In one of his recent notes R. C. Sproul Jr. asked the question, How would you counsel a Christian young man who wants to serve in our armed forces? His answer when reduced amounted to, Well yes our Government is corrupt to the core but that doesn’t mean that a Christian young person can’t serve in the US military as long as they are given a good stern warning about the dangers of the US government as they are inducted.
This is my response to Jr.
It’s good to know that you would have been perfectly fine with “Christians” joining up w/ Lincoln’s, Sheridan’s, Sherman’s and Grant’s Yankees in order to kill, rape and savage the South.
The US gov’t today is no less evil than it was in the time of Lincoln and those who fight today support an evil cause now just as “Christians” fighting in Mr. Lincoln’s war in 1861 were supporting evil.
Or if we don’t like that example would you have wanted to find yourself telling WW II era Russian “Christians” that it was perfectly acceptable to join the Bolshevik military in order to aid and assist the expansion of the Stalinists?
Here is a enlightening comment from Dr. H. Henry Meeter and his book “The Basic Ideas of Calvinism,”
“Among the Christians of the early centuries of Christianity there were many who opposed war, not as a matter of principle, but because it required their entering into the service of a Government which persecuted Christians and demanded worship of idols by the militia. When the Roman Eagle was exchanged for the Cross and the Empire turned Christian, the attitude toward war among Christians underwent a corresponding change.”
So, as the former friend in the previous discussion you allude to I am just returning to the position of the early Church. In principle I don’t have a problem with Military service or fighting in wars. I do however have a problem doing so when the agenda being pursued by the State is to crush all religions before it (including and especially Christianity) for the purpose of establishing a religious pagan global order. This is what is happening today and any person serving in the US military is a instrument serving to the accomplishing of that pagan agenda end.
As far as Lk. 3:14 is concerned I don’t think you are handling that text properly as it is a open question as to what military the soldiers in question were serving. Were they serving in Rome’s military or in Herod’s. Secondly, even if they were serving in Rome’s these are questions coming from people already in the military and not from people seeking to determine whether they should join the military. Thirdly, if Christian soldier did what John the Baptist said it wouldn’t be long until they would be court martialed.
The Bible does not universally forbid serving in the military. Such a interpretation would be Anabaptist. What the Bible does teach is that we are hate that which is evil and cling to that which is good. If the government service puts one in league with evil then joining it to do its bidding is hardly a sign that one is “hating that which is evil.”
Now, I’m not a purist. I quite understand that there are times when the good guy’s white hats are soiled. I understand that one might fight for a government that is soiled. But in this country our government has long moved past soiled. We are Babylon the Whore and we are the ones who are seeking to set up a religious pagan globalistic order.
How any young Christian person can sign up to aid and assist the US Military and its design is quite beyond me. I counsel against it as a undershepherd of Christ.
Thank you for this post. Spot on.