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DUAL CITIZENSHIP #4
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.
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