Nature and Beliefs that Disallow Participation in War

This gentle cynic received some surprising news this week regarding a process that I actually began in 2002 while deployed with the Chaplain Corps of the U.S. Army. It was then that I began to have serious doubts about the compatibility of war (supporting military efforts) and the way of Jesus (the reality of the nearness of God's kingdom). After a lengthy deliberation and resulting transformation, I came to a place where I had no choice than to declare myself a conscientious objector.

As of Oct. 1, 2007, I am honorably discharged from the Army. I did not think military’s decision would come so soon, since what I have read advises the process can take on average one year from application to discharge. My initial letter and application were dated mid-April; that is less than six months.

Below I have pasted my response to one of six questions that must be answered in the application process.

NATURE OF BELIEFS THAT DISALLOW PARTICIPATION IN WAR:

What follows is with a sincere desire to be fully honest with myself, the Christian church, and my military unit. After my enlistment, I have become a pacifist which means I have a sincere and fixed belief that war is wrong in any form. This leads to my request for an honorable discharge from military service as a conscientious objector 1-0.

My sincere conviction that war in any form is wrong springs from a theological/ethical framework, a belief founded on the reality of God. For me participation in the Trinity is the purpose of all creation because “salvation” is participation in God’s own being. The obedience of God’s Son, as well as the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit, draws me, a member of God’s church, into the very life of God, a life characterized by peaceableness which goes against the grain of military culture.

My conviction to live peaceably with all—even my enemies—has become clear to me in an Old Testament prophetic pronouncement which reads, “He (God) shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah 2.4; Joel 3.10, Micah 4.3) My firm conviction includes seeing God’s kingdom existing now in Jesus the Messiah and in the life of His church. The image of plows (changed from swords) points to the church as culture cultivating obedience to Christ and a conformity to the radical ways of God’s kingdom, ways which reverse what goes on in this world and have no place in God’s kingdom—war (swords) being one of them. It is Christian culturing that has over the last few years brought about this radical reversal in my life; for as I once participated or supported the military (swords), I now am transformed to learn war no more.

Thus my request for conscientious objector 1-0 is my obedient response to this prophetic announcement and Jesus Christ’s subsequent teaching and example of peaceableness, which is expressed throughout the Christian narrative: from the commandment, “You shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13) to the array of martyrs who chose to die rather than defend (Revelation 6:9-11); and from the ancient command to love one’s neighbors (Mark 12:31f) to the teachings and example of Christ concerning loving one’s enemies (Luke 6:27-35).

From my reflections, Jesus normalizes peacemaking for the Christian (Matthew 5:9). I recognize, understandably, that this is not the case in the military. It is imperative for me now that peacemaking characterize both a communal and vocational distinctive in my life. If I am to preach peace as a reality of the kingdom of God (Acts 10.36) then I must also live it in the fullest manner. I have not always believed this way, for I like many Christians in the military have not recognized the things that make for peace (Luke 19:42) and unfortunately, peace is not readily on the hearts and minds of many due to the agendas and narratives of our wider culture (Romans 3:17). For me vengeance belongs to God—not me, nor the military (Romans 12:14-21). I cannot be a part of the military because vengeance is a normal response, which is to be left to God. Unlike the military culture, peacemaking is fundamental to the distinctive political and social nature of the faithful church, to the Way of Jesus Christ for which I seek to be a faithful participant.

The theology of my own faith tradition convinces me that salvation is the cultivation of the holiness in one’s communal life. This reality means for me a sincere change of my heart (Romans 2:27; Colossians 2:9f.) where the Spirit of God has cultivated in me humility, faith, hope, and love. In recent months, this ongoing spiritual change has summoned the conviction and desire to live peaceably with all people (Romans 12:18); and by “all” I believe to mean the “world” for which God sent His Son into the world to save (John 3:16f).

The nature of my belief affirms that “war and bloodshed are contrary to the teaching and example of Christ” (“Confession of Faith” United Methodist Church). This common “rule” calls for my disciplined attention as a member of the United Methodist Church, which I joined after my enlistment. Obedience to this “rule” requires concentration, care, and consistency so that my witness participates in the ongoing ministry of reconciliation of people to God, which cannot tolerate any form or shape of coercion, vengeance, violence, and war. For these things make that witness ineffective, for they are completely incompatible with the life of a disciple of Christ. To go to war is usurping God’s authority and moreover His ability to make things right in the world.

I cannot pretend that I can be a soldier. For the New Testament is clear that my neighbor is first the one against whom my weapon is directed. I am thus called to love my enemy and to work out ways to relate to him or her so that God might reconcile us. This is the challenge of the reality of social ethics in the Christian gospel. My enemy is no less my neighbor than my family, friends, and community. Thus killing the “enemy” is denying a witness and a reconciliation to take shape.

The nature of my conviction that war in any form is wrong grows out of a deeper understanding and experience of love, the kind of love cultivated by God’s Spirit in the Church and through her witness—a response to God’s love for all the inhabitants of the world (John 3:16f.). There is no room therefore for hatred, vengeance, and killing. This kind of love “does not insist on it s own way” and “is not irritable or resentful” (I Corinthians 13.5). It suffers with endurance even unto death. Love does not do wrong even for one’s beloved. Love can suffer until death for another, but love cannot kill for one’s beloved since it would hurt and soil the other. It is said that a soldier is a person who sacrifices himself for the nation. I see it differently. A soldier does not want to sacrifice himself; he wants to survive a war (winning is what it is all about in the military way), and thus only wants to sacrifice the “enemy”. Therefore, the “enemies” who are killed are the real sacrifices of a war. This is not the kind of love I read of in the Scriptures. I must be willing to do no harm; and like Jesus, I must be willing to suffer while loving another—even an enemy.

In conclusion to this first question, it is important to note that the nature and meaning of my pacifism, which leads to my request for an honorable discharge from military service as a conscientious objector 1-0, is to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ who is named Lord of all. It is not merely a “principle”, it is a virtue to be practiced at all cost as it sustains my witness of the good news of the kingdom of God, a kingdom of peace that has no end (Luke 1.32-33).

Photo: Conscientious Objector Memorial, Tavistock Sq Gardens, Bloomsbury, London