Christian Faith: The Basics, Part 31

In this post and the next, I'll respond to a few questions that may have cropped up about what I've written so far in this series.

Q: You promised to try to keep the posts in this series short. But some have gone on forever. Why have they (like the answers you sometimes give to questions) gotten so long-winded?

I did make that promise and unfortunately, I've broken it. This reflects both an occupational hazard and a personal penchant. I can get long-winded. I'm sorry. I'll try to keep these posts shorter from now on. I've similarly veered off course by not hewing to the pattern of The Small Catechism, as I'd originally planned. I'll try to correct that as well.

Q: In part 13, you said that war is one circumstance under which, in spite of the Fifth Commandment, killing might be defensible. As a Christian, doesn't it make you feel uncomfortable to say that?

Yes. When I say that God is pro-life and that I'm pro-life, I'm not making a political statement. God makes life. He loves life, this incredible invention of His, and He wants us to cherish it too.

But we live in a world in which people who are given over to evil sometimes attack the innocent. If a menacing person broke into your home, brandishing a gun and threatened to kill the members of your household, would it be appropriate for you to let them do their worst to the people you're to protect or to take defensive measures which may result in the death of the attacker? The answer should be obvious.

By the same token, to use a concrete example, if the US government and military had decided to simply ignore the attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, we'd think them criminally negligent. They would have been as guilty of killing by not defending the country as the Japanese Imperial air force had been in attacking Pearl Harbor in the first place.

This brings up three important points:

• Whether in war or in some other context, a believer in the God of the Bible can only justify their taking another life in defending others or themselves against attack.
• When Christians kill, it should never be for the purpose of exacting revenge.
• Related to the two above points, Christians should never be the initiators of violence.

Tomorrow, I hope to respond to several more questions that have come up during the writing of this series. After that, I'll resume the series...with shorter posts, I hope.