After many years of personally wrestling with questions swirling around violence, war and faith I have come to believe that following Jesus Christ and serving in the military in any capacity represent categorically incompatible endeavors. All who follow Jesus should leave the military or refuse to enlist, they should cease espousing war as a noble and honorable venture, and they should actively work towards peace and justice by practicing the ways of non-violent active resistance.

Normally I would avoid such black and white statements for a variety of reasons but I have become thoroughly convinced of these beliefs for two main reasons.  First, deeply considering the tensions between serving in the military and serving Jesus have been part of my personal journey of faith.  Second, I hold to an understanding of the Gospel that sees non-violence as deeply intertwined with Jesus' role as the Messiah and therefore deeply intertwined with following that Messiah. I would like to share both.

As for my own journey…

Growing up I had always thought about joining the military and after the summer of my freshman year in high school my goal in life was set: I wanted to become a Navy S.E.A.L. sniper. This became an all-consuming goal that I dedicated myself to completely.  I joined a Jr. Navy Program and spent a number of weeks each summer training at military bases. (One of these is where the picture attached to this post comes from.) My academics, extra-curricular activities and sports all became directed at attaining this vision for my life.

I was also a Christian. I failed to see any incompatibility between my goals and my faith.  I believed there was a God, that God created humanity in His image, that humanity fell into sin, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God who died for our sins, and that we are saved from Hell and destined for Heaven if we accept Jesus Christ as our savior.  I saw no disconnect between this faith and my desire to turn the heads of people created in the image of that God into pink mist at long ranges with a Barrett M82A1 .50 caliber anti-material rifle. I actually thought it would be cool.

In many ways I was a product of my environment. My family, my faith community and the surrounding cultured, all shared narratives and stories that depicted war and military service as honorable, noble and courageous pursuits that did not conflict with the Christian faith. It is no surprise that my views began to change when my environment did.

While I smirk at the thought of encouraging stereotypes, this journey towards peace started in Canada. While 9/11 happened my senior year of high school and I was sorely tempted to enlist, I felt God calling me to something else and instead went to a private Christian school in British Columbia. While I was in Canada, the U.S. invaded Iraq, a decision which was criticized by many Canadians as was my belief that Christians could and should serve in the military. My knee-jerk reaction was to defend my beliefs against these “liberal” Christians.  I used Old Testament passages that celebrated killing and violence, clearly showed that God commanded wars and the passage in Ecclesiastes that stated, "there is a time for war."

However, the problem was that I was really reading my Bible for the first time, and not just listening to and using little verse-bites and proof texts that had saturated the Christian culture around me. Because of this I became increasingly aware that much of what I thought was supported in the Bible actually was not.  In fact, many of the practices I had been defending were actually antithetical to what the Bible actually taught. I was also becoming increasingly aware of the messy history of U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. government has a habit of destroying the enemies of today in ways that very predictably and understandably create the enemies of tomorrow.

My journey continued when I returned home after college and watched the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq drag on. Because of my time in the Jr. Navy program I have many friends who entered the military. Thankfully none of them have been killed but a number have returned with severe problems. Anyone who has had a family member or friend who struggles with PTSD, TBI or addiction knows what I am talking about.  I saw suicide rates for those in the military, even those who have not been deployed, steadily increase. Due to advent of the internet and social media, I saw humanity’s inhumanity and the horrors of war become increasingly, and at times instantaneously, available for all to see.

During this time I was working with higher-risk youth from poor neighborhoods with a Christian organization.  Encouraging our youth to join the military was seen as a practical, if not ideal, solution to many of their problems. It provided a job, a sense of purpose, it got them out of their home and neighborhood environments, and it promised future education. However, I began to question if it was really worth it. Sending our most vulnerable youth to be further traumatized in war, only to return (if at all) to those same environments, continued to make less sense to me.

Around this time I watched the documentary <em>The Fog of War,</em><em> </em>and Robert McNamara’s words, “We need to think a lot more about killing,” really struck me. The more I thought about killing, violence and war the more war looked less like an appealing video-game, or a way out of poverty, or a noble venture and much more like an incredibly brutal and dehumanizing endeavor that appears to do basic violence to those who participate in it or even prepare for it. While war and violence might appear to “solve” a problem today, they always tend to leave wounds and animosity that fester and seed the next problem down the road. And clearly the wars of the U.S.A are not directed at the command of God but out of our national interests, as determined by U.S. politicians, who are essentially owned by large businesses. Ultimately though, all wars appear to stem out of the fear of scarcity and the fear of death. We fear if we do not fight, we will night have enough of the earth’s rapidly dwindling resources. We fear if we do not kill our enemies they will kill us first or we will invite more aggression against us by looking weak.

Over the years I have increasingly shifted towards a position of non-violent active resistance but I have remained silent. This was and is an unpopular position in my hometown where nationalism and Christianity blend so thoroughly. However, in the last year, as my understanding of the Gospel has changed, I have become able to articulate why this position is deeply rooted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and inherent to following Jesus as opposed to an optional or debatable matter.

I will present this understanding as best I can on the next page.

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As I now understand it, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Good News, is that the God of Israel was faithful to the promises that were made to Abraham. As the story of Israel unfolded, additional promises were made to David and to the people of Israel through the prophets. Hopes began to formulate and swirl around how all these promises would come to pass, and many of the Jewish sects present in the New Testament were essentially divided according to how they envisioned these promises being fulfilled. These promises and hopes were fulfilled in the person, work and way of Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah of Israel. These promises continue to be fulfilled, and their tangible benefits and blessings continue to be enjoyed, when and where the people of God remain faithful to the person, work and way of Jesus Christ. As the Messiah, Jesus ended the hostility between Israel and its Gentile neighbors and provided a way for to join Israel in peace, so all could worship the one true God and participate in and enjoy the unfolding of these promised blessing as one diverse people.  Israel now awaits the second coming of Jesus Christ, the final consummation of all things, and the bodily resurrection and judgment of all people.

