martyrologist wrote:
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I (taking the pacifist position, who personally used to hold to a just war ideal) would like to understand how killing your enemies can be justified when Christ himself told us to love our enemies. This killing can take place either in police activity, the state killing a convict, through military action, or even self defense.
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The Apostle Paul wrote:
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Romans 13:3-4 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.
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Eddie, I have no problem with your individual conviction on pacifism. Having read both threads I have yet to find sound exegesis that prohibits the magistrate or the state from using, "wrath upon the one who practices evil." The strict pacifist argument is hard for many to accept. Based on your responses in the previous thread it is my impression that you would stand by and do nothing if a murderer broke into your house and was attacking one of your children. Such in-action is inconceivable to most Christians. On the one hand you believe you would be showing the love of Christ by not harming the murderer in your home. On the other hand you would be standing by idly while your child's life was being taken. It escapes all logic.
There is another position worth considering. One can be a pacifist without being a strict pacifist. The pacifist would stand against most forms of violence. He would labor to display the love of Christ is works of charity and mercy. But this type of pacifist would also recognize that one of the greatest acts of mercy is to rescue others from harm. Sometimes this would be in the heat of the moment. Someone in the other thread postulated a scenario in which a sniper was killing school children. If one life could save many then the greater act of mercy would be saving as many lives as possible. But the magistrate has the responsibility to enforce the law. This is carried out by ministers of justice commonly referred to as police officers. The threat of "the sword" is enough to keep many from harming others.
The 20th century saw some of the worse acts of genocide imaginable. From Hitlers final solution to Milosevic's ethnic cleansing; these were acts of indescribable depravity. The Allies acted slowly to Hitlers atrocities and only became involved when their own security was threatened. The West ignored the genocide of the Balkans until the cries of the mass graves became a deafening crescendo. I believe God executes judgments on nations (and individuals) who have the means to do right and choose not to act. The strict pacifist would fit into this category. The other pacifist I described would consider the human tragedies to be of far more gravity than the protection of those who perpetuate such crimes.
