|
DUAL CITIZENSHIP #3
WHEN IS IT A “JUST WAR”?
It was just one more in a long litany of sad headlines
when distraught volunteers and relatives began to dig in the city of Mahaweel,
about 60 miles south of Baghdad. As families picked through the dirt and
the rubble and the leftover carnage of the war in Iraq, something else
began to turn up. Human skeletons and fragments. More than 3,000 bodies
were eventually recovered from one of the largest mass graves in recent
history.
Back in 1991, during a Shiite uprising, strongman Saddam Hussein ordered
the executions. A 21-year-old soldier, Fadhel al-Buzayri was taken from
his family’s home as his mom, Samira, was making tea. They never saw him
again. Now, as onlookers watched the grim task, some of the mourners began
a quiet chant: “There is no God but Allah, and the Baath Party is the
enemy of Allah.” Estimates are that maybe a fifth of those killed back
in ‘91 were probably buried alive, since the victims’ hands were tied,
but there were no bullet holes in the skeletons.
It’s a sad, sad story for the world to reflect on . . . and again, it
makes Christians wonder: how do we respond when there is evil in an evil
world? War itself is a tragically evil reality, but sometimes in our fallen
condition, nothing else will knock down the towers of tyranny except for
tanks and Tomahawk missiles. One army against another.
When is it appropriate for an American President, who himself holds membership
in a Christian church where the Sermon on the Mount expression “Blessed
are the peacemakers” is posted, to give the order to attack? Or to launch
nuclear missiles? Is it right for Christians whose marching orders from
heaven say “Love your enemy” to attack that same enemy and try to kill
him?
There’s a bloody little passage of Scripture found in the book of Jeremiah
– and Christians admittedly struggle with the temptation to divide God’s
Word up into the militaristic Old Testament and the Prince-of-Peace-Babe-in-a-Manger
New. But in chapter ten God laments the apostasy of His chosen people,
Israel, and then says this:
“‘Because you have not listened to My words, I will summon all the peoples
of the north and MY SERVANT Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,’ declares
the Lord, ‘and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants
and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them
and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin.”
Two chapters later, God adds:
“Now I will hand all your countries over to My servant Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.”
And of course, there are many places in the Old Testament
where God Himself directed in the warfare of Israel. They were His tool
to chastise heathen nations who had defied heaven. In his recent lengthy
Internet essay on the concept of appropriate warfare, Adventist scholar
Samuele Bacchiocchi concludes:
“The two pictures of the Lord fighting for and against Israel reflect
His commitment to preserve His holiness BY PLACING A LIMIT TO HUMAN WICKEDNESS.”
I think we’ve mentioned on this radio program before
– sometimes with a bit of a blush – that the Lord empowers governments
to rule, presidents to govern, IRS agents to collect taxes . . . and cops
to give tickets. Ouch! And yes, it’s to limit our wickedness. But deep
down, even though it’s cost Jeannie and me a few dollars over the years,
I’m thankful that highway patrolmen have two things: pencils to write
tickets, and guns to stop killers. Friend, when a policeman polishes and
then puts on his badge, and carefully cleans and carries his standard-issue
weapon, he or she is God’s ordained representative. It says so in Romans
13:
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities,” Paul writes.
Remember that Paul himself enjoyed the protection of
his Roman citizenship; he had Caesar’s armed soldiers cordoning him off
from paid assassins at times, and he was thankful for it. Now he continues:
“For there is no authority except that which God has established. The
authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he
who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God had 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.”
Those who do not speed on the 23 Freeway between Thousand
Oaks and Moorpark have nothing to fear, but those who willfully ignored
the posted limits will tremble and pay –or, I should say, radio preachers
whose WIVES speed on that stretch of road will tremble and pay, because
it was Jeannie, not me. And then Paul says this to all of us who hold
dual citizenship, both here and in heaven:
“Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what
is right and he will commend you.” And notice: “For he is God’s servant
to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the
sword” – and the ticket book – “for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent
of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary
to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment
but also because of conscience.”
