So Jus ad Bellum is the biblical criteria for going to war. Jus in bello is the criteria for how one conducts a just war. I am not going to go into that here, but I mention it for two groups of people: anti-American Christians (aka pacifists, who if they were really pacifists would be protesting war everywhere); and those Christians who had no idea there was such a thing as Just War Theory. Actually I find that the latter group is usually not aware either, but they should be. The anti-American crowd believes that America is the problem, is evil, and needs to be taken down a peg. This is an egalitarian worldview though there are also hints of secular humanism. Hating the United States is a part of their doctrine. Jus in bello flies in the face of their beliefs, because the United States is VERY strict in how it conducts war. When a servicemember breaks one of these criteria he or she is dealt with and usually publicly, thanks to the press. In fact, in the face of illegal combatants, anyone who is not a State player or who runs around not in a uniform is an illegal combatant, we err on the side of caution. When you here someone talk about the Rules of War, this what they are talking about--Jus in bellum. I mentioned this yesterday, but foundational to the proponents of Moral Injury is the idea that war is itself evil. Because it is evil EVERYONE who is forced to go to war is dealt a moral injury: In my view, war always represents a violation of soldiers’ human rights in which the enemy and the soldiers’ own armies collaborate more or less equally. --Jonathan Shays p. 209 Achilles in Vietnam His remedy is persuasion, education and welcoming appeal. War is the great evil. If we would just sit down and reason with ISIS, they would stop. For those following my post on Phil Robertson The Duck Commander, that is the convert portion of his solution. So what is the Christian response to ISIS? More tomorrow.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 09:54:23 +0000
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