Wednesday, January 22, 2003
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Wednesday, January 22, 2003 |
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Does war violate the Ten Commandments? By JOHN HATCHER We have seen tens of thousands of people take to the streets to demonstrate against a possible United States led war against Iraq. Celebrities and politicians stoke the anti-war rhetoric with references from everything including the Bible. Personally, I don't have any problem with demonstrators. After all, our country began, in part, with a demonstration called the Boston Tea Party. Free assembly is an absolute, Constitutional right. I glory as an American in free speech. It is ironic, though, that in no way could citizens of Iraq ever take to the streets of Baghdad to protest their government's foreign policy. And if the United States had any kind of hidden agenda, it would be that citizens of Iraq would eventually have the right of free speech: Democracy, is that so bad? Back to the Bible. Many protestors quote the Bible's commandment that says, "Thou shall not kill." This commandment was given by God to his people on the verge of the conquest of the Promise Land. As one reads the accounts of the conquest, many of Israel's enemies are killed. Yet the commandment was given as instruction and training so that individuals would not commit personal murder every time someone angered them. Jesus shed even greater light on the commandment by saying that anyone who hates another has committed murder in his heart. Jesus always counseled reconciliation rather than murder. Yet, every child in Sunday School can tell you the story of David and the Giant. It seems that David took a preemptive strike against Israel's enemies, the Philistines, in view of the taunting of Goliath. David slew the Giant with his sling and a smooth stone. Did David violate the commandment against murder? God himself slew a whole army to protect the Hebrew children as they were fleeing Egypt. Did not God fold the waters of the Red Sea back over Pharaoh's army as they were in hot pursuit of the Israelites, thereby drowning thousands of soldiers? Was God a murderer? Did God violate his own commandment? If you read the lines and between the lines, you will come to the conclusion that the number one enemy of Iraq is not the United States, but Israel. Nobody in the Middle East likes Israel but Israel. Israel is the only Democracy in the region and although predominantly a Jewish country, Israel is the only Middle Eastern country where the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be proclaimed without hindrance of any sort. Back to the Bible. You can be against a possible war with Iraq, but you just can't do it on grounds of the Ten Commandments. War could mean freedom for the people of Iraq and even the freedom to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It could be the beginning of the Gospel's journey even into Saudi Arabia. It could mean, even, the liberation of the women of the Middle East.
John Hatcher is pastor of Outreach International Center 1091 South Jeff Davis Drive Fayetteville, Georgia 30215 770-719-0303 |
