As a member of the reserve military and a Christian, I have often wrestled with the concept of having to take the life of another man in war. Naturally I assumed that I was doing wrong by serving in an organization designed to break God's fifth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." It has only been recently that I have truly explored this issue from the Biblical perspective. Through this process I found that there are many more ethical and moral issues outside of religion regarding war such as, conduct, justification, and responsibility. Inside the Christian religion there are numerous scriptural references as well as many theological opinions. At the highest and most broad level are the general ethical perspectives. Adding in the biblical perspective the issue becomes more intricate and it becomes more concrete in the context of clarity. Though the Christian doctrine is subject to the interpretation of man, the ideology is more consistent across the board than is the general moral perspective of the world. So, what is biblical perspective on war?.
First of all, what about the fifth commandment? If God is telling us if it is a sin to kill, then is God against those who wage war? According to C.S Lewis in Mere Christianity, he writes, "It is in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian soldier to kill an enemy. It is no good quoting "Thou shalt not kill." There are two Greek words: the ordinary word to kill and to murder. When Christ quotes the commandment He uses the word to murder on all three accounts, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And I am told there is the same distinction in Hebrew." Lewis concludes that not all killing is murder and that it in war killing is sometimes necessary to defeat injustice and tyranny. In a recent sermon from pastor Max Lucado he discussed the subject of scripture as it pertains to international conflict and armed combat. Pastor Lucado talked about the purpose of war and whether there was such a thing as a just war.
