"Mama, were they the good guys or the bad guys?"
"What?" I asked. (more to give myself a chance to think than because I didn't hear him)
"Were they the good guys or the bad guys?"
The question came from my 8 year old son as we discussed two military groups who were at war with one another. One of the military groups happened to be that of the United States of America.
I paused as I felt the inner turmoil of the answer I knew I had heard numerous times and the answer I knew was correct because of my faith. I went with the latter.
"Son? Are you a sinner?"
"Yes."
"Are all men sinners?"
"Yes."
"Are all men wicked...bad?"
He paused thoughtfully..."yes".
"So which side is the 'good guys'?"
"Neither?"
"That's right, son. War is wicked. God alone has the right to wage justice on the wicked. He has given authority to government leaders to rule earthly kingdoms but that does not mean that war is ever good. All killing and all war is evidence of the effects of sin and of our fallen status before God. It should grieve us. But even further, the only just war is the war fought in immediate self defense."
This conversation took place the week leading up to Memorial Day. It really got me thinking and meditating on all the things I have learned since leaving my upbringing in the institutionalized schools of our country and learning to really ask questions and scrutinize our country and its claims. There are so many things to be thankful for in this country, so many things to be proud of and happy about...but there are also so many things to be worried about, grieved over, and angry about.
So as Memorial day drew close, I began to see the articles and the facebook pictures and statuses praising our fallen heros. Again I felt that tug between the phrases that had been implanted in me as a child in government schools and what I knew to be true according to God's Word. You know the phrases, "These men fought so we could be free." "Freedom isn't free." "He gave his life so you could enjoy yours." And on and on and on.
I would never question the amazing sacrifice a man or woman makes to leave their family to join the military.
I would never question the terror of a man or woman losing their life or their limbs/health in combat.
I would never question the bravery of a man or woman leaving home for another country, entering territories unknown to carry out missions too scary for my wildest dreams.
I do not question the heart and desire of a man or woman to defend their beloved country home and the thankfulness in their heart with which they do this.
But my question is...did not Hitler's men do the same things? Hear me out. My son was once given a book about the WWII German battleship, The Bismark. He was so excited to read through it with my husband. The story went in depth to the men who gave their lives when the battleship was sunk and those who survived. The most riveting thing about the book was how...kind...how....honoroable...how...human...those men were. As I read it I felt sick. These men had families, they had lives they left behind, they fought with the same desire to protect the country they loved from the threats they were told existed. These men also did not know Hitler personally, nor did they have any idea about the concentration camps.
But fast forward to today and if you met a Nazi soldier would you not turn your face in horror? Does not the very word make you cringe?
All men are evil.
And this brings me to my concern. My son is hearing about war, sees our soldiers dressed in uniform and the praise given them and my question is...who do these men fight for? WHAT are they fighting for? Oh sure, we know what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but everything since then has been a strange blur of information, misinformation, confusion, blame casting, lies...and it makes me wonder...how many of our wars are truly just?
"They are fighting for our freedom."
Which freedom?
Who is their leader? Is he honorable? Are his motives honorable? Who is he really? Who are we really? What are our leaders goals?
And, if he is not honorable, if his motives are not honorable, if his ambitions are not honorable...then what does that say about the lives of these men and women who are fighting for him, for his administration? Most of these men and women, even if we had a full blown Hitler situation going on, would not know it. They are given orders and they fulfill them to the best of their ability. They do it because it's their job, because they love their country, because they desire to keep us safe....
But what are we to believe as Christians? Whom do we serve? What is the meaning and purpose of our earthly life? To whom belongs glory and honor? Is it to the man who leaves behind his wife and children to care for themselves while he carries out the orders of a non Christian man in combat when he doesn't fully understand the true motives?
I don't know. I do not pretend to have the answers. But I am not afraid to ask the hard questions. And I am tired of being a robot that repeats things that everyone else repeats simply because it was drilled into me as a child. We have to think for ourselves with Holy Scripture and our Pastors as our guide. Because, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the darkness truly is deepening. Whom do we serve? To whom belongs the glory?
Beautiful questions asked in faith. Here is a good resource for you from Martin Luther: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1082&context=ocj I can't remember if I've read it in full, but I've read quotes from it often and I know that Luther says while we can resist the "Turks" we must, but if the "Turks" should take control of us they, too, become our neighbor. As a soldier we are serving God and neighbor by being the hand of His Law on earth - as you beautifully pointed out. We must always remember that God's Word forms our Christian conscience and teaches us what is right and wrong, forgiving us when we err. Even the hangman does a service to neighbor within a Godly vocation - he is God's hand bringing punishment upon the wicked.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult when we are uncertain of how "just" the war is, but I thank God that our soldiers honor the authorities God has placed over them, for God has certainly placed those authorities, even if the choices they make are evil. Remember, God placed Saul over the Israelites. While all men CERTAINLY are sinners, we are able feebly to keep the Law, by the work of the Holy Spirit through us, as Masks of God, whether we are a soldier, a pastor, a mother, a friend, or a janitor. And so in whatever vocations we find ourselves, we thank God that He works through us to serve our neighbor, we ask forgiveness constantly where we fail, and we trust in His unfailing love and mercy. :-)
Matthew, thank you for your thoughts, they really opened up a lot for me to think about. I think what I struggle with is the glorification of the soldiers and the claims made of what they are doing...it would be like comparing the man that ran gas chambers for Hitler to your hangman that is serving his neighbor within a Godly vocation...when does it cease to be Godly? When it disobeys God's Word? When are we to cease voluntarily serving the authority by going to war for them? Should the gas chamber man have thought he was serving in a Godly vocation killing millions of innocent people? Yes, we Christians are all forgiven through Christ's grace, but when do we sin boldly honoring the authorities and when must we take a step back and cease to follow the authorities wicked motives where they exist?
