Christianity and Military Service

There seems to be a popular view that the Christian thing to do in America is to join the military.  I don’t agree on that.

Let me perface this by saying that two of my uncles (one a drill sergeant, the other a chinook mechanic), an aunt (military police), two cousins (army engineer and medic), my father (twenty years as a forward air controller), my brother (175th and 82nd, airborne/air assault), myself (four years as a navigator), and my great uncle (Marine jet mechanic, and survivor of the Pearl Harbor attacks) were in the military.  I know I’m not the most qualified when it comes to talking about the military, but I think it’s fair to say that I know a thing or two about it.

I think a lot of people believe that Christians can or should join the military because of the culture they grew up with than from an actual biblical basis.  Granted, there are exceptions to this rule (much like any rule being applied to people), and there are some reasonable arguments for Christians in the military, but from my experience it seems like the majority of people who believe this haven’t been exposed to either: they just assumed that’s the Christian thing to do.

There’s also a historical basis to this concept too: the ancient Israelites went to war with many peoples, God is described as a warrior (Exodus 15:3), America decided to violently cede from England because rights “Endowed by Our Creator” were not being recognized, and the Union forces believed that the Civil War was a righteous battle to free the slaves (listen to “The Battle Hymm of the Republic” in this context and you’ll get a deeper understanding to this concept).  Kings, queens, and other royalty believed that they were given permission to rule because of God, and thus spoke for God (hence why they used to the “royal we”), adding another piece of historical evidence of Christians participating in the political process.

It is also worth noting that Mormons accept members of the military (Joseph Smith even died while escaping jail and firing his pistols, and the “Saints and Soldiers” franchise was funded by many Mormons), and CS Lewis stated in Mere Christianity that military was appropriate and that if two Christians killed each other, then because they were obeying the orders above them, they would not be blamed for killing, and would eventually meet each other up in heaven.

The problem, and the main reason why I don’t believe that Christians should participate in the military, is that if you go far back enough, the majority of the Christian writers during the early portion of the Church’s history were unanimously opposed to Christians in the military.  Here’s a list that I’ve found:

• Justin Martyr in 160 CE
• Athenagoras in 175 CE
• Irenaeus in 180 CE
• Clement of Alexandria in 195 CE
• Tertullian in 197 CE (and again in 200 CE and in 207, 211, and 212 CE)
• Origen in 248 CE
• Cyprian in 250 CE
• Lactantius 304-313CE
• Arnobius in 305 CE

Nine different church fathers, across two and a half centuries (longer than America has existed), all of them the closest to the people who heard the words of Jesus himself, all in opposition to war.  David W. Bercot mentions that while Christians DID exist in the military early in the church’s history, they were either converted while serving, and then vowed to not take up the sword, or tried to leave the service shortly after conversion.  If anything, there is an even older tradition of Christian acting as pascifists than as soldiers.

The real crux of the problem is whether or not Jesus felt that the battle for the souls of the world was JUST spiritual, or spiritual AND physical.  The scriptures, unfortunately, are not completely clear on this matter.  And we’ll talk about that next week.  See you there.