One early church father observed that when Jesus told the disciple, “Put your sword away”, Jesus disarmed every Christian. (Matthew 26:52). In fact, until 175 AD, Roman soldiers who became Christians left their commission behind. Gradually though, the church took up arms once again. And once the emperor Constantine converted to Christianity(312 AD), the armies of Rome became the armies of God. Within 75 years, St. Augustine developed the “just war” theory and articulated rules of engagement for Christian armies.
How far we’ve come! Today, Christians serve in the US military all the time and we provide them with spiritual support through a system of military chaplaincy (paid for by the US government). The iconic building at the Air Force Academy in Colorado is a church (ok, we call it a chapel, but that’s semantics). A majority of evangelical Christians supported George W. Bush’s pre-emptive war in Iraq. Militarism is alive and well in the church.
At the start of the war in Iraq, a political cartoonist noted that George W. Bush’s favorite philosopher was Jesus Christ. The cartoon depicted Dubya pondering which weapons to use in Iraq: daisy cutters? cluster bombs? cruise missiles? The caption read, “The president considers the question: WWJD–what would Jesus drop?”
I think it’s time to consider Jesus’ words again: “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.” It’s time for Christians to put the sword away and live by new rules of engagement. How about, “Love your neighbor.”
Tongue on Fire 