ReplyDeleteThese are the same questions Luther struggled with as well as those who have addressed Dietrich Bonhoeffer's role in planning an assassination attempt on Hitler. How about the child who runs from an abusive parent? Are they breaking the 4th Commandment by dishonoring their parent or the 5th Commandment by allowing harm to come to themselves by staying? If they stay and allow themselves to be beaten are they truly honoring their parent or are they aiding them in misusing and abusing the authority given to them? Or the tyrannical authority who comes to you after killing 3 of your 4 children and asks if you have any more. Do you lie (a sin) or disobeying your authority (also a sin)? If you tell the truth who knows what good God may bring of it, but what parent would NOT LIE to save their child?
ReplyDeleteSometimes these questions seem easy - sometimes much more difficult. It is for these reasons that God gave us our reason and all our senses and still takes care of them. Of course we use our reason based on God's Word and act accordingly. When caught between a rock and a hard place we sin boldly, not for the sake of sinning, but for the sake of making a decision and not just sitting on our hands. Then we pray God's forgiveness where we have erred. If I were the Christian attendant to the gas chamber I would hope to stand up against those who are abusing their authority, though I would perish and one would easily take my place, but even as the gas chamber attendant one could find ways to serve those below them. This is why grace has to be so central to these conversations.
Here's an interesting and very much related blog post by Chad Bird:
http://birdchadlouis.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/from-hitlers-wolves-to-christs-lambs-how-lutheran-pastor-henry-gerecke-brought-the-gospel-to-hitlers-highest-ranking-disciples-before-their-executions/
While we can't support their actions, nor those of the gas chamber dude, we thank God for their repentance and the great joy of knowing we will feast with them in paradise.
Anyway, maybe not the most direct answer, but these are truly difficult questions that I have wrestled with for years. :-)
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ReplyDeleteBut I'm not sure we're caught between a rock and a hard place. At least not yet. Most people are not forced into military service, and yet we praise them when they go...and glorify them when they are wounded or die...but what are they really dying for today? Who and what are they fighting for? We're not dishonoring authority to say this war is wrong and to not join in, or glorify, or post the sappy pictures. At least not yet.
ReplyDeleteSo looking at both issues:
ReplyDeleteI do have a problem with glorifying them above other vocations - for the same reason that Luther had a problem with the glorification of the monastic life for 2 reasons: 1) They believed that it was a holier service to God that in and of itself made people holier, and 2) They took people out of the world and focused their energy on God so that they were not serving their neighbors. If monks could view their vocation as one of service, equal to other vocations, and truly serve their neighbors then there was no problem with living such a life.
So with soldiers, their vocation shouldn't be placed above or below yours as a mother, mine as a pastor, or any of our various chosen vocations. Thanks be to God for their sacrifice, their service, their love for neighbor.
And then the 2nd issue:
My nephew, Kevin, is serving in Afghanistan right now - his specialty and gifts are of great service in cleaning up the mess over there. He is helping in the efforts to pull out. There are many ways in which he can serve his country and his neighbors. Are there problems with our country's military intentions, actions, motivations, etc.? Yes. Certainly. But this comes back to your initial point. Even if we are acting SOLELY in self-defense, there is sin - there always will be when humans are involved. But again, I go back to the example of the Turks - if we can resist their evil rule we must, but if we are caught in a bad situation where we are under the rule of the Turks, they become our neighbor, too, and we continue to use our God-given gifts to serve them and our other neighbors where we are able. I know this falls in a seemingly gray area in between - our people aren't subject to a draft, they're not being forced to serve, but they do so in order to serve their neighbor, so my God bless their efforts to do so, may he guide our leadership as we pray EVERY SUNDAY in the prayers of the church (and there are times I almost laugh when using the very nice and appropriate "Let us pray" prayers put out by the LCMS because we pray for our leadership in such a way that the prayers often condemn them for all their evils - like praying that they guard and protect all life when they are supporting and advocating abortion). May God turn the hearts of the impenitent and richly forgive our soldiers and leadership where they err, giving them confidence in salvation through Christ alone.
