At 01:20 PM 4/21/99 -0700, Duane Wheeler wrote:
...
>That may seem off-topic.. however we *preach total astaining from other
>vices such as drugs with the words: "Just say no"
>
>How that relates to the bloodbath in Denver and Springfield is that
>those boys made choices.... and a Godly man might understand if we
>choose life... we may have to reject the use of Lethal force, as well as
>extending the decision to choose life to the abortion question...
>
>*Chooseing Life might mean objecting to the Death sentence for convicted
>murderers!
>
>The gun used has no conscience... my .45 colt sliped and the round that
>went off hit the dirt, but might have wounded me or my son with no moral
>responsibility... *I absolve the gun... and point the finger of
>responsibility at the gun owner of these wepons.. for improper storage and
>access to evil youngmen...
>
>Cdr.Victor clearly might object... and honestly his views are compeling
>following again another shooting tragidy.
...
Some problems are simple to ask as questions, but hard to come up with
good, general answers. Really, I'm convinced that none of this makes much
sense unless we consider the spiritual side of this. For example, the
problem of violence and murder is in the heart of the one who hates, is
jealous, and unforgiving. The cure for that hatred is forgiveness and love.
The power to forgive and to love comes through Jesus Christ, who redeemed
us from sin and the curse that goes with sin. To really impact the world
for peace and good will towards each other, take the Great Commission and
the Great Commandment seriously.
As for the morality of war, that is a tough issue that I believe depends on
the particular time, nations involved, and other factors. I can't state
unequivocally that all war is wrong all the time, because God Himself
commanded Israel into battle at times. He even gave specific battle plans
to people and even at times mandated the destruction of civilians. Go read
it for yourself. Some people blow that off by saying that was in the Old
Testament, but our God is the same God today as was King David's God as
Israel expanded and Joshua's God when Israel evicted the Canaanites and
others who were occupying the land God said belonged to Israel. The
Israelites did some things that make the NATO war on Yugoslavia seem rather
civilized by comparison.
What about police power and the death penalty? Again, God mandate the death
penalty for certain offenses, including premeditated murder, in the Old
Testament.
What about the Ten Commandments? Did God break His own rules? No way. God
commanded us not to commit murder. The KJV translation "Thou shalt not
kill." is actually a poor translation. Check it out in the Hebrew if you
care to. Killing in war and execution of convicted criminals after they are
found guilty of a capital offense are not considered murder. Likewise,
slaughtering of clean animals for food or sacrifice is not against God's
commandments.
Based on the above, I guess I really don't qualify as a conscientious
objector for U. S. draft purposes. To do so requires that the objector sign
a statement that all war and all military service is wrong. I don't believe
that. I do, however, believe that individuals should be allowed to make the
choices with respect to military and police service that God is leading
them to. How do you legislate that? Right now, the USA does pretty well,
because we have an all-volunteer military force, and police work is
normally always volunteer, anyway.
People have free will. We can choose to heed God's law or to break it. We
can choose to heed man's law or to break it. You can't stop sin with laws.
If you could, murder would have ceased long ago. People may strive to make
it harder to commit murder by making it harder to get weapons, but I assure
you that there were no guns anywhere in the world when Cain murdered Abel.
There are very strict laws in Colorado against taking a gun to school,
committing premeditated murder, assault with a deadly weapon, and many
other crimes that were committed yesterday at Columbine High School. None
of these laws stopped the crimes. They only made them illegal, and provided
for the punishment of the perpetrators, including the death penalty. It is
much the same with God's law. People have the choice to disregard it, but
there are serious consequences for doing so.
Unless we can deal with the hearts of angry people and bring the Word of
God to them so that they learn to forgive and walk in love, there is no way
to stop murder.
___
Michael Paul Johnson aka Soaring Golden Eagle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
http://eBible.org/mpj Rocky Mountain Outpost 207 New Creation Church
Jesus Christ is Lord! If Jesus came back today, would you be READY?
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