Pacifism and Christianity

This position seems extreme, especially to modern man. Seemingly, for any offense, the Christian is not to respond to even violent behavior directed at himself. If stolen from, the Christian is to offer even more than was taken in the first place. And rather than lend money to someone in need, we are, if called upon, to give it without expectation of return.

There are at least two fundamental assumptions to the pacifist position. The first is that killing is always wrong. Murder is murder, whether in one's own society or another's society. If murder cannot be justified at home, then it cannot be justified in another country, whatever the reasons given for it. War ought therefore to be regarded as murder on a mass scale.

A second assumption of the pacifist position is that resisting evil with force is wrong. Evil should never be resisted with physical force, but with the spiritual force of love. The Christian and Old Testament Hebrew is never to retaliate, nor repay evil with evil, for vengeance belongs to God (Deuteronomy 32:35). Paul seems to confirm this in Romans 12:19-21.

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

A theocracy is a unique form of government in which God himself is recognized as the supreme civil ruler, and his laws are taken as the statute book of the kingdom. Israel's theocracy existed from the period of Moses, Joshua, and the twelve judges, as the appointees and agents of Jehovah. Two types of warfare occurred during Israel's theocracy: wars of extermination; and limited wars. Wars of extermination are often cited by non-Christians as a reason to reject the Bible. However, the wars of extermination were specific to the period when Israel was a theocracy.

The wars of extermination were also specific to the enemies Israel facedTypically, such a war required that Israel's soldiers put to the sword not only all the able-bodied men under arms, but all the men, both young and old, including the elders, sometimes the women and children, and even at times all the farm and domesticated animals, the crops and material possessions, and even the city itself.

One famous war of this type is the one recounted in the destruction of Jericho. Joshua 6:20-27 says:

So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets, and it came about, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed everything in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword. And they burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time, saying cursed before the Lord is the man who rises up and builds this city Jericho; with the loss of his first-born he shall lay its foundation, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up its gates. So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

In this case, not only was everything except the riches destroyed, but a curse was put on the city so that no one would attempt to rebuild it NEED TO WRITE MORE ON THIS WEIRD IDEA OF TOTAL WAR PERHAPHS OR AT LEAST A SUM UP PARAGRAPGH.

Historically, Christians have adopted many positions on war. However, three broad positions encompass the range of choices made over the millennia: (1) pacifism, (2) qualified participation, and (3) the crusade.

The pacifist argument is derivied from after the closing of the New Testament canon, historians note that there is no evidence that Christians served in the Roman army. Indeed, in 174 A.D. the famous heretic Celsus reproached Christians for their failure to serve in the military and defend the empire.

If all men were to do the same as you, there would be nothing to prevent the king from being left in utter solitude and desertion and the force of the Empire would fall into the hands of the wildest and most lawless barbarians.

Between 180-313 A.D., both Eastern and Western Christianity repudiated Christians participating in warfare, though some were allowed military service if arms were not taken up. By the time of Constantine's conversion to Christianity (ca. 312-313 A.D.), however, some Christians participated in the army. After Christianity was legalized in 380 A.D., only a small minority of Christians have subsequently refused military service.

Some elements of pacifism were reborn during and soon after the Reformation. Contemporary pacifists account for a small minority of Christians today. They include the Anabaptists and their continental descendants: the Mennonites, the Amish, the Hutterites, the Swiss Brethren and the Quakers. All but the Quakers believe not only in pacifism, but also in complete social and political separation from the society. Although they do not deny the state the right to bear the sword, the separatists believe that Christians ought not to participate in the government at all. The Quakers, on the other hand, believe in participation, but are not allowed to take up arms, lest they resort to a sub-Christian ethic. But by suffering and patience, the Quakers are enjoined to reform the society in which they participate.

Modern pacifists tend to follow more closely the first idea, that participation in warfare is incompatible with the commands of Christ. Since official persecution (with minor exceptions) ceased by 380 A.D. there have not been the same historical reasons to justify pacifism. Perhaps the best expression of the sentiment of contemporary pacifism is found: QUOTES FROM THE MENONITES SPEECH>

The most longstanding and widespread attempt to resolve the problem of pacifiscm as a religious ethic follows the tradition of the "Just War" doctrine. The "Just War" doctrine was first developed by Augustine (354-430), who became Bishop of Hippo. Until his conversion to Christianity, Augustine was steeped in pagan philosophy, especially neo-platonism and Manichaeism. Against the attack by pagan philosophers that the sack of Rome was due to the moral corruption of Christianity, Augustine penned his famous defense, The City of God. In it, Augustine was the first to articulate the notion of the type of war Christians can participate in. Essentially, he wrote that for a Christian to participate in a war, that war had to be deemed as just. Perhaps the best summary statement of Augustine's development of the "Just War" principles is the following:

The just war is to be fought under the authority of the state, and is to limit its goals to the restoration of justice or the preservation of peace. Moreover, the just war ... in order to be just ... must be a last resort, entered into only after all methods of solving disputes non-violently have been exhausted. Further, the just war must be fought justly, that is, with special care taken to protect non-combatants, and with the level of violence strictly limited to the minimum necessary to accomplish the goal of justice, that is, the restoration of peace or the preservation of justice.

 Throughout history, some have sanctioned the "Just War" doctrine, while others have condemned it. Some have used it to support almost every war their country has fought in, and others have used it to oppose every war their country has fought in. From the time of Augustine until approximately 1000 A.D., most Christian soldiers were required to do 40 days of penance for fighting in a war and killing enemy soldiers, however "just" the war was declared. After Thomas Aquinas, a Christian soldier was given the responsibility to not fight in an unjust war. 

Modern day application of the "Just War" doctrine has led to many problems with the advent of nuclear weapons. In 1983 the Catholic Bishops issued a paper that renounced nuclear war, but allowed for the interim acceptability of nuclear deterrence in the pursuit of a better means of preserving the peace.NUCLEAR WAR

A third alternative in the resolution of the paradox that Christians have attempted (primarily in the middle ages) has been the crusade. The crusade is fundamentally different from the above two positions. According to one scholar:

A crusade was to be fought under the authority of the church or of a charismatic religious leader, but not by the state itself, although it might potentially be conducted by a theocratic state. The goal of the crusade was not to be limited to restoring peace or preserving justice; the goal instead was to uphold, preserve, or expand the dominion of the church itself against the threats, real or imagined, of its enemies. 

---