“And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father, for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham.” Genesis 26:18
Sitting alone with my thoughts it seems I unconsciously navigate toward the idea of saying something once again about the Christian’s involvement in violence and especially war.
As the world moves closer and closer to mass destruction and the suicidal elimination of vast numbers of human beings at the hands of their brother, I dare not keep my thoughts to myself. Among the many problems of Christian ethics, there is none more urgent than the Christian’s attitude toward war.
The events of the past few years force on every thinking and feeling human the necessity of arriving at some sort of a decision on this complicated question. Everywhere, by the overwhelming majority, Christian people have declared clearly both in word and action the same decision, that to fight, to shed blood, to kill–provided it be done under orders of higher rank or in defense of the weak–is the Christian duty and privilege. But only by an act of self-deception can anyone pretend that this is the last word on the subject; but what does the human conscience have to say on the matter?
The enthusiastic vigor with which the majority applaud the Christian warrior must be attributed to other factors than the calm, impartial, and considered judgment of the informed Christian intellect. Once the atmosphere of war is generated (fed by government propaganda) the truth and reasonableness of “popular opinion” is not only taken for granted but is elevated to a level of inviolability, and dissent becomes intolerable, and may even deserve censure and punishment. The New Testament speaks so clearly on the subject that ignorance is a self-inflicted wound.
For the first three centuries, after Jesus showed us the way by His self-sacrifice, and encouraged us to pick up our own cross and follow Him, there was a consensus of thought and belief on this very subject. During that time Christians never doubted their role as sheep for the slaughter. With the advent of The Dark Ages, Satan managed to darken the minds and hearts of nearly all Christians who now desire the death of their enemies.
The message of non-resistance to the evil person is so abundantly clear that there should be no reason for me to continually pursue this message or beat against this wall, but Satan has stopped-up the ears and blinded the eyes of professing believers. Like Isaac, I will continue to dig wells even though the enemy continues to plug them.