Self defense and wars: A Christian perspective.

[James]

Self defense and wars: A Christian perspective.

The Bible does make a distinction between self-defense of your person
and making war with the nations. First of all, Christians are to
personally avoid the encounter if at all possible. God considers all
life as sacred. Jesus would retreat from a situation when it turned
violent. (Luke 4:28-30; Mt 10:23) The Apostle Paul did likewise. (Acts
9:23-25; 14:5,6)

God's thinking on the matter is also revealed in one of the laws He
gave the nation of Israel. At Ex 22:2,3 it states,

"2 If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the
defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3 but if it happens after
sunrise, he is guilty of bloodshed."A thief must certainly make
restitution, but if he has nothing, he must be sold to pay for his
theft."" (NIV)

Thus, at night when you couldn't see who the intruder was or know of
his intentions (to kill you, or just take your property, etc) you were
permitted to take his life. Self-defense was permitted. Although we
are no longer under that Law Covenant, it does give us some insight
into God's ideas on this subject. Yes, self-defense (when your life in
threatened, not your property) is permitted.

However, every thing should be done, if possible, to avoid the taking
of the life such as wounding the person instead of killing him.

War, on the other hand, can be because of the greed of a ruling
politician. (as well as other reasons) A Christian should never be
found to be a pawn to political leaders who may or may not follow the
teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians are first accountable to God. To
blindly obey men would show where they put their trust; in men, not
God. A prophecy now being fulfilled shows God's view of war in our
day. Isaiah 2:2-4 says,

"And it hath come to pass, In the latter end of the days, Established
is the mount of Jehovah's house, Above the top of the mounts, And it
hath been lifted up above the heights, And flowed unto it have all the
nations. 3 And gone have many peoples and said, `Come, and we go up
unto the mount of Jehovah, Unto the house of the God of Jacob, And He
doth teach us of His ways, And we walk in His paths, For from Zion
goeth forth a law, And a word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 4 And He hath
judged between the nations, And hath given a decision to many peoples,
And they have beat their swords to ploughshares, And their spears to
pruning-hooks, Nation doth not lift up sword unto nation, Nor do they
learn any more -- war." (YLT)

Notice in the latter days, there would be a group of people comprised
from all the nations who will not go to war anymore. They will not
enlist into any military to kill some "enemy". They will truly "have
love among themselves" by not killing each other in nationalistic
wars. Notice, it is "Jehovah's" house that the people stream to, not
the incorrect translation "LORD". The Tetragrammaton is used here.
(YHWH) There is only one religious group that has "beat their swords
to ploughshares" and identify their place of worship as "Jehovah"s
house". Jehovah's Witnesses are known as peace lovers throughout the
world. They will follow the Bible, whether it is socially popular or
not. They will obey "God as ruler rather than men". (Acts 5:29)


Sincerely, James

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[Lucifer]

What sort of God creates a world where life feeds off life and
only the strongest survive?