I don't disagree and what you said in your last paragraph isn't against my questions or my post. :) My questions were not asking if it is wrong for any person to serve in our country's military at this point in time or wrong for us to be proud of select soldiers who "get it" and are doing Godly work while under the authority of God-less rulers, they were merely designed to get people thinking about the blind praise and glorification of all soldiers without thought towards our country's leaders' goals or whether any of the recent wars were just. We claim to be conservative Christians and yet we walk around posting sappy pictures of kids crying as their parents come home from war without even going "wait...why are we glorifying this again? Is this war even just? Who are we serving and why?" I'm not saying I have the answers to any of these questions but we need to THINK, ASK QUESTIONS, and not just go along with American pride just because it's something we've always done.
ReplyDeletePlease keep in mind that many -- if not most -- military service members are serving a vocation, upholding an oath to uphold the constitution. Many serve across administration terms, and rarely if ever do they agree with their leaders. But who among us -- regardless of our vocation -- serve Christian masters/bosses/leaders who we always agree with. I'd say very few. It is a struggle we all face in this life, and please do not ever think the military men and women serve lightly. For many, when they disagree with the higher up leadership, it is a struggle, a very deep struggle... and one that weighs heavily as they wrestle with the doctrine of vocation.
ReplyDeleteVanessa, I completely agree. I still think it is valid to ask questions, especially when we are dealing with a vocation that may serve to take the lives of others, each other, or to further expansion of certain wicked government motives.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sad - I wrote a comment yesterday and it didn't end up posting it. I pretty much said this is where our vocation as faithful, educated citizens comes in. We use the information we can obtain, vote, use the resources we are blessed with, and do the best we can when making our decisions, whether as soldiers or civilians. Then we pray God's forgiveness where we have erred and trust in His grace and mercy. It's so hard to live with one foot in each kingdom - we are heirs of heaven, but we have been given the blessed task of being masks of God in this world so stained with sin. The two will always find conflict this side of the Last Day. Thanks be to God that when we face these dilemmas we remember that we are baptized and get to live in the sanctification that gift offers. :-)
ReplyDeleteThere was a superb piece on this topic on how one can serve as a soldier and be a Christian. http://steadfastlutherans.org/?p=36757 -- I'm not saying it's invalid or wrong to ask questions, but I would simply urge all of us to remember that there are very real and complex people wrestling with their vocation, their faith, their family, their Christian conscience, every day. We must always be careful to ensure we are not painting people with especially broad strokes and making far-reaching assumptions about who they are, what they value, and what they believe.
ReplyDeleteVanessa, your last point is exactly why I asked those questions. I think it paints very broad strokes to praise all military service as a wonderful heroic sacrifice when as Christians we must always, always, ask questions about whether our participation in something is truly a vocation we should be serving in. That is all I am saying. I'm not saying it IS wrong, I'm just asking Christians to stop talking like the rest of the country and ask questions. I always make a point to regard any military personnel with a quiet but pointed respect. And I do respect them. But that does not equate with an emotional praise and adoration for all military as I have serious questions about the actions of our country. Again, Vanessa, please don't read more into my post than is there. I respect your concerns but I think my concerns are valid as well and that is why I made very clear in the bold that I am not seeking to pick on individual military service people, only ask questions designed to get people to stop blindly praising service as if there aren't genuine deep issues in these matters of life and death.
ReplyDeleteLuke 3:14?
ReplyDelete[14] Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”
ReplyDelete(Luke 3:14 ESV)
Anon, what about it?
>> Anon, what about it?
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm the one who follows your website (by way of CSPP, of lamentable quietude), and not vice versa, so if I say something that makes sense, then that would even our score to something like, oh, 1,873 to 1?
But respectfully, and how-um-soever, at the level of 8 years, I think the passage says, "yes, that soldier, as long as he doesn't [extort, envy--he's your 8yo, you come up with the words...(that's supposed to be kindly humor)], he can be A Good Guy, with Jesus' help.
But--says your young man--are they (one army or another) "The Good Guys"? No, not ever just by belonging to one side or group or another.
And lastly I agree with this: "God alone has the right to wage justice on the wicked", but God uses means, yes?
oh Anon, please know I don't think I am the slightest bit worthy of being declared able to make sense. :) I'm just a mom that likes to write because it gives me a place to say something other than my ABCs.
ReplyDeleteI think the root of your question gets to the issue of vocation. It goes back to Matthew's hangman. Did Christ tell them, "soldiers are wicked, no one should be a soldier."? No! Of course not. God Himself is a God of war when and where He deems worthy. We do not have a buddy Christ, we have a just God and both the left and right hand kingdoms serve their purpose under God. My question isn't about whether it is ever appropriate to be a soldier, and perhaps this is the confusion of a post all about asking questions, though I suppose it has served its purpose ( to get people asking and talking), but about whether right now, in this place and time, in this country, do we need to examine our blind adoration of servicemen and women? Perhaps is not more of a reserved and leery stance appropriate? I know if one of my sons was grown and wanted to go into the service I would ask him why. What freedom is he trying to protect? Does he believe this administration is truly interested in protecting freedom or are they interested in expanding their empire? And if they are, does this directly go against Christ's command for soldiers? And if it does, should they not refrain? Just honest questions, I do not have the answers, but it was on my heart.
Anon, thank you for your Bible passage and your questions. It's an honor talking to you about it. And I agree, oh how I miss CSPP!