In regards to non-violence, a number of the promises made to and hopes of Israel are especially important. From the beginning of God’s promises to Abraham, it is clear that Israel was always to be a blessing to all nations. Additionally, a variety of passages reveal that it was expected that all nations would come and worship the God of Israel and that Israel would be returned to the land where it would enjoy peace and safety with its Gentile neighbors.

But how were these specific promises to come about? Far from being a blessing to its Gentile neighbors Israel had a long history of violent and turbulent relationships with them. Israelite military victories had only provided temporary peace at the cost of breeding further animosity with the Gentiles nations. Israel had also been taken out of the land and scattered multiple times and Rome was only the most recent Gentile power that had taken ownership of the land promised to the beleaguered people.

It is my belief that all of the promises to and hopes of Israel, including the ones that relate to non-violence, were fulfilled in the person, work and way of Jesus Christ and they continue to be fulfilled and enjoyed by the people of God who remain faithful to the person, work and way of Jesus Christ. But if this is the case, how did Jesus fulfill these hopes and how are they fulfilled and enjoyed now?

Jesus brought about these promises and blessings in part by living and teaching a way of life, the Way of Jesus. The Way of Jesus is a way of long-suffering justice, of costly mercy, of self-denying love, of sacrifice, of grace, of lavish sharing, of forgiveness with no limit, of embracing “The Other,” of humility, of solidarity with the poor and oppressed. It is a way that trusts God for one’s daily bread instead of hoarding out of the fear of future scarcity. It is a way of very tangible love and grace towards one’s enemies even to the point of forgiving them as they kill you. It is way the way of non-violent active resistance, a way that does not stoop to the level of the oppressor in its indefatigable pursuit to free the oppressed.

So how did this Way bring about the promises made to Abraham? The simple answer is that this Way eradicates the fears at the root of Israel’s lack of peace and need for war.

For some time, Israel had been stuck in a fearful and vengeful cycle of violence with its Gentile neighbors. While there had been times of peace, this fear was understandable. Uncircumcised Gentiles were currently exploiting Israel and had in the past attempted to completely stamp out Israel as a people permanently. In reaction to this, many in Israel were feverishly defending the borders of their community through violence or a focus on man-made laws that acted as boundary markers that determined who was “in” and who was not. These reactions only deepened the cycle as it encouraged ignorance, fear, and hatred of those that were on the wrong side of the boundary markers, even as it gave outsiders reason to hate and fear Israel.

Practicing the Way of Jesus set Israel free from the fears of death and scarcity. In a community of gratuitous sharing that takes care of the poor and marginalized, who fears never having enough? In a community of people that practices love for their enemies, who fears violent reprisals? However, by practicing the Way of Jesus, Israel was freed from these fears and the injustice, idolatry and wars they inevitably led to. This freedom from fear enabled Israel to take the dramatic step of welcoming those who had once been bitter enemies into the people of God as brothers and sisters without requiring them first to adopt the traditional marks of the people of Israel, most importantly circumcision. The key to Israel’s lasting peace, the way Israel saw these promises and hopes fulfilled, was by following the Way of Jesus, embracing “The Other,” choosing the costly ways of peace, and ultimately following God into a new understanding of Israel. The new re-gathered Israel became one that allowed for rich diversity even as it patiently demanded change as is taught new comers who the God of Israel was, how to worship that God, and what that God expected of them.

Additionally, practicing the Way of Jesus is part of how Israel was and is a blessing to all nations. Where the people of God treat people as Jesus treated them and live as Jesus did, this produces tangible benefits for the community itself and everyone around it. What person would not be blessed by having even a small community that truly practiced the Way of Jesus nearby? Such a compelling and powerful community draws many into the story of God, to Messiah Jesus, and ultimately into the people of God. This in turn allowed Israel to see the beginning of the fulfillment of the promise that all nations would come to worship the God of Israel, a promise that continues to unfold.

In this Gospel, non-violence is not an optional or debatable matter for those who follow Jesus Christ for three basic reasons.

First, the Way of Jesus, what Jesus modeled and what Jesus taught, is fundamentally a way of sacrifice that gives up one’s life for the sake of others, including and especially one’s enemies. It is not a way of violence that takes the lives of others for the sake of security, personal or corporate profit, xenophobia, revenge, nationalism or any sort of ideology or idolatry.

Second, the Way of Jesus was part of the way that Jesus, as the Messiah of Israel, fulfilled the promises made to Israel.  If followers of Jesus abandon this Way, they reject Jesus as the Messiah, they stop enjoying the blessings the Way of Jesus brings and they cease being a blessing to others as they should. In other words, they stop being the community that should perpetually fulfill the unique hopes and promises fundamental to their faith.

Third, the two fundamental reasons wars are fought are the fear of scarcity and the fear of death. Followers of Jesus are free from these fears, so what cause do they have to participate in wars? If they abandon the Way of Jesus and participate in wars, they return to the cycle of violence Israel escaped from. They voluntarily enslave themselves all over again to fears they have been and should be free from, costing them and everyone around them dearly in the process.

Because non-violence is then inherently part of the way one follows Jesus and part of the way the promises to Israel have been and continue to be fulfilled, following Jesus and serving in the military are simply incompatible. Military service involves participating in a larger system of violence that is sustained by a culture of violence. One simply cannot pursue one without compromising the other. Followers of Jesus must choose which they will serve and which has their ultimate loyalty. It is either the Messiah, or the military. On this issue there is no middle path.