Lots of territory here. Pacifism and Christianity is one of the most misunderstood. On an earlier thread in re this issue “I wrote:
A wonderful thread on the Pacifism of Jesus:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1657931/posts
POST 148
Jesus did warfare against the Romans, the Temple and others who set themselves up as God. His warfare was bloody and brutal. He put himself in harms way and became martyred by the forces of evil that surrounded him.
The sacrifice of his life was not an act of pacifism. It was in-your-face conflict. He encountered evil directly with the most powerful tool available, his life. His murder could never be construed as other than murder with evil intent. This is not the action of someone trying to avoid conflict. In fact Jesus forced conflict. He sought it out and demanded that evil show its hand.
So it is with armies of liberation. They force evil into the open. The war in Iraq is in the tradition of Christ and his war against evil. We have forced the evil doers onto the field by creating an environment of liberation from their tyranny that they cannot tolerate.
Our troops bring light into the darkness of Islamofascism. If these fascists were men of peace they would lay down their arms and celebrate the liberation of their people. Their bloodthirsty rampage proves their evil and we seek them out to encounter and destroy them.
We are God’s army, bringing justice and freedom where before there was murder and mayhem. Our soldiers march under the rubric of the cross of Christ. There is no more powerful or profound tradition opposing evil.
148 posted on 06/30/2006 4:39:53 AM EDT by Amos the Prophet (Here come I, gravitas in tow.)
And I THANK GOD that they don't actually march "under the rubric of the cross of Christ."
I think you are allowing your political beliefs to influence your religious beliefs. You don't convert people at the end of a sword. Christianity is about conversion of the heart, and is not about opposing evil through war. The Iraqis did not harm us, didn't want to harm us, and didn't have the means to harm us. Don't use Christ to justify the war! How sad.
Crossing an ocean to bomb a nation "just in case" they harbor a few terrorists is about as unChristian an act as I can imagine. God will not be mocked by claiming this is His war. It is not.