K.E.W. for Peace
The Bible, a Christian and Peace.....
War is utterly terrible. The glorification of war is totally unacceptable for the Christian. Yet there are times when it is totally necessary, when the alternative is rampant, unrestrained wickedness.
God is both the God of love (1 John 4:8) and the God of war
(Ex.15:3; Ps 144:1) because He sees the wickedness in men's hearts.
People want peace but want nothing to do with the God of peace, which is why there can be no complete world-wide peace.
Despite all the peace efforts down the centuries. God's word remains: "There is no peace for the wicked" (Isa. 48:22; 1 Thess. 5:3).
Man's evil is the root cause of war. Adam's sin (Gen.3:1-24) affected the whole human race.
It was man's evil which caused him to invent weapons of war. So all of God's dealings with men and women since Adam have been with a fallen race in a corrupted environment. He instituted government, to restrain evil - and that includes the use of force, to "bear the sword" (Room.13:4). The sword of the State is wielded for the protection of citizens from rebellion within the country and also from the threat of evil from outside, when a country is in danger of losing its freedom and national entity through invasion from other, territory-hungry nations.
Maintaining internal law and order is the job of police, magistrates and judges, with the latter given the power to impose the death penalty for murder (Gen.9:6). Protection against evil from outside is the task of the armed forces.
