God & War

Only I would follow up a post about what I wore with a post about something as deep as how God views war. Here goes.

I've been struggling with how I view war as a Christian. I've been trying to examine my heart and praying for clarity on the subject. I was raised in a family with strong military ties, and I've always been very patriotic. I married a soldier, my sister married a soldier, two of my three brothers-in-law are now soldiers. So, maybe my opinion is a little biased, but most opinions are, right?

There has been a lot in the news about the United States' new use of drones...or possible use of drones in the future. I don't know a lot about those details. What I do know is that I've seen some Christians publicly questioning the morals of using this kind of technology. This also has led to many public comments made by what I consider to be leaders in the Christian community regarding war and it being an un-Christian practice.

I have some thoughts. First of all, regarding drones, the argument is that innocent human lives will be lost in this kind of attack. If you think that innocent human lives aren't being lost in war everyday you are wrong. Yes, our military is trained to hunt and kill bad guys, but there are casualties of innocent lives in this process. If a child walked up to you in a crowded city street with a bomb in his hand, what would you do? These are the tough decisions our military is making every single day.

That's not what is bothering me though. Yes, it's a heartbreaking reality, but it's not the most bothersome thing in my opinion. What's bothering me is hearing Christians who claim to be pro-life and pro-adoption be anti-war. If a person believes the Bible verses that tell us that we are to protect those who cannot protect themselves i.e. orphans and the unborn, how can you say that the US should not seek to protect those whose governments are not acting in their best behavior? Because this is what I see happening. I see Christians pointing out that their could, maybe, possibly be loss of innocent human life with the use of drones, but forgetting that we're at war because there are horrible, hateful men and women that want to use children as weapons. They train these children to be killing machines. They steal children from their families and use them as sexual slaves. They create such a fear of their power that mothers and fathers will do anything to comply, even if that means offering their child up as a human sacrifice towards the cause of hate.

And people worry that there might be innocent casualties with the use of new wartime technology. Christians who advocate for foreign adoption and the rights of the unborn petition that we remove ourselves from this war. I can't agree. I just can't.