I just finished watching the blockbuster hit Rambo. There was blood, guts, and throats torn out (seriously). Ashamedly, I absolutely love these types of movies. I don’t exactly know why, but I am drawn to watch movies that involve bombs, knives, and guns as big as the guns (arms) that hold them.
The gist of the movie was that John Rambo had to go into war-zone Burma and save some missionaries that were captured. When he got there, we see the absolute tragedy of what is going on there. The villages are constantly being tormented by the army. The children are being captured and transformed into soldiers. The women are being gang raped. The men are shot on site. And their homes are burnt and livelihood destroyed.
After a few 50-caliber bullets blow off the limbs of the bad guys and a huge bomb kills dozens, Rambo rescues the missionaries and, I think, relieves the villagers of their oppressors.
When the movie was over, I was thinking.
“Why doesn’t America just send over a few thousand troops to Burma and eradicate these horrible people who are causing this hell for the innocent people?”
I recalled the holocaust and how long it took us to do anything about that. I figured that maybe America didn’t care too much because “they aren’t coming for us”.
But then I remembered that I hate war. I remembered that I don’t think violence is ever justifiable. I remembered that there needs to be another way. But then I questioned myself.
In the movie, the missionaries (pre-capture) are talking to Rambo and ask for him to take them to Burma on his boat. Rambo says no. Missionary says that it would just take a couple hours of his time to change peoples lives. Rambo replies, “Will you be taking weapons?”
“Of course not”, replies the missionary.
Rambo pauses, “Then you’re not changing anything”.
This is the mindset that I want to have and that so many people in the world do have. But the “other way” that I mentioned can be seen by what the missionary says next:
“Mindsets like that are the reason nothing is changing in the world”.
Right now in my life, I don’t 100% know what I believe about war and self-defense and violence, so I lean towards the side of love and peace, because no matter what, at least people will say nice things about me at my funeral. But what do you think? How should we as humans, as Christians, as broken images of God handle other broken images who are killing the innocent? Is there justice in killing the killer?
Does God smile when a rapist gets his head cut off?
If yes, then what kind of God would create a precious child only to one day smile at his death?
If no, then do we want to be doing something that does not make God smile??
I don’t know, tell me what you think.
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June 3, 2008 at 4:33 am
Ben
‘Course the OT is filled with blood, guts, and gore. Most is pictured in a negative light, but some was by God’s command. Were the people in Jericho made in the image of God? Did God smile when they died? Probably not. I don’t think God smiles when an someone OD’s on crack, or when a drunk driver dies in a car accident. But people die — the believers and the unbelievers alike. And for some reason, God did give some of his people the authority to use death as a punishment for some types of sins.
‘Course peace and love is the best way. The focus of a Christian. Jesus modeled it. Commanded to love others, even our enemies. War is too often out of selfish objectives. For oil. For power. For money. War tactics are sometimes brutal and unnecessary.
Death is part of life. People die because of sin — either because of their own foolishness or by the foolishness of others. God desires justice for the oppressed. If there is a way to do it without war, then great. But evil does not give up easily. Sometimes it must be defeated, and justice gained, at a high cost.
June 3, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Jonathan
Yeah, that sounds like what the Bible seems to teach. Do you have any creative alternatives to war? How can we release the oppressed as well as the oppressor? I’m only asking because I have no idea, and I would love to find out.
Thanks man!!
And I am going to call you back…
June 5, 2008 at 5:22 am
Tim
In all we do glorify God. If we don’t defend ourselves or our loved ones from an attacker/evil person, can we say we glorified God? I would feel tremendous guilt if I did nothing to stop someone from killing my mom, I would feel some guilt if I severely injured or killed the person. Death is always a last resort but standing idly by is never an option. God is not glorified when we fail to act. Simply talking to a person is not enough to demotivate them from killing or robbing someone. It’s not evil to punch an attacker in the face. There’s a non-Bible quote that goes “evil prevails when good fails to act”
When we do nothing to deter evil from occurring, i.e. punishing criminals via death penalty or when our leaders respond with military force, we are letting evil win. We are making no attempt to stop evil, in fact we are encouraging evil.
Of course what about “turn the other cheek” I think you’re studying that now but it’s important to note the context of the Sermon on the Mount. He’s speaking to Christians and how they should act when they are persecuted for their beliefs. It’s a pretty specific message about persecution.
And as we all know, Jesus never changed the moral law only the covenant. We were always saved by faith. God crafted David’s hands for war. Granted those were wars demanded by God but they were also wars that HAD to be fought for evil to stop. The evil they were facing would only stop, albeit for a short while, through war. It wasn’t a war as much for the sake of Israel as much as it was to eliminate evil.
In the case of terrorists or evil regimes like Burma/Myanamar, diplomacy has proven itself not to work. Once you’ve exhausted all your resources, war is the last resort. I’m confident the majority of wars fought throughout history were unnecessary, but that’s not to suggest that some of them weren’t justified. Can we really look back and say that fighting the Nazi’s was the wrong thing to do?
Had we not destroyed the Nazi’s, what would we be like today? Do the right thing now, though it’s more difficult, and we’ll avoid more trouble down the road…that’s Biblical
We saw what happened when we let the evil Russian communists succeed..the cold war occurred and gave us a bigger headache.
Would the Jews in WWII have been convinced the USA loved them if we were fully capable of saving them but had not? Is it possible to love someone if you aren’t willing to protect them or save them from evil?