Christians and War
Brittany Elam I.D# 910117811
Philosophy 2010 02
Christians and War Based on the reading, “Christians and War”, there are five different views of war. The five views of war are Christian pacifism, non-retaliation, just peacemaking, just war, and crusade. These views of war originated from debates concerning whether there are justifiable reasons for war, or armed conflict. Christians have struggled for many years with interpreting the bibles approach on war. This struggle has led to many different opinions among the Christian church today. War can be defined as a state of armed conflict between different nations or states, or different groups within a nation or state. War often leads to deaths and destruction. According to the reading, Christian pacifism views any type of armed conflict or killing of another as wrong. The pacifist position holds that a child of god is to love those that hate us. This means that everyone should love their enemies, even if they do harm to them. The pacifist view also includes that one should not be worried about personal gain; one should be placing their treasures in heaven. Non-retaliationist views on war are similar to those of pacifism. Although non-retaliationist believe that killing or any armed conflict is wrong, they accept that the government wages war. They also believe that they owe responsibility to their country; therefore they serve their country as non- combatants. The peacemaking view of war recommends ten practices that will create peace and abolish war. The first of the ten practices
Philosophy 2010 02
Christians and War Based on the reading, “Christians and War”, there are five different views of war. The five views of war are Christian pacifism, non-retaliation, just peacemaking, just war, and crusade. These views of war originated from debates concerning whether there are justifiable reasons for war, or armed conflict. Christians have struggled for many years with interpreting the bibles approach on war. This struggle has led to many different opinions among the Christian church today. War can be defined as a state of armed conflict between different nations or states, or different groups within a nation or state. War often leads to deaths and destruction. According to the reading, Christian pacifism views any type of armed conflict or killing of another as wrong. The pacifist position holds that a child of god is to love those that hate us. This means that everyone should love their enemies, even if they do harm to them. The pacifist view also includes that one should not be worried about personal gain; one should be placing their treasures in heaven. Non-retaliationist views on war are similar to those of pacifism. Although non-retaliationist believe that killing or any armed conflict is wrong, they accept that the government wages war. They also believe that they owe responsibility to their country; therefore they serve their country as non- combatants. The peacemaking view of war recommends ten practices that will create peace and abolish war. The first of the ten practices