Christians live “in the world,” but are not “of the world” (John 18:36; 1 Peter 2:5-17 ). Perhaps no area of Christian responsibility and conduct illustrates the complexity of this paradox as well as whether or not a Christian should be a pacifist in the face of evil.
Imagine an armed intruder has broken into your home in the middle of the night and is terrorizing your family. If you have a weapon, what would be a faithful and godly response? Would you be showing trust in God by offering no resistance, or would defending your loved ones with lethal force be a better representation of faith?
Neither option is without risk and ambiguity. If you don’t resist, your wife and children may be violated, tortured, and killed to sate the lusts of a sadistic psychopath. If you do resist, you may always carry with you the image of the intruder’s dying eyes and wonder whether you misjudged his intentions.
There seems to be no clear-cut “right” or “wrong” answer to the question of which response would be best.
The references in which Jesus recommends a passive response to aggression may refer most clearly to situations in which resistance is futile (Matthew 5:39). For a Jew under the control of Roman military authority, the best defense would have been to behave in an unexpectedly free manner—to turn the other cheek.
The golden rule (Matthew 7:12 ) states that we should do to others what we would like them to do to us. If I were committing acts of violence against other people, the worst thing that could happen to me would be for me to continue. It would be right for someone to stop me for the good of my own soul. Every wrongful act of violence that I commit sends me farther down the pathway of evil.
Perhaps this is why the New Testament endorses the responsibility of government to resist and punish evildoers (Romans 13:1-6 ). Any view we take concerning the use of force to resist evil must have a deep and comprehensive view of the reality of evil in this world. It would be comforting if we could find refuge in a principle like “it is absolutely wrong to kill” or “it is absolutely right to kill in self-defense.” But the reality of this fallen world makes such certainty impossible.
While many wars have been immoral (just as many police actions and acts of personal aggression are immoral), it is not possible to demonstrate that all acts of war are immoral.
Most wars are an abomination in the eyes of God, and, regrettably, a compromised Christendom has identified itself with some of them. However, under certain circumstances, there seems no alternative than protecting the innocent against evil.
One of the most serious mistakes that Christians can make is to believe that participation in a just war is grounds to ignore Jesus’ command for them to love their enemies (Matthew 5:43-47 ). Wartime propaganda always tries to arouse hatred towards the enemy by portraying them as unqualifiedly evil. Largely due to the lingering effects of wartime propaganda, the Germans in the Second World War are still considered exemplary of absolute military evil. Although many Americans still have some memory of the Great Depression, few are aware of the fragile and dangerous political state of Europe during the 1920s and 30s. Many patriotic Germans were concerned and frightened by the imminent threat of Stalin’s gigantic Communist army massing along Western Europe’s borders.1 Even after the beginning of the Second World War, many German solders, like General Rommel, either risked their lives or gave them up in resistance to immoral orders and a failed attempt to overthrow Hitler. Through the course of history, leaders come to mind who astonish us with their idealism and courage, but trouble us nonetheless because of the ambiguities of the struggles in which they were engaged: Charlemagne, Luther, Calvin, Cromwell, Toussaint Louverture, Wellington, Bolivar, Washington, Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and many others.
Christian ideals must be applied to the real circumstances of life. Because we live in a fallen world, life’s circumstances are seldom as clear-cut as we would like them to be. Accordingly, we need to be responsible citizens of our world, ready to use any avenues available to us to seek justice and true honor.
Christians must be wary of propaganda for war. Every war, like every act of personal self-defense, must be evaluated according to the golden rule and principles of justice.
Documents that have been published in the Soviet Union since the reduction and eventual collapse of censorship beginning in the mid 1980s show the extent to which Soviet society was being prepared psychologically and militarily for war against the West. There is, in fact, overwhelming evidence that rather than being the innocent victim of German aggression, Stalin, with 5,710,000 men, 115,900 artillery, 22,300 tanks, and 22,400 aircraft (the Germans had 4.6 million men, 43,407 artillery, 3,998 tanks, and 3,904 aircraft) had secretly been preparing his own surprise attack on Germany.
(From Marius Broekmeyer, Stalin, the Russians, and Their War 1941-1945 [The University of Wisconsin Press].) Back To Article
