Can Anyone Answer This Religious Quandry for Me?

I'm neither a Christian nor a soldier, but the reason is because I'm a pacifist. I'm against all wars, and all killing. Every religion carries injunctions against killing the other humans, not just Christianity, and I encourage you to get out of any situation where you're expected to kill. Peace!

There is something that the Church has wrestled with since the beginning. Great theologians such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas wrote extensively about the "Theory of a "just war."

According to the "Just War Theory":

There are certain Principles of the Just War....

A just war can only be waged as a last resort. All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.

A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority. Even just causes cannot be served by actions taken by individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned by whatever the society and outsiders to the society deem legitimate.

A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered. For example, self-defense against an armed attack is always considered to be a just cause (although the justice of the cause is not sufficient--see point #4). Further, a just war can only be fought with "right" intentions: the only permissible objective of a just war is to redress the injury.

A war can only be just if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success. Deaths and injury incurred in a hopeless cause are not morally justifiable.

The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. More specifically, the peace established after the war must be preferable to the peace that would have prevailed if the war had not been fought.

The violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered. States are prohibited from using force not necessary to attain the limited objective of addressing the injury suffered.

The weapons used in war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Civilians are never permissible targets of war, and every effort must be taken to avoid killing civilians. The deaths of civilians are justified only if they are unavoidable victims of a deliberate attack on a military target.

In the case of such a "just war" - the Christian soldier can surely fight.

So say there's a police officer, never killed anyone, follows the 10 commandments to a T, goes to church every Sunday, or whatever it is that christians do. One day you're at home, and some guy breaks into your house, beats the living crap out of you, ties you up, and rapes you. SOMEHOW, when he walks out of the room, you manage to call the police. Our police officer friend shows up, just as the guy that just raped you puts a knife to your throat, and begins to stick the blade in your neck. NOW, the officer sees this, and has a choice.

A. Just watch as he slices your throat and you die in agonizing pain, and allows the criminal to do the same to him, or

B. He shoots the criminal, killing him, thus saving your life.

So, now that this has happened, according to your opinion, This man that has just saved your life, but ended another's to do it, can no longer call himself a christian.

All this is besides the point... Don't you christians have a thing called repentance? I was under the impression that you just repented, (said sorry) and all your sins are washed away and forgotten, tossed out like yesterday's trash.

So, In theory, you could kill enough people to wipe out a country, and then just say sorry, and remain a christian right?

I'm afraid that you won't find one. I am a former soldier and i believed in what I was doing and i still stand behind it. The bible says a lot of things that don't make sense. I guess it depends on your view, most Christian churches i have went to before I found my right path and what every preacher, father, deacon, or what have you told me that it depended on their true intentions for becoming a soldier so really nobody will ever know but themselves. Does it feel right to you that people who volunteer to lay their life and their families security on the line for our safety that they should be punished for it? I personally don't believe in a separation in the "afterlife". So I guess if you believe in hell and heaven then would send a person to "hell" for fighting for their country? It was discrepancies like that why I am not a Christian anymore. The men and women who are willing to give their lives for us and our country deserve every ounce of respect they get. I will forever honor my fellow brothers and sisters in arms!!!! The ten commandments are "rules" that must be broken in order to keep society safe. Is it better not to kill at all, well of course but human nature is what it is and that is just a fact of life. Bright Blessings to you and yours!!

The commandment says "You shall not murder".

"Just war"prevents murder.

Fr K is right.