Should Christians kill?

World Net Daily ^ | 4.29.04 | Hal Lindsay

[hope]

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Thursday, April 29, 2004

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Should Christians kill?

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Posted: April 29, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Hal Lindsey

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© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

To my delight, many American military personnel visit hallindseyoracle.com daily. Here is one of the e-mails that make me so thankful for the kind of military men who are sacrificing for freedom:

Thank you for writing about Pat Tillman. I thank God for his service. There are many Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen like Pat Tillman currently serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and numerous places around the world.

I am a Marine assigned to duties with the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, currently deployed to Iraq. We are part of the I Marine Expeditionary Force. You probably see a lot of news about a town called Fallujah. The enemy is there. We are there. It is a tense standoff. I'm praying for God's purposes to be done in Fallujah and throughout all of Iraq.

On June 30, Iraq begins anew. There are many hopes and fears. There is goodness in the people of Iraq, but lamentably that goodness has an evil shadow over it. I believe God will do and is doing a great work here.

Please pray for all the military men and women here and in Afghanistan. And also pray for all of the families back home.

I am reading Mr. Lindsey's "Amazing Grace" that I recently downloaded as an e-book. It is helping me a great deal in my own walk with God.

Thank you, and may God richly bless you.

Semper Fi,

Dave Wargo, Lt. Colonel, USMC

One of the questions that bothers a great many of the Christians serving in our military is whether they should kill anyone.

Because there has been so much poor teaching in the churches, many Christians have fuzzy thinking about just what they should do in regard to taking a human life.

The Fourth Commandment in "God's Big 10" is translated into English as, "Thou shalt not kill." If anyone goes on to read the context, he will find that when a duly constituted court finds a person guilty of deliberately taking another human's life, the people are commanded to put him to death.

So, right away, we find the commandment doesn't mean no killing under any circumstances. The Hebrew verb translated "kill" is in an intensive verb stem that means, "to murder."

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is frequently quoted as the basis of doing away with even the death penalty. But just listen to what Jesus said:

You have heard that the ancients were told, "You shall not commit murder" and "Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court." But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, "Raca," shall be guilty before the Supreme Court; and whoever shall say, "You fool," shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

– Matthew 5:21-22, NAS

Jesus is speaking of the government He will set up in the Millennial Kingdom that He will rule on Earth. He says that the true meaning of the Law of Moses will then be upheld, which is that the motives of the heart will be judged the same as the actions they would cause.

The Bible justifies killing in the case of self-defense. If someone seeks to murder you or your family, you have the right to defend yourself with lethal force.

This principle extends to the maintaining of order and protection for citizens by the governing authorities. The Bible says:

Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it DOES NOT BEAR THE SWORD for nothing, for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.

– Romans 13:1-4, NAS

These verses show that God authorizes the use of "lethal force" symbolized by "the sword" against those who would harm others and take their property. This principle also authorizes governing authorities to use lethal force to protect citizens from attacks by foreign forces.

Many of the original believers were soldiers in the Roman army. Some Roman soldiers who came to John the Baptist and believed sought counsel from him on how they should live:

Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, "And what about us, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages."

– Luke 3:14

John the Baptist said nothing about killing in the line of duty or resigning as soldiers. He only warned them against the common practice of robbing people they took into custody.

Many Centurions, who were the approximate equivalent of a colonel in modern armies, were among the first Gentiles to believe in Jesus Christ. It was in the house of a Roman Centurion that the first Gentiles were officially brought into the Church (Acts 10). Nothing was ever said about them getting out of the army. Nothing was ever said against them killing in the line of duty.

A Centurion saved Paul's life on his ship voyage to Rome. Paul never told him not to be a soldier. Nothing was said about one of his duties that involved killing in battle.

I believe the Bible teaches that a Christian who is a soldier should seek to be the best. He should serve with faith, honor, loyalty and compassion. As long as an enemy is seeking to attack him and has the means of causing harm, he has the right and duty to subdue, capture or kill him. If an enemy is captured and no longer has the means of inflicting harm, then he should not be mistreated, tortured or killed.

King David in the Old Testament was one of the greatest warriors who ever strapped on a sword. Though he killed many men in battle, he had a tender heart toward God. He is one of only two in the Bible who God called, "A man after His own heart."

So, soldiers: Be courageous in battle and compassionate in victory. And know that you can trust God to teach your hands to fight in defense of your country, just as He did David.

Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle ..."

– Psalm 144:1

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Hal Lindsey is the best-selling author of 20 books, including "Late Great Planet Earth." He writes this weekly column exclusively for WorldNetDaily.

Be sure to visit his website where he provides up-to-the-minute analysis of today's world events in the light of ancient prophecies.

[nmh]

The uneducated "Christian" will say no to killing in war. This is the emotional drive humanist who has no idea what is in the Bible.

