Can a war ever be just?

Alix Kelly – Assignment 1

R.E Coursework

AO1

When it comes to ‘Moral Issues’ Christians are very keen to follow God’s way, what Jesus did, said, etc. The New Testament in the Bible has many different views on how we should treat our enemies. The overall view of Christianity is that God is in charge of punishment and life and death, but many people disagree with this. The New Testament advocates attitudes of love, forgiveness, tolerance and peace, which during his lifetime Jesus supported and was peaceful and forgiving.

During his lifetime Jesus helped many people and forgave sinners, and sinners were seen as enemies. Jesus cared for the rejects of society such as tax collectors, lepers, the disabled and the poor. One of Jesus’ closest disciples, Matthew was a tax collector.

In many ways Jesus showed us that we should be loving and forgiving towards our enemies. Jesus showed this in the parable of ‘The Woman Caught in Adultery’. Jesus believed that although this woman had done wrong, so had everyone else and so he forgave her sins, meaning that Jesus says that our enemies should be forgiven and that only the sinless can forgive. Jesus also told us parables in the New Testament about forgiving our enemies. For example in the parable of ‘The Forgiving Father’ Jesus told us we should love our enemies and it is not up to us to judge other people. Another parable is ‘The Unforgiving Servant’, in this parable Jesus tells us that we can only expect to be forgiven as much as we forgive and this means that if we expect our enemies to forgive us then we must in turn forgive them. Also in the New Testament Jesus tells us that we should love our enemies and pray for their well being, this means that we should never think badly of our enemies no matter what they think of us, because it will be us that is the better person and in the end it will not be us who is judged, but our enemies.

In addition to Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament are the epistles, written mainly by Paul, one of these is Romans in which Paul also writes about forgiveness and how to treat our enemies. In Romans 12:17-21 Paul says that if our enemies are hungry we should feed them, this means that we can overcome all evil with good, which means that to get rid of enemies we must gain them as friends. I think that this is very true and that any wickedness can be defeated by good, which is why we should always forgive our enemies no matter what they have done. Also in Romans Paul said that we should be a good citizen. But loving our enemies and being a good citizen can contradict each other, especially in a war situation when to be a good citizen we are called to war, and we cannot fight in a war if we want to love our enemies. And this puts us in a difficult positions because what path should we follow, being a good citizen, or doing what is seen to be right by the bible?

Another example from the bible that contradicts what Jesus said was Jesus in the temple. He used violence to force the traders from the temple. So maybe from this story we can believe that there are times or situations that we should stand up and be counted for what we believe in and what we think is right, even if this does mean not following Paul’s teaching of turning the other cheek.

Throughout the New Testament we are told to love our enemies and forgive them. Just as in ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ we pray forgive us ……… ...

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Throughout the New Testament we are told to love our enemies and forgive them. Just as in ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ we pray forgive us ……… as we forgive those. This means that we should always forgive our enemies as the New Testament, just as Jesus and Paul said because that way we are a better person and can expect to be forgiven.

Even though it may seem hard sometimes to love our enemies and to forgive and forget this is what Jesus taught us and showed us, he even forgave his killers when he was on the cross so we must always remember to forgive and forget, just as we ask God to forgive us - ‘father forgive’.

In conclusion the New Testament teaches us to love, be forgiving and to help our enemies. Jesus showed this throughout his life and he was the Son of God, so true Christians must try as hard as they can and follow in his footsteps and be truthful to themselves and make friends with everyone and enemies with no one.

The New Testament tells us many different views on how we should treat our enemies, and the Church and Christians can use different biblical views to use in their opinions of war. Most Christians fall into one of three opinions of war: to be a pacifist, to be a conscientious objector or to be a fighter.

The pacifist members of the Church community use examples from the bible to support their views such as turn the other cheek, overcome evil with good – Paul and the parable of ‘The Unforgiving Servant’. From these example pacifists say that Jesus taught and told us that we should love our enemies and not retaliate, so in turn this means that we should not go to war because by going to war we are hating our enemies and not making them our friends, as we can only lose our enemies by making friends of them.

