Israelites were attacked or they attacked someone else, Moses held up his staff and it helped Joshua's army, but if the staff was held down then the war went for the enemy. Obviously, the power of the staff came from God, so\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":29811,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-condone-rape\/","url_meta":{"origin":9619,"position":5},"title":"Did God condone rape?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you show me with any credible, moral, and compassionate justification how passages such as Numbers 31:18 and II Samuel 12:11-14 are not examples of divine-sanctioned rape? Answer: In Numbers 31, the Lord ordered punishment on the nation of Moab. \"Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619","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=9619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9619\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}