I've had a comment on my first post that has made me think through my call to serve a little more. In response, I just want to let her know that I've never seen WWJB? (What Would Jesus Bomb?) bracelets, nor would I ever believe that to be an appropriate suggestion that we believe we're bombing "for" Him. That sounds like purely anti-American rhetoric to me. I'm certain that He will forgive me in the long run if it is a sin to defend the nation, people, and values that I hold dear. He does ask us to serve each other and to defend the weak, helpless, sick, and the poor. I can sleep well at night knowing I will be doing so through serving in the U.S. Army.
God calls us to serve him in many ways, each of us to our strengths that he has given us. In 1 Corinthians 12, the apostle Paul talks about spiritual gifts that God has given us. I don't see many of this list in myself. I don't particularly have a talent for bringing others to Christ, singing His praises (many will second this), prophesying, or anything else. But the God given gifts that I do have are not any less than these. I can work hard, am willing to sacrifice and serve, strong, young, athletic (enough), intelligent (enough), unmarried (not a gift but a plus at the moment, not even a girlfriend...holler at me ladies), and having the perseverance to withstand and excel in military training. I see myself as called to be a shepherd dog for the Lord's sheep against the wolves of this world. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman used that metaphor in his book "On Killing". You can read his argument for yourself at the link that I've provided below as he says it best.
On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs
On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs
I don't believe my primary mission in the military is wanting to harm people. I want to serve people by sacrificing my own time away from family and loved ones, my own tears for doing such, sweat through the effort that I'll put into it, and if it comes down to it, my own blood if it means I've protected others from violence. Christ said it himself in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." If I'm told to go to Afghanistan, Iraq, or even Haiti, places where I can help those people, I'll gladly go and with Christ in my heart, the Holy Spirit guiding me, and God the Father protecting me.
Now I know that evil men have used such reasoning from the Bible and other texts/ideas (atheism for Communists, occult for Nazi's, etc...), for their own purposes before. I do not consider myself one of them. I will serve honorably and to the best of my abilities. If a man intends to harm/kill the soldiers I'll be with or myself, I will gladly hurt/kill him first if I can't capture him. I'm not a conscientious objector. God gave his chosen people in the past (Israel) and legitimate governments of the world today the ability to wage war. If called to do so, I'll be defending my troops who defend other troops, innocent civilians, and so on.
The U.S. military is not the enemy. The men who hide behind the elderly, women, and children and set bombs on roads where anyone can be injured by it are the enemy. Do not confuse our actions and those of the terrorists. We are there for peace and prosperity for all. They want to control everything. We did not start this. Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and Saddam did by their actions, we responded. I'm not about to say the U.S. military hasn't had setbacks or people who weren't of good moral reasoning. Every group has them. For the majority we try to help build, educate, and protect; terrorists, enemy combatants, and insurgents try to kill, maim, intimidate, dominate, and destroy. There are those in the Christian church who do the same thing, as well as in Islam. They don't serve God, but their selfish goals.
I cannot in good faith allow people continue the fight without me in it with them. I don't want to sit on the sidelines any longer. The apostle Paul said in Romans 14:16, "Do not allow what you consider to be good to be spoken of as evil." The United States of America, its military, my faith, and my family are a few of those things that I will not allow to be spoken badly of when it is undue. All of these "groups" have made mistakes in the past, but that certainly doesn't mean that they're inherently evil or out to destroy the people of Iraq or Afghanistan.
So if I have to fight and kill those who mean me and others harm, I will. If I get to pass out soccer balls, give people clean water, build schools, dig wells, or never even catch a whiff of combat by doing some support job, I'll do that as well if I'm told to. I'm not looking to kill, but it won't do anyone any good if they kill me or my troops because I'm afraid of taking a life. And if the fight does find me, so be it; God have mercy on me and those who come against me cause I'm going to do my damnedest to defend my fellow soldiers, nation, family, and innocent civilians.
From http://www.worldmag.com/articles/10368
ReplyDeleteLuther wrote a booklet titled Whether a Soldier Too Can Be Saved, taking up the issue of whether a Christian, who is supposed to love his enemies, should join the military, where he has the duty of killing them. According to Romans 13, Luther argued, God has appointed earthly rulers to restrain sin and has given them the authority to "bear the sword." The soldier, acting under a lawful chain of command under the authority of the state, therefore has a legitimate calling from God, who Himself acts through human vocations. Luther says the soldier should look at it this way: "It is not I that smite, stab, and slay, but God and my prince, for my hand and my body are now their servants." The Christian soldier, living out his faith in his vocation, loves and serves his neighbors by defending and protecting them.
Yes, soldiers can abuse their license to kill. Luther goes so far as to say that soldiers should refuse to fight in wars that are clearly evil. But those who have the Christian vocation of being a soldier may fight "in good conscience." Before God soldiers should be humble and repentant. But before the enemy, they should "smite them with a confident and untroubled spirit."