Tough Questions
I was asked a very good question by one of the guys at youth group last night (you know who you are dude). The question went along these lines...
If in the Bible ,the 6th of the Ten Commandments says, "Thou shall not kill" (Exodus 20:13), why were there accounts of wars and battles in the bible?
I thought I'd get your opinion before I answer him.
Before that, let's expand the question a bit further. Why were there battles throughout history? Why are there wars still going on today?
What's your view? Please share.
posted by Clinttz @ 11:02 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Most biblical scholars will point out the following: The commandment to not kill is aimed at individuals and in the bible there are also commandments from god that men take up arms in defense of one thing or another.
My personal opinion though is this: There is war and will be war on this planet for one simple fact, human beings are flawed, greedy creatures. It's as simple as that...as long as someone wants what someone else has, there will be conflict.
The bible tells us to try to be Christlike, but God also gives us the power to repent for the things we do wrong, because he knew we were imperfect and he knows we will err.
In the Old Testament, God commanded people like Joshua, Gideon etc to go to war and He even commanded Joshua to kill everyone. "Joshua defeated the whole land... he left no one remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel commanded."-Joshua 6:21 and 10:40. Why? Because back then, God commanded purity and obedience and the people to only worship God and God alone. One must rememebr that pagan worship was rampant in the days of Moses. Therefore, any forms of impurity and disobedience to God was punishable by death. See Exodus 20. There are a lot more examples in Exodus through Deuteronomy.
"Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."-Romans 13 indicates that we are subject to the authorities placed above us. This does not only include the church leaders but also the governing bodies in our nation. However Acts 5:29 states that we should "obey God rather than men."
My conclusion would be that there is no black and white outline the Bible that tells Christians NOT to go to war. I believe that every Christian should reflect on WHY he is going to war. If a aprticualr war is going against the will of God then well, he should not, in obedience to God rather than men.
I also believe that we are living in the New Testament and things are different now than when they were in the OT. I mean, come on...even circumcision is not required from men now. (haha..)
It's not so much of whether we agree to war or not but it is whether it is a clear command from God. We are going to battle anyway...it's inevitable...the battle of Armageddon at the end.
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