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You asked a number of Squirmin' Sermon questions about war, peace, and conscience. How we talk about such hard issues is at least as important as what we say. A church that is serious about its faith employs Scripture, theology, and spirituality to address the tough issues before the world. It does so with great humility, devoted to mutual respect, patience for competing ideas, and tolerance of conflicting points of view.
We have a rather unique philosophy and practice of teaching on controversial issues at Westminster:
We can teach on tough issues so long as you understand that this is "how" we come at tough topics, and so long as you are willing to share with us your experiences and perspectives. That said, let's squirm into your questions of faith, conscience, and war.
We must set the question about Jesus' view of war in the context of the military occupation of Palestine by Roman forces. Jesus clearly emphasized peace and the search for spiritual alternatives to conflict. Witness how he healed the daughter of an enemy, the Roman soldier, and rebuked Simon Peter for cutting off a man's ear, then healed the man and said to Peter, "Enough of this! Those who live by the sword will die by the sword."
Following Jesus' example, Christians seek constructive spiritual alternatives to war and the human impulse to destructiveness. We also live in a profoundly dangerous world and we have, presently and in our collective memory, horrific images of nuclear and biological warfare, oppression, torture, genocides, and massive violations of human and civil rights.
Because we can only guess, I would like to reframe the question that asked what Jesus would do in response to a specific war like Iraq. The prior question for us is What is the Holy Spirit stirring up in your heart and mind about a specific war; how is it calling you to respond to war in general? This is how I believe the German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer thought about war as his conscience struggled and developed before the tyranny of National Socialism.
Bonhoeffer, a devout pacifist, ethicist, and pastor, searched for alternative means of resisting Nazism. When he escaped Germany to teach at Union Seminary in New York, his conscience was torn: How can you have a role in the future of your homeland if you do not help stop Hitler and his system?
Reluctantly abandoning his pacifism and trusting God's grace more than God's judgment for this sea change in his thinking, Bonhoeffer returned to Germany, helped rescue a group of Jews destined for death, and took part in von Stauffenberg's plot to assassinate Hitler. That coup failed, Bonhoeffer was arrested, and ultimately executed just days before the Allied liberation.
Perhaps the lesson is that no absolute position or point of view about war serves us, or history well. That said, however, I honor and respect, as I trust we all do, those who for reasons of conscience cannot take part in war in any manner. Regardless, war challenges us to have a foundational value that frees us to respond to the trials of the times. Personally, I always ask, "What is the Holy Spirit stirring up in my heart and mind; how is it calling me to respond?" It is very tempting but risky to shift the burden of personal responsibility to ask, "What would Jesus do?" when in fact the question from Jesus asks, "And what will you do?"
Another Squirmin' question asked, "When is war acceptable and unacceptable in the New Testament?" Arguably, the text isn't definitive so we may only deduce from, but not declare for the Bible: war is always the last of all possible alternatives and employed with fear and trembling, restraint and mercy. Theologians deduced from Scripture a "Just War Theory" that we addressed when the Iraq war began.
The most difficult Squirmin' question asked, "What would you preach to patriotic military personnel, serving their country [presuming deployment to war] but who do not make policy and who are expected to give their lives for it?" I am a pastor and chaplain at heart. One does not send others into battle with doubts and without hope. I would be silent or resign before giving a conflicting message in such a setting. That said, as a chaplain I would humbly and with fear and trembling teach soldiers in the following way:
In conclusion, I want to share the squirmin' you've made me do and suggest that warfare and peacemaking are profoundly addictive. Addiction to war is why we must hold politicians and the military accountable for making the incontrovertible case that war is the very last means possible to resolve a conflict.
Because peacemaking is equally addictive, we must heed the counsel of Trappist monk, Thomas Merton, "There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist fighting for peace by nonviolent methods most easily succumbs: activism and overwork…. it is cooperation in violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes their work for peace. It destroys their own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fruitfulness of their own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful."
Now, tell me, where've you been squirmin' in this sermon?