The conscientious objectors are people who want to be a good citizen but do not want to fight. So the people that fall into this group would use examples from the bible such as Paul’s teaching of being a good citizen, but also the same as the pacifists about turning the other cheek and overcoming evil with good. Because conscientious objectors believe this, they have the best of both worlds, as they do follow Paul’s teaching of being a good citizen as they support their country at war using methods other than fighting but they also follow Jesus’ teaching of loving our enemies, because they are not actually fighting with or harming their enemies.

The fighter members of the church use stories from the bible about what Jesus did to try and prove that the bible supports their views. One of the main stories from the New Testament that they use is the story about Jesus in the temple, as he did not love his enemies, but he did this in order to protect the weak and vulnerable and to uphold good. Fighters also follow Jesus’ teaching of how we should follow what we believe in and being a good citizen and so they believe that it is correct to fight so that they can fulfil these teachings.

Single members and groups within the Church believe their own views, but what can the Church do to incorporate everyone’s views and bring everyone together? This can prove to be a difficult task as what one group such as the pacifists believe, is not the same as what the fighters believe. The Church does not want to be seen as promoting violence as this is not what anyone wants, but it also doesn’t want to stop Christians from being good citizens and not supporting their countries. Many Churches use all different points of views and support each of their arguments with references from the Bible to show that Jesus supported all different kinds of viewpoints about war and that although single members of the Church are entitled to their own opinions, the Church as a community should support all of them and follow God, as he is the father of all, tries to support all and challenges all at the same time.

‘Just Wars’ are wars that have been proven morally right to fight, to be called a ‘just war’ they must fulfil five terms. The term ‘just war’ is a Christian concept to try and justify wars, especially those believed to be fought on Gods behalf. The five terms that it must fulfil are: the war must be a last resort, it must be controlled, only enough force as absolutely necessary should be used, there must be a reason and the war must promote good and overcome evil. In this essay I aim to use Christian teaching and bible references to argue for and against whether a war can ever be just.

Christians are divided as to whether a war can ever be just or not and whether five rules can really make a war right to fight. The Bible has references that support both sides of the argument, which can be used to argue the issue of whether a war can ever be just.

One of the main things that Christians base their lives on are ‘The Ten Commandments’, the seventh commandment being ‘Thou shalt not kill’. So how can it be that a war can be just to fight in Christian eyes when by doing so they are going against one of God’s laws? Many Christians would take from this that they can’t and that no war is just, where as others would argue that modern warfare does not always involve killing our enemies and that a cause can be fought for without anyone being killed.

Another example from the bible is ‘love your enemies’ and so how can we be following the bibles teaching and loving our enemies when we are fighting against them and in many cases killing them? The answer is, is that we cannot so there cannot be a just war. But sometimes a war must be fought to stop further killing and death. We can ask ourselves how can it be in Christian teaching to stand by and watch thousands of people being massacred or starved under the control on one person? The answer is, is that it isn’t and so a war can be just if it is fought for the right reason and not for our own good and example from the bible that supports this idea is ‘Love thy neighbour’.

Although we may be fighting for a reason, to protect the ill-treated and vulnerable, there is no time that a war can be fought without hurting innocent civilians and we should not go down to the level of our enemies and use force to make our point and so there can never be a just war if we are killing innocent people as that breaks one of the first rules that makes a war just.

But we must consider that maybe sometimes it is right to fight even if all five rules are not fulfilled. This may be because it could stop further killing, or could stop the war. For example in the Second World War, although many people see is as being a just war as it stopped Hitler and the Nazi regime, many innocent people were killed, but it was a just war, because it put an end to the fighting and stopped the effect of the war on future generations. Also it is right to fight even if the rules are not fulfilled, because people’s personal views and religious views may make them want to fight the war even if it is not seen in the eyes of society as being just, but in the eyes of their leader or lord is.

In conclusion my personal opinion is that no war can ever be just as even though sometimes it may fulfil some of the criteria of being a just war, it can never fulfil them all.