.:WAR and NEUTRALITY - Should Christians
Remain Neutral during War?
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that
it is the Christian's duty to remain "neutral"
during warfare. In countries throughout the world,
many have faced imprisonment and even death for their
conscientious objection to bearing arms in war.
Historically, the Watchtower organization permitted
Jehovah's Witnesses to go to war as long as they did not "kill"
anyone or they sought non-combative, civilian service in place
of active duty. The August 1, 1898 issue of
Zion's Watch Tower claimed on page 231:
"Notice that there is no command in the Scriptures
against military service. Obedience to a draft would
remind us of our Lord's words, 'If any man compel thee to
go a mile, go with him twain.' The government may compel marching
or drilling, but cannot compel you to kill the foe. You
need not be a good marksman. Question. You
suggested in a recent WATCH TOWER that, if drafted and in
the army, we need not shoot to kill. Would such a course be
right? Would it not be fraudulent? Answer. No;
it would be quite right to shoot, not to
kill. You forget, perhaps, our provisos, which were
that we explain our conscientious scruples against war, and
seek to be excused; if not excused, that we seek non-combatant
positions, as nurses, etc; but if compelled
to go a mile or many miles as a soldier, we still need not
kill anybody."
In addition to allowing alternative service
in 1918, the Watchtower encouraged Jehovah's Witnesses to purchase
"Liberty Bonds" which help funded the United States
war effort for World War I:
"A Christian, unwilling to kill, may have been
conscientiously unable to buy government bonds; later
he considers what great blessings he has received under his
government, and realizes that the nation is in trouble and
facing dangers to its liberty, and he feels himself
conscientiously able to lend some money to the country,
just as he would lend to a friend in distress."—The
Watch Tower, June 1, 1918, p. 168
"Some members of the Brooklyn Tabernacle congregation
had previously purchased Liberty Bonds....Members
of our Association who have some personal means have bought
Liberty Bonds, including Tabernacle workers who are
paying 25 per cent. of their monthly allowances to purchase
a bond."—The Watch Tower, May 15, 1918,
p. 152
While the organization originally permitted
some support of the national governments during wartime, later
the Watchtower changed its position and prevented Jehovah's
Witnesses from even accepting alternative, civilian service.
Over the years, many Jehovah's Witnesses have been imprisoned
for this stand and some have even been "executed."
" '...But what really is your objection to civil,
alternative service?' The Witnesses explained that
it is not that they are opposed to civil service as such,
but, rather, it is a matter of strict neutrality.
Therefore, any work that is merely a substitute
for military service would be unacceptable to Jehovah's
witnesses....Civilian servitude as a substitute for
military service would be just as objectionable to the Christian."—Awake!,
December 8, 1974, p. 23
"Whether the issue was shedding blood, noncombatant
military work, alternative service, or saluting
an image such as a national flag, faithful Christians took
the position that there was no middle ground. In some cases
they were executed because of this stand."—The
Watchtower, September 1, 1986, p. 20
The position of the Watchtower Society against
any type of substitute military service remained in effect until
1996, when the Watchtower made it a matter of conscience
for the individual Jehovah's Witnesses.
"Could a dedicated Christian undertake such service?
Here again, a dedicated, baptized Christian would
have to make his own decision."—The
Watchtower, May 1, 1996, p. 19
To minimize the backlash that this change in position could
have on the Jehovah's Witnesses who had been imprisoned for
their inability to accept alternative service in exchange for
combative service, the Watchtower printed positive feedback
from imprisoned Jehovah's Witnesses.
"The May 1, 1996, issue of The Watchtower
contained an in-depth discussion of Christian neutrality
and how to balance our responsibilities to Jehovah and to 'Caesar.'...Many
expressions of appreciation have been heard for the new information
provided. Among them is the following letter, written
by a Witness in Greece and addressed to the Governing Body of
Jehovah's Witnesses: 'I want to express my deepest gratitude
to all you dear brothers for taking such good care of us spiritually.
Having spent some nine years
in prison because of my Christian faith, I
truly appreciate the wonderful thoughts in the May1, 1996, issue
of The Watchtower....The increased light in
the May 1 Watchtower has been well received
here in Greece, especially by those who spent several
years in prison or who are still in prison because of their
faith."—The Watchtower, November
1, 1996, p. 27
Imagine spending a good portion of your life in prison over
a position that the organization would later determine to be
in error! How would one rationalize these years spent in prison
for nothing? And what about the Jehovah's Witnesses who died
for this position that has now been changed? By printing positive
statements such as these in the Watchtower, the organization
seeks to condition Jehovah's Witnesses into viewing these changes
as evidence of divine leadership, rather than human manipulation.
