There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven . . . a time to kill and a time to heal. Ecclesiastes 3:1-3
How should a Christian view the pending war between the United States and Iraq? I have toiled over this one. I haven't toiled over the answer, but over how to write the answer without sounding as if I was in agreement with the millions of others who have come to the same conclusion, but for different reasons. The motives of one's heart are by what God will judge us. There are times when our good motives do not always lead to successful conclusions, but nevertheless we are to 'do' right no matter what the outcome.
GOOD INTENTIONS
Good intentions do not justify wicked actions. Good intentions are, in fact, not the same as good motives. With good intentions we simply mean well but we refuse to subject our actions to the right/wrong indicator of our consciences and ultimately to the absolute morality of God Almighty. Pure motives on the other hand are born in God's morality and are by nature ruled by the conscience and God's Spirit.
President Bush has most convincingly put forth his case before Congress and the World that the United States is justified in attacking Iraq in a preemptive manner to secure the US and the world from the mad-man Saddam Hussein and his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. This is a case, as convincing as the appeal may be, of good intentions. The motives of the Bush administration are not pure in this case, that is they are not based on good conscience or the absolute morality of God. Instead they are based on the reasoning of good intention.
When in America's history has she attacked another nation without the provocation of violence against her? Even in the isolationist tendencies of her past she did not always act with sound moral judgment towards the good of other nations, but when did she ever attack another nation who did not provoke the attack with aggression of their own?
Americans have held a special place in the history of mankind by demonstrating our good motives by our actions. If anyone were to doubt this then they need to be reminded of the fact that it was America that fed and rebuilt Europe, including her vanquished foes Italy and Germany, after WWII. Did we leave Japan in ruins after dropping two nuclear weapons on her cities? The purity of God's morality came through from the hearts of Americans. But recently our motives have changed. We are the example of morality to the human race. For better or worse, we are the possessors of human power at this moment in history.
Some would argue that benevolence will follow the sound thrashing of this sick madman in Iraq, but I ask, in the name of Jesus Christ, at what price? Does the ends justify the means?
BY THE MEASURE
By the measure we use we will also be judged! If we sow the peace and love of God then we will reap such from God, but if we are labeled among the sleek and powerful who trample over the weak then by this measure we will be judged.
If Saddam Hussein had been responsible for 9-11 then we as a nation would be justified in defending ourselves against an aggressor. Wouldn't Iraq be justified in defending herself against the aggression of unprovoked attacks from the United States? Wouldn't we encourage our warriors to gallantly defend us from the attacks of an aggressor nation? Should we spit upon the apparently suicidal efforts that Iraq's warriors are contemplating as they face defending their nation against the most menacing war machine in history?
JUSTICE
The argument is being made in some circles that we will be helping the Iraqi people by lifting the oppression of Saddam's dictatorship. Again, at what price? In 1991 Iraq was the aggressor against Kuwait. Tiny Kuwait could not defend herself and our motives of heart, although not pure, compelled the US to defend the weak from the attacks of a bully. 2003 is a different story, now the US is the bully and no one but God is able to protect the weak from us. The US is entering a horrifying scenario. The evil that is darkening the American culture is blinding her leaders. They do not see that God will not let injustice go unjudged. Iraqi soldiers will fight American soldiers, if possible, because it is the right thing for a soldier to do when his nation is attacked. Many of them will give up without fighting because they have counted the cost and know that they, under-trained and ill supplied, cannot overcome American technology. But they will not be friends of America. Nor will their comrades who attempt to fight from the neighborhoods they grew up in, protecting the families and friends that make up their nation.
Are we just in sacrificing Iraqis to topple their leaders? Should we ask our dutiful soldiers to kill people who are protecting their nation from an unprovoked attack?
THE NEIGHBOR
Your neighbor is an avid gun collector, maybe at one time he was a friend and you enjoyed viewing his collection with common interest. But over time you became increasingly wary of him. As both of you became more familiar he started to make statements about Jews. Eventually his statements sounded like thinly veiled threats against Jews. Your alarm increased when he came home with a fully automatic machine gun. You knew he obtained it legally but that didn't comfort you and so you make a anonymous phone call to the police about his threats and your concerns. The police begin to watch your neighbor and even question him, but they can do nothing to arrest him because although his thoughts were wicked he had committed no crime. One day your neighbor focuses some of his venom on whoever called the police. That day you make your own firearms more readily available and loaded.
The next day the neighbor reveals that he knows the Jew next door was probably the one who called the police on him and he'll be sorry. You try to convince him that the Jewish neighbor has always been a good friend and wouldn't cause any problems but this does little to appease the angry neighbor. Again you warn the police, but they do nothing because again it is just talk.
One day you get up after a long night of struggling with what to do. You have warned the Jewish neighbor and he is prepared and thankful for your friendship. Now what? The choices are few: 1) You can kill your neighbor in a preemptive strike or possibly he may kill you by surprise when he sees you coming with your weapon. 2) Perhaps you will organize the neighbors in a show of force meant to deter your neighbor. 3) You can stay alert along with your neighbor and continue to update the police and your neighbors.
Most of us would probably choose #3, but not the United States. We are actually choosing both 1 & 2. We want as many accomplices as possible in support and therefore justification of our actions and then we preemptively strike the neighbor to protect ourselves and our friends.
ANTI-WAR
I am not anti-war. There is a time for war and a time for peace. Those who walk along the paths of righteousness can distinguish between these times by the grace of God's Spirit. They do not make decisions based on their own desires or well being but upon the truth and in submission to the complete authority of God.
I do not agree with the logic and reasoning of most liberal, anti-war protesters. Unlike them, I do not support Saddam Hussein in the least. Nor is the peace they seek the same as that which I seek. Their war against the unborn shows them for who they really are. Their abuse of America's courts to wage war against the moral fabric of our nation shows the true motives of their dark hearts.
When a nation attacks another nation then it is the moral obligation of the attacked nation to defend itself from such attacks and in this I support war. But an unprovoked attack is not moral and should find no support in the hearts of Christians.
If Iraq attacks Israel then we are morally obligated to God to support his people and we should unleash a punishing war upon them that will leave no doubt as to who the apple of God's eye really is!
WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS
America will attack Iraq. Her heart is hardened and set on doing so, may the will of Almighty God be done. I do not know what the outcome of this act will be, God has not shown me. But, I do know that this conflict will help set the stage for the rebellion against the covenant. The world is already looking past this conflict to what they see as a final answer to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon knows this and is already forming his cabinet to reflect his position of compliance with President Bush's 'Road Map for Peace.' Our transgressions in war will be small compared to President Bush's plan to divide the covenant lands of Israel, giving some to the Palestinians. When that happens then the days of earth as we know it will be numbered.
The coming war in Iraq is but one piece in the puzzle, but for you Christians, it is of less concern. Never stop watching the covenant and the skies!
. . . a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:8