So how does a believer decide that a war – which in
itself is an evil, the fruit of the rebellion in heaven and in Eden –
is a necessary thing? Can we use OUR guns to stop Saddam Hussein’s guns?
Our troops to stop his?
Clear back in the early days of the Christian Church, theologians like
Augustine – back in the 4th century A.D. – and then Thomas Aquinas, in
the 12th, prayerfully worked out principles calling for what we now call
“just war.” We could dissect these concepts for many, many radio weeks,
but in a nutshell, here are the seven key points, and again we thank Dr.
Bacchiocchi for his thoughtful Internet essay, which he shares with a
wide circle of e-mail friends.
One: Just Cause. Participation in a war must be prompted by a just cause
or a defensive cause. No war of unprovoked aggression can ever be justified.
Two: Just Intention. The intent of the war must be just, that is, its
intent must be to secure a just peace for all parties involved. Therefore,
revenge, conquest, or economic gain are not legitimate motives for going
to war.
Three: Last Resort. War must be engaged only as a last resort, after diplomacy
and economic pressure have been exhausted. (This was rather passionately
debated as America and Britain prepared to go into Iraq despite U.N. reservations,
I’m sure you recall.)
Four: Formal Declaration. War must be initiated with a formal declaration
by properly constituted authorities. Only governments can declare war,
not individuals or terroristic organizations.
Five: Limited Objectives. War must be characterized by limited objectives
such as peace. Complete destruction of a nation’s political or economic
institutions is an improper objective. Once peace is attained hostilities
are to cease.
Six: Proportionate Means. Combatants may not be subjected to greater harm
than is necessary to secure victory. The types of weapons and amount of
force used should be limited to what is needed to repel aggression and
secure a just peace.
Finally, Seven: Noncombatant Immunity. Military force must respect individuals
and groups not willing to participate in the conflict. Only governmental
forces or agents are legitimate means.
And, even in an imperfect world, I think we saw a genuine effort on the
part of coalition forces to be careful, gentle, and redemptive with the
civilians they encountered in these war-torn neighborhoods.
Well, friend, that’s a list. It may not be yours and it may not be mine,
but it helps us to understand that we live in a hard world. And Christianity
101 isn’t an easy course to pass either. People of goodwill passionately
discuss these points, and march on both sides of the White House lawn
with their picket signs.
I remember a great old book written decades ago by Burton Hoondon, entitled
The Unlikeliest Hero. A young Seventh-day Adventist soldier named Desmond
Doss was drafted into World War II, and – as most Adventist kids did back
then – he filed as a noncombatant, a conscientious “cooperator.” In basic
training, he not only wanted his Sabbaths off, but he wouldn’t carry a
gun. He wouldn’t practice or train or drill with it. And it was a bit
of a sore spot with his platoon commanders. But Doss, sincere Christian
that he was, read the will of God FOR HIM in that way. He would save life,
but he wouldn’t take it.
And finally one of his sergeants lit into him. “I’ve
had it with you, Doss,” he snapped. “Man, what if an intruder broke into
your house and was raping your wife? You’re just going to stand there?
And do nothing?” He knew that Corporal Doss had a brand new bride, Dorothy,
back home. So he hit him with that very telling illustration. The crime
of rape is being committed against your own wife, your flesh and blood.
What do you do?
And Doss’s blood boiled. He came right back at that platoon leader and
told him: “No, sir, I wouldn’t use a gun. But that rapist and I both would
wish he was dead by the time I got through with him.” In my book, that’s
a good sorting out of Christian values. By the way, young Corporal Doss
went over to the war theater, he never once touched a gun, and in one
of the bloodiest battles of World War II, he personally rescued and lowered
over a cliff 75 Allied soldiers. Harry S. Truman personally awarded him
the Medal of Honor, as far as I know the only noncombatant soldier ever
to get one.
That . . . is being a good citizen.
|