Having examined the historical position of the Watchtower in
regard to war and neutrality, we will now turn our attention
to Scripture that they use in an attempt to substantiate their
position.
-
MATTHEW
26:52: "Then Jesus said to him, 'Put your
sword back into its place; for all those who take
up the sword shall perish by the sword." 1.
-
JOHN
18:36: "Jesus answered, ' My kingdom
is not of this world. If My kingdom were
of this world, then My servants would be fighting,
that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is,
My Kingdom is not of this realm.' "
The Watchtower claims that in these passages,
Jesus was indicating that his disciples "were not to resort
to weapons of physical warfare."2.
However, attention must be given to the context which takes
place during the arrest and trial of Jesus—prior
to His ransom sacrifice for our sins. The Jews were anticipating
a triumphant Messiah to take the throne and
rescue Israel from Roman tyranny. Since a suffering Messiah
did not fit with their expectations, the natural inclination
of Jesus' disciples was to fight in order to deliver Him from
death. But Jesus corrected them with the command not to "take
up the sword" in His defense. Thus, Jesus' purpose in His
first coming was to die for our sins, and in so doing, establish
a Kingdom that "is not of this realm."
John's gospel account of the incident provides
further insight into Jesus' command, for it states: "Jesus
therefore said to Peter, 'Put the sword into the sheath; the
cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?'"3.
By this explanation, we can clearly see that Jesus intended
this injunction strictly for the time of His death and not to
be a binding command for all believers to avoid self-defense
at all times. In fact, we see at Luke 22:36, Jesus even encouraged
his followers by saying, "Let him who has no sword
sell his robe and buy one." Why would
Jesus encourage his followers to "buy" a sword, if
they were to "lay it down" and never to use it in
self-defense? Obviously, Jesus is not against self-defense,
but was only against it in the specific case involving His death
for our sins.
-
2
CORINTHIANS 10:3-4: "For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
for the weapons of our warfare are
not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction
of fortresses."
Regarding this verse, that Watchtower claims, "Paul
here states that he never resorted to fleshly weapons,
such as trickery, high-sounding language, or carnal
weapons, to protect the congregation against false
teachings."4.
The Society is correct in assessing that this passage
is talking about Paul's method of defense against
spiritual attack. Indeed, fleshly weapons (such as
swords and shields) against spiritual forces cannot
prevail. "For our struggle is not against flesh
and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers,
against the world forces of this darkness, against
the spiritual forces of wickedness in the
heavenly places."5.
Since this passage is dealing with spiritual warfare
and not physical battles between nations, it has no
bearing on the subject at hand—namely,
Christian involvement in war.
-
LUKE
6:27-28: "But I say to you who hear, love
your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless
those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
The Watchtower claims that Jesus' command to
"love your enemies" precludes military service for Christians,
for one cannot be loving his enemies if he is trying to kill them
in war. Again, this argument is invalidated by the context of
the passage, for the following verses state: "Whoever hits
you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes
away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. Give
to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours,
do not demand it back."6.
Was Jesus saying that it is wrong for Christians
to protect their belongings? Did Jesus want Christians to lay
down their lives to the extent of enduring any abuse afflicted,
regardless of circumstances? Are we to take these verses
as a blueprint for handling disputes among the people of society?
Common sense demonstrates the absurdity of such practice, for
to do so would be to invite any type of malice and injustice upon
a people. No civilization can endure where people are
not held accountable for their actions.
The Jews of Jesus' day were very concerned about
justice being served in equal proportion to evils endured. For
this reason, they had a law that if one took the eye of his neighbor,
he would forfeit his own eye. It was in reference to this law
that Jesus made these statements.7.
Thus, we see that far from advocating Christian pacifism, Jesus
was rather challenging his disciples to be more concerned about
living a life of grace and mercy, than of personal revenge for
evils endured. In no way was Jesus giving a blueprint for governments
to operate when dealing with "enemy" nations. Just as
mercy cannot endure where justice is not upheld, both must be
in balance to maintain order in society and with nations at large.
