WAR

 

 

WHY WAR?

2016

 

  “Why war?” is plainly answered in Scripture: it is because of the base nature of man wanting his way, wanting more. Sound familiar? It should, for dissatisfaction with harmony, wanting more was core issue in the original sinning Eve and Adam. (Gen.3:1-6) And, as with all hostilities of small or large scope, there was and still is always terrible casualty -- the price of war. (Gen.3:7-24)

  David, warrior king, cried out about the wasted cruel futility or war. (2Sam.1:25-27)

  Sometimes war involves crime most personal. (2Sam.11:1-27)

  Jesus spoke about war. (Mt.24:6-8; Mk.13:6-8)

  James, in chapter 4, plainly explains the reason for war; and that we make serious error when going to war against God.

  In KJV “war” is mentioned 225 times in 220 verses; “battle” 170 in 163 verses.

  “peace” is mentioned in one context or another 429 times in 400 verses.

  Which will make for the more profitable word study? Why war, or why peace? 

  If not in denial or clouded with emotionalism, the answer to “Why war?” is easily comprehended.

  But “Why peace?” requires considerable study and difficulty in application. A consequence of original sin leaving man with base ego-centric nature it is easier to strike with countenance, body language, tongue, pen, or arms than to be a blessed peacemaker.

  Knowing my bent, I choose “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.” (ASV Phil.4:7), saying with Paul “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers [and sisters], I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” (Phil.3:12-16)

EBB4

+++

War, why does God Allow It? Today, 9/9/20, I’ve adapted the following condensed essay from a tract by Good News Publishers taken from the writings of Dr. David Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981). He was a  Welsh Protestant minister and medical doctor who was influential in the British evangelical movement. For almost 30 years, he was the minister of Westminster Chapel in London.

 

  Why does God allow war? I pondered this issue prior to trusting Jesus and then studying his Word. In the wake of 9/11 and the daily threat of terror, this question has become disturbingly urgent, first on a national level but also in recent events in our lives. War was never what we wanted or expected, especially for our children; not at all part of sensible plans. Yet in a sense it’s odd that we’re surprised by war. Every generation has experienced war. We now experience wars howbeit geographically remotely unless our loved ones are in uniform on the fields of battle. The scourge of war is not abnormal, though we wish it were. (Mt.24:6-7)

  God’s Word tells that Jehovah rules over all kingdoms. (2Chr.20:6) Having this power, why does he allow something so gruesome and devastating?

  Prior to WWII and the Holocaust, Martin Lloyd-Jones grappled with this question. Through study of God’s Word he concluded that “the ultimate cause of war is lust and desire; the restlessness that is part of us as the result of sin.” As is all terrorism, vandalism, murder, lying, hate, resentment, et al. (Jam.4:1-2) War is the large scale extension of sin. God allows it as a reminder of the horrors of sin and a wakeup call for repentance; the need for forgiveness and life with peace and justice in His service. (Eccl.12:9-14; Rom.12:13)

  Lloyd-Jones said that the question to be asked is not “Why does God allow war?” but rather “Why does God not allow the world to destroy itself entirely in its iniquity and sin? Why does He in His restraining grace set a limit to evil and to sin, and a boundary beyond which they cannot pass?” [Note Job 1:6-12] God’s patience with this sinful world is amazing! How wondrous is His love! He sent His beloved only begotten Son, Jesus, to live and die so that in trusting him we are redeemed. Would we see this without the awful realities of life? Without it would Job come to conclude that “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”? (Job 13:15)

  Isn’t our more important question “Am I learning the lessons and living a life of repentance?” As we face terrorism and the possibility of WWIII bringing personal suffering and tragedy, are we remembering that beginning with Adam God allows the sinfulness of mankind to run its natural course? And that he graciously provides deliverance to anyone that believes? (Jn.3:18) Doing so we then gain “the mind of Christ” (1Cor.2:16; Phil.2:5) giving us the insight that the Apostle Paul explains, that life in Christ, though here with pain and sorrow prepares us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2Cor.4:17)

  Trust Jesus and become John 1:12 family His, gaining His peace now, and one day living forever with death no more. (Jn.14:27; 16:33; Rev.21:4)

EBB4

+++

WAR WITHOUT END

Friday, May 19, 2017

 

  This past week I thoughtfully reviewed Ken Burns PBS documentary THE WAR. It presented photos, commentary, and testimonies on WWII. I was reminded of life then. Three outstanding actual personal memories are 1.) Unlike today’s detached attitude among many, our country was totally enmeshed in the war effort. 2.) My and other childhood friends’ elation in 1945 when the war ended. 3.) My naiveté thinking it was the end of war.

  Exactly when I woke up to the untruth of point 3 I don’t know, but I do know that I saw and finally accepted the truth when I read Jesus’ words recorded by Matthew and Mark. (24:6; 13:7) Prideful partisanship apart from godly love is in mankind’s nature ever since the first rebellion!

  Then yesterday I read the following essay provided by the Colson Center as part of Wilberforce recognition.