The Bible based Christian knows it is okay under certain circumstances and this situation fits those circumstances. The Old Testament is full of wars and shows how God USED those wars to defeat the enemy.

[jude24]

Why does anyone still listen to this guy? He really missed it on Late Great Planet Earth.

[TSgt]

Amen

[Brad’s Gramma]

THIS article, this article only....what do you disagree with?

[hope]

I post quite a few of his articles because IMO he usually hits the nail on the head...

I did not read his book and don't care if you or anyone else here did and think he got it wrong...I am really getting tired of you people posting that same line word for word each time you see his name...If you don't want to listen to him then don't...

[sport]

True.

The Word of God has many more laudatory sayings about soldiers than it does about lawyers and politicns.

In fact, the Apostle Paul uses the soldier's equipment as an illustration in describing how the Christian is supposed to conduct themselves.

[Styria]

I disagree with this:

Jesus is speaking of the government He will set up in the Millennial Kingdom that He will rule on Earth. He says that the true meaning of the Law of Moses will then be upheld, which is that the motives of the heart will be judged the same as the actions they would cause.

[jude24]

THIS article, this article only....what do you disagree with?

Lindsey says, Jesus is speaking of the government He will set up in the Millennial Kingdom that He will rule on Earth. He says that the true meaning of the Law of Moses will then be upheld, which is that the motives of the heart will be judged the same as the actions they would cause.

The Sermon on the Mount has absolutely nothing to do with the millenium, or anything else eschatological. But, with Lindsey, everything is always about the future prophecy. That's what he built his reputation on.

As for the main thesis of the article, regarding soldiers at war, Lindsey is correct: there is no Biblical injunction against soldiers fighting in a just war. But Lindsey has ABSOLUTELY no credibility as an expositor.

[Brad’s Gramma]

As for the main thesis of the article,

Thanks. That's all I wanted to read. :-)

On the rest of it, we'll have just have to wait and see. Thanks for answering.

[MHGinTN]

"The Sermon on the Mount has absolutely nothing to do with the millenium, or anything else eschatological." You might want to check that before making such a certain assertion. ... And on a side note: if I could offer to you a plausible explanation for why the intentions within the heart should be judged in the millenial Kingdom, would you consider it with an open mind? [HINT: it has to do with the nature of reality when He sets up His Kingdom; for instance, saying a lie will be impossible since the Truth will be 'right before your eyes' thus nothing that is false will have credibility.]

[rwfromkansas]

He is a heretic in his eschatology.

But, he is right that Christians should not be against war, so I will ignore that on this thread.

[rwfromkansas]

You both are right here.....he is trying to make something about the second coming when it has nothing to do with it.

[Esther Ruth]

Hope, thanks for posting this, I like HL, I am at WND everyday but the way their site is set up it can be easy sometimes to miss something. This is good and I am glad it is being brought up and it's time to really start talking about this, so many wrong ideas in this regard.

[Militiaman7]

Only when necessary.

[jude24]

If you mean personal eschatology (i.e. hell), then you're right. And I'll admit that the term "kingdom of heaven" used earlier in the chapter has some eschatological connotations. However, Mat. 5:22-23 has absolutely nothing to do with the end-times. However, when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Maybe that's why Lindsey sees everything thru the lens of his dispensational premillenialism.

[jude24]

Heretic? I wouldnt go THAT far.

Dispensationalism deserves better.

Incidentally, you should get a hold of Progressive Dispensationalism by Darrell Bock and Craig Blasing. The authors were both Dallas Theological Seminary professors when the book was first released in 1991. Bock is still there. The attempt is to reinvent dispensationalism through a covenantal viewpoint, seeing each dispensation as a progressively fuller revelation of the gospel. It's definately not the same dispensationalism found in the Scofield notes. Dr. Bock is still on the faculty of DTS even though some of the other DTS faculty think he's basically a covenental theologian.

[Lady Heron]

The uneducated "Christian" will say no to killing in war. This is the emotional drive humanist who has no idea what is in the Bible.

Hmmm...I am not so sure that is the way to put it. We have many different callings as Christians and many denominations because we emphasis different teachings.

I do not think that I would call the old time Mennonites uneducated in Christianity, but they will not serve in killing post in the Army because of their faith but they will serve when commanded to in noncombat and even apply for very dangerous rolls loosing many men in past wars. Their focus on where they think the most important teachings are are different from most other Christian churches but does that make them less educated??

Now having said that todays modern Mennonites seem to be a bunch of hippies I very much wonder if they would serve if an other draft were reinstated but could be wrong.

[skeeter]

King David summed it up best.

[Jorge]

Why does anyone still listen to this guy? He really missed it on Late Great Planet Earth.

Did he really? How?

Fill me in.
I read the book many years ago but barely remember it.