-
JOHN
13:35: "By this all men will know that
you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
The Watchtower asserts that "Christ's
followers were to make disciples of people of all nations;
so worshipers of the true God would in time be found in
all those nations.....If true Christians in one nation were
to go to war against another nation, they would be fighting
against fellow believers, against people who prayed for
help to the same God that they did. "8.
Reasoning that Christian "love" for brother is
destroyed by the possibility of Christian soldiers fighting
in enemy countries, the Watchtower uses this verse to convince
Jehovah's Witnesses that it is wrong to engage in national
war.
We believe there is a right side and
a wrong side to every war engagement. Scripture
makes it clear that the governments "which
exist are established by God"9.
Thus, we are to "submit...to
every human institution, whether to
a king as the one in authority, or to the governors
as sent by him for the punishment of
evildoers and the praise of
those who do right."10.
Just as Romans 13:4 states, governments are
a "minister of God, an avenger who brings
wrath upon the one who practices evil."
Therefore, we see that God has given the jurisdictional
requirement for those in national and governmental
authority to guard and protect those under their
care by upholding justice and not allowing evil
to stand.
Exodus 22:2 states: "If a thief
is caught while breaking in, and is struck so
that he dies, there will be no blood-guiltiness
on his account." Just as this passage notes,
whether it is a person breaking into a house
under the protection of a father, or a country
who is breaking in (going to war) against another
country to try to take what does not belong
to it, bloodshed in these instances is justified.
Since it is clear that in the case of self-defense,
there is no "bloodguilt" involved
for the person who kills an intruder, we maintain
that the same is true for Christians who evaluate
the sides of any given war and only engage on
the self-defense side of the war. If Christians
truly evaluate the sides of the war prior to
engagement, the chances of them killing each
other in war on both sides will be eliminated,
for they will only be fighting on the righteous
(just) side of the war.
To aid in evaluating the moral ethnicity
of a given war, in the 13th century, Saint Thomas Aquinas
formulated an outline of principles that eventually became
known as the "Just War Theory." In his Summa
Theologicae, Aquinas discusses not only when a righteous
war would permissible but the kinds of activity that would
be morally acceptable during war. Over the centuries as
various philosophers and theologians expanded upon the
principles of "just war" advocated by Aquinas,
the following seven qualifications emerged:
-
Proper Authority: Just
War Theory maintains that only those of legitimate authority
may declare war. The primary purpose of this principle is
to prevent criminal insurrections. Thus, actions taken by
individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned
by the national government (or those whom society deems as
legitimate) cannot wage war.
-
Real Injury: In order
to justify going to war, there must be a genuine loss for
which the war is fought to redress the wrong suffered. Self-defense
against an armed attack is often considered a legitimate cause
for war — though only with the intention of rectifying
the injury endured.
-
Proportionality: The harm
caused by the war must be proportional to the wrong suffered
and must not go beyond those boundaries. Thus, force is dealt
in equal to less measure to that of the enemy's attack and
limited only to what is necessary to accomplish the original
goal of merely redressing the wrong suffered.
-
Just Means of Fighting:
The weapons used in fighting the war must be targeted
toward disabling the enemy military forces, keeping
civilian causalities to a minimum. A righteous war
takes every effort to avoid targeting innocent civilians—the
death of which is only permissible if they are unavoidable
victims of an intentional attack on a military entity.
-
Good Chance of Victory:
A nation should not engage in war unless there is
a reasonable chance of victory without endangering
the lives of its own people. Jesus advocated this
principle when he said at Luke 14:31-32: "Or
what king, when he sets out to meet another king
in battle, will not first sit down and take counsel
whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men
to encounter the one coming against him with twenty
thousand? Or else, while the other is still far
away, he sends a delegation and asks terms of peace."
- Failed Negotiations: At Deuteronomy 20:10-12,
God gives the following command to Israel, "When you approach
a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace.
And it shall come about, if it agrees to make peace with you
and opens to you, then it shall be that all the people who are
found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.
However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against
you, then you shall besiege it." Accordingly, a war can
only be waged as a last resort—when all non-violent options
for peace have been exhausted within a reasonable amount of
time.
- Right Motive: The primary purpose of the
war is to establish peace. If preemptive strikes are to be justified,
they must be done with the focus of neutralizing the enemy's
capacity to kill and destroy—the ultimate goal being that
of establishing (or maintaining) peace.