 

The attempts to create a master Aryan race are not the stuff of science fiction or history books anymore.  By John Stonestreet with Roberto Rivera

  I’m going to tell you a story about an attempt to build a strong nation by breeding better babies. These babies “would be superior in quality, intelligence, looks, and other aspects.” They would be taller and fairer in complexion that their peers. These babies hold the key, we are told, to national greatness.

  Now you’re probably thinking the story comes from the Third Reich or maybe a science fiction novel. But you’d be wrong. This story is not from 1930s Germany nor is it the stuff of dystopian novels. It’s from contemporary India.

  A group in India, Arogya Bharati, which means “Indian Wholeness” in Sanskrit, is working with couples to produce, in its words, “customized” babies. It hopes to “have [produced] thousands of such babies by 2020.” Its long-term goal is to build a strong India through these children.

What’s required to produce such a child? “Three months of [purification] for parents, intercourse at a time decided by planetary configurations, complete abstinence after the baby is conceived, and procedural and dietary regulations.”

  The pay-off? According to the head of Arogya Bharati, “extremely bright,” “fair-complexioned,” and “tall” babies born to less-bright, dark, and short parents.

  As this suggests, the groups methods aren’t rooted in modern genetics. Instead, they’re indebted to a combination of Indian folk medicine, astrology, and Hindu beliefs.

  Yet it would be unwise to discount the seriousness of what’s taking place here. When one commenter said that the group’s project was “straight out of the Nazi playbook,” it wasn’t hyperbole. While the two groups’ methods may have differed, their goals were the same: strengthening the nation by promoting racial purity.

  In fact, the groups share more than just a common goal; they share a central idea–the Aryan. While the Nazi myth of the Aryan is well-known, what’s not as well-known is that “Hindutva,” the Hindu nationalist ideology of groups like Arogya Bharati and its parent movement, the RSS, also has the idea of the Aryan at the center of its national myth.

  Unlike the Nazis, who believed that the Aryans were from what’s now the border between Kashmir and Afghanistan in the Himalayas, Hindu nationalists insist that the Aryans were from northern Indian.

Despite this disagreement, the RSS expressed admiration for Nazi efforts to promote racial purity. In 1938, its Supreme Leader said that Germany “has shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole.” He called it “a good lesson for us in [India] to learn and profit by.”

  It’s a lesson his ideological successors are now trying to put into practice, not in birthing clinics but in the curtailment of religious freedom across India, which, in recent years, has become an increasingly hostile place for Christians, as well as Muslims.

  And I’d be remiss if I left you with the impression that this quest for “customized” babies was only limited to religious fanatics and Nazis. The (un)holy grail of modern genetics is to, as some have put it, “shape our own evolution.” While proponents of this quest would howl in protest if they heard me say it, this, too, is a quest for a kind of racial purity.

  While their definition of “race” is infinitely more generous than the people in India, never mind the Nazis, it’s still an endeavor that has no place for the weak, no matter how the planets align.

Source: the Colson Center

 

  War, slavery, racism, eugenics, and countless other wickedness are still with us. Though we may hinder we cannot heal the big picture. We can, and should, present the cure as we faithfully continue as God’s Matthew 5:9 blessed peacemakers and 2Corinthians 5:14-21 diplomats in family, friendship, neighborhood, town, village, crossroads, to one and all in our personal world.

EBB4

 

+++

 

GETTING ON WITH THE WAR IN PEACE

 

1Timothy 1:18-19 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:

2Timothy 2:1-4 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. 3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

 

  Please reread today’s title and note that I didn’t say “Getting On With The War For Peace”.

  Fact: We are ever at combat since the gaining the “knowledge of good and evil”. (Gen.2:7-17)

  Indeed we are tasked to be peacemakers, and promised blessedness therein. (Mt.5:9) (This blessing including qualification for increased responsibility. J )

  As Christian soldier, we are not called to flowery paths of ease, though bent in that direction; a path of personal provision that when taken in self-determination removes us far from our blessed enlistment.

  We, as God’s children, submissively participating or not, are at war! Without said submissiveness to our Commandant, we fight war on 3 fronts.

  As God’s warrior, there are several questions we must repeatedly drill: Am I truly willing to drink the cup from which Christ drank, to be baptized as He was baptized? (Mt.20:22; 26:39) Am I living in personal peace with God, self and others, or am I unable to fight the good fight because of involvement in diversionary skirmishing? (1Cor.1:5-13; James 4:1-17) Have I by foolish choice or cowardice positioned myself in the line of battle with the enemy surrounding, the enemy within and in conflict with the Commander? (James 4:6)

  Answering in order with God, the absolute source of consecrated assurance, He will then fill us with joy and inner peace through our trusting faith in Him as Commander; then, and only then in peace can we serve for peace as soldiers by and in the power of His Holy Spirit! (Rom.15:13) 

EBB4

 

PS to all of the above: As you can see, in 85 years of observing I ‘ve often thought about war. It was not until I at 27 trusted Jesus that I enjoyed the peace He alone provides. John 14:27; 16:33. EBB4