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Christians and the U.S. Military
The topic of war and the military can ignite many emotions. I have friends and family that are/have been in the military. Even with the emotions involved I think there needs to be a serious conversation about the U.S. military and Christian morals. When I was in college I was introduced to a documentary that made me wrestle with my stance on war. The documentary is titled “Soldiers of Conscience”. A shortened version can be found on youtube. Here is the video:
I do not appreciate the imagery this documentary uses with the dead people because that simply stirs up emotions but this video does raise some interesting questions.
#1 As a Christian is it okay to train soldiers to bypass their moral decision-making through “reflexive fire training” to more effectively kill an enemy?
#2 Is there a contradiction between the U.S. military chants, “What is the spirit of the bayonet? Kill, kill, kill without mercy,” and, “What makes the green grass grow? Blood, blood, blood makes the green grass grow,” with Jesus words, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” (Matt. 5:44)?
These are questions worth wrestling over. I encourage responses below from all sides of the fence as long as they are respectful and encourage dialogue.
Thanks for reading.
Like this:
Make War!
Every believer struggles with their flesh (sinful desires) and I am no exception. I always feel like I am getting pulled by my wicked heart to do the wrong thing. It’s a daily struggle that Paul seemed to have understood that when he wrote Romans 7.
I was listening to an album I purchased a while ago called “Identity Crisis” by Tedashii. I was blessed by a song that featured another rapper named Flame. The song’s title is “Make War” and it shows that everyday is a battle between our redeemed selves and our sinful selves.
This battle rages on in everyone that walks in the faith so I thought I would try to communicate some ideas on how to fight. I don’t have a step by step way of getting rid of sin but hopefully these three must-haves in the Christian’s life will help.
1st: Read the Bible. This is the best way to hear God’s heart. The Bible is truth wrapped up in words and it should be part of our lives everyday!
2nd: Be a prayer warrior. We need to stay connected with the Father. He loves hearing from his children and we all need someone to talk to and there is really no one better than him!
3rd: Stay in fellowship. Christ showed us the importance of reaching the low and sinful by being with them but he also spent most of his time with his disciples. We need to reach the world but we also need to have a group of people around us who love Christ and who are growing in their faith. Without them it is easy to stumble.
Here is the video that encouraged this post and I pray that it encourages you to keep the faith and fighting sin.