John 15:13 states: "Greater
love has no one than this, that one
lay down his life for his friends."
Thus, true Christian love for brother
can be seen during war engagement when one is
willing to lay down his life to protect his
home and country from enemy invasion. Indeed,
we do well to consider the admonition in Ecclesiastes
3:8: "There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven....A
time for war and a time for peace."
ISAIAH 2:2, 4: "Now
it will come about that in the last days....He
will judge between the nations, and will render decisions
for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not
lift up sword against nation, and never again
will they learn war."
The Watchtower claims, "Individuals
out of all nations must personally decide what course
they will pursue. Those who have heeded Jehovah's
judgment give evidence that he is their God."11.
Accordingly, Jehovah's Witnesses view this evidence
consists in not participating in the "carnal
warfare" of earthly nations. By looking to
Christ Jesus as the King of Jehovah's heavenly Kingdom,
to whom all allegiance is sworn, Jehovah's Witnesses
do not engage in earthly battles.
In evaluating this argument, it
is important to note that the event in which "nations
will...never again...learn war" does not occur
until Jesus Christ judges "between the nations"
and takes rulership over the earth. Since this does
not occur until the prophesied Millennial (1,000
year) reign of Christ,12.
we are not in a position today were we can avoid
war. Daniel 9:26 prophecies that war is inevitable,
for it proclaims "...even to the end
there will be war; desolations are determined."
Furthermore, Jesus said that we "will be hearing
of wars and rumors of wars; see that you
are not frightened, for those things
must take place, but that is not
yet the end."13.
Therefore, Christians would do well to consider
the following advice from Proverbs in matters related
to war:
"Prepare plans by consultation, and make war
by wise guidance....For by wise guidance
you will wage war, and in abundance of counselors
there is victory."—Proverbs 20:18; 24:6
Jehovah's Witnesses acknowledge that it is
true that Jehovah God sanctioned war for the nation of Israel
in taking over the land that God had promised them, but what about
the Christian congregation? Is there any evidence that Christians
at the time of Christ and in the early church participated in
carnal warfare? Jehovah's Witnesses assert that they did not. 14.
However, we have examples of godly men who were soldiers and were
not condemned for their choice of career. Keep in mind that at
this time, these men were serving under the pagan Roman empire.
If Jesus and the apostles of His day did not condemn them, why
should we?
LUKE 3:14: "And
some soldiers were questioning him, saying,
'And what about us, what shall we
do?' And he said to them, 'Do not take money
from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely,
and be content with your wages.'"
MATTHEW 8:5-10, 13:
"And when He had entered Capernaum,
a centurion came to Him,
entreating Him, and saying, 'Lord, my servant is
lying paralyzed at home, suffering great pain.'
And He said, 'Lord, I am not worthy for You to come
under my roof, but just say the word, and my servant
will be healed. For I, too,
am a man under authority, with
soldiers under me; and I say to this one,
"Go!" and he goes, and to another one,
"Come!" and he comes, and to my slave,
"Do this!" and he does it. '
Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled
and said to those who were following, 'Truly
I say to you, I have not found
such great faith with anyone in Israel.....And
Jesus said to the centurion, 'Go
your way; let it be done to you as you have believed.'
"
ACTS 10:1-2, 22:
"Now there was a certain
man at Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion
of what was called the Italian cohort, a devout
man, and one who feared God
with all his household, and gave many alms to the
Jewish people, and prayed to God continually....
And they said, 'Cornelius, a centurion,
a righteous and God-fearing man
well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews,
was divinely directed by a holy angel to
send for you....' "
ECCLESIASTES 3:1, 3, 8:
"There is an appointed time for everything.
And there is a time for every event under heaven....A time
to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time
to build up....A time to love, and a time to hate; A
time for war and a time for peace."
For Addition Information See:
1.
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the
New American Standard Bible
2.
Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1989, p. 271
3.
John 18:11
4.
Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1989, p. 271
5.
Ephesians 6:12
6.
Luke 6:29-30
7.
See Matthew 5:38-44
8.
Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1989, p. 272
9.
Romans 13:1
10.
1 Peter 2:13
11.
Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1989, p. 271
12.
See Revelation 19:11; 20:4
13.
Matthew 24:6
14.
See Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1989, p. 272
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