I still think this is one of the important and pervasive abuses of the Gospel:
Jesus hates soldiers.
That assertion supported by RP is false.
Jesus was not an anarcho-pacifist.
When Jesus noted a roman centurion as having the greatest faith in all of Israel he was throwing down a rhetorical gauntlet to the Galilean zealots in the crowd— including his own disciples.
Jesus never ripped roman soldiers. Jesus understood the difficulty of wearing a uniform amidst self righteous thugs.
Libertarians annoy me greatly on this point.
roman soldiers didn’t have awesome lives. screwing up orders cost big time, sometimes with their lives.