When one is in the military, one may engage in acts which are quite contrary to Jesus' words.
When Jesus says, "do good to those who hate you," how can one kill someone else and consider it to be doing them any good?
When Jesus says, "love your enemies," how can one love their enemy as they rip out their guts with a bayonet?
Some people who kill other people in their military occupation, really need to think about what they are doing.
These people who kill in the military make thousands of mothers childless, children fatherless, and countless untold numbers of grieving widows. There is nothing honorable about that. That is what these people are trained to do. Trained to kill. They bring pain, grief, and suffering to those caught in their wake, both the guilty and the innocent. And they grieve me as well.
In short, what I have to say is this. Jesus reached out to the fatherless and widows. These people who kill in the military and claim to follow Christ merely make more work for the true Christians who are out there reaching out to the families of all the insurgents and "terrorists" and innocent bystanders that the other "Christians" have killed.
To be Christian means to be Christ-like. There is nothing Christ-like about taking anothers life just to save your own. Is their life worth less than the life of your family? Are they not just as loved by God as you? Is their life worth less than your country? Is their life worth less than your freedom?
No. God loves us, all of us. God forgave us when we deserved death. He took away the punishment for our transgressions. If we do not forgive our own transgressors in the same way, how then can we represent God's love to the world?
The Bible says to imitate the life of Christ here on earth, and Christ never killed those who threatened His safety and the safety of His disciples. They ended up dead too.
But what did they say? "To live is Christ and to die is gain." Death is gain, my friend.
In the words of the great Christian Leo Tolstoy, who was a lieutenant in the Russian army at one time...
"We must say that by whatever name people may call murder - murder always remains murder and a criminal and shameful thing.
With regard to those who voluntarily choose a military career, I would propose to state clearly and definitely that not withstanding all the pomp, glitter, and general approval with which it is surrounded, it is a criminal and shameful activity; and that the higher the position a man holds in the military profession the more criminal and shameful his occupation."
And a truly shameful occupation it is. Worthy to be rebuked and admonished.
When Jesus says, "do good to those who hate you," how can one kill someone else and consider it to be doing them any good?
When Jesus says, "love your enemies," how can one love their enemy as they rip out their guts with a bayonet?
Some people who kill other people in their military occupation, really need to think about what they are doing.
These people who kill in the military make thousands of mothers childless, children fatherless, and countless untold numbers of grieving widows. There is nothing honorable about that. That is what these people are trained to do. Trained to kill. They bring pain, grief, and suffering to those caught in their wake, both the guilty and the innocent. And they grieve me as well.
In short, what I have to say is this. Jesus reached out to the fatherless and widows. These people who kill in the military and claim to follow Christ merely make more work for the true Christians who are out there reaching out to the families of all the insurgents and "terrorists" and innocent bystanders that the other "Christians" have killed.
To be Christian means to be Christ-like. There is nothing Christ-like about taking anothers life just to save your own. Is their life worth less than the life of your family? Are they not just as loved by God as you? Is their life worth less than your country? Is their life worth less than your freedom?
No. God loves us, all of us. God forgave us when we deserved death. He took away the punishment for our transgressions. If we do not forgive our own transgressors in the same way, how then can we represent God's love to the world?
The Bible says to imitate the life of Christ here on earth, and Christ never killed those who threatened His safety and the safety of His disciples. They ended up dead too.
But what did they say? "To live is Christ and to die is gain." Death is gain, my friend.
In the words of the great Christian Leo Tolstoy, who was a lieutenant in the Russian army at one time...
"We must say that by whatever name people may call murder - murder always remains murder and a criminal and shameful thing.
With regard to those who voluntarily choose a military career, I would propose to state clearly and definitely that not withstanding all the pomp, glitter, and general approval with which it is surrounded, it is a criminal and shameful activity; and that the higher the position a man holds in the military profession the more criminal and shameful his occupation."
And a truly shameful occupation it is. Worthy to be rebuked and admonished.