Is War Just?

Part of my studies this year includes a few essays and one 8-12 page research paper. I thought it might be fun to see who reads my stuff, and if so what you think of what I'm writing! Here goes for the first one...


Is war just? I will focus this broad question for this brief essay on a very critical, practical and personal component of this question, as my country has engaged in two wars during my life. The focus: is war something I will condone or something in which I will participate? I could discuss whether should Government condone or engage in war or if war is best from a societal perspective. But this essay answers an important question each needs to ask from a personal, religious and philosophical perspective.
In discussing my position of the question “is war just?” I will base my perspective on the teachings of Jesus the Nazarene and the actions of the early Church, more specifically I will be looking at the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, and a historical review of the early Church as chronicled in Transformation Ethics by Thomas McFaul. From reading the perspective of Jesus of Nazareth and looking at the actions of the early Church, I am fully convinced that for myself, I will not condone or engage in any war-like pursuits.
In Matthew 5, we see that Jesus is speaking on murder, retaliation, and love for enemies. He tells us not to judge for fear of the fires of hell (v 22) and not to resist an evil person even when they strike us on the right cheek, but rather to turn the other also (v 39). He instructs us instead to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (v 44). As I see it, this teaching could be used as a method of preventing war. If we followed the teaching of Matthew 5 on an individual level, by acting always in love toward our fellow man, then could war be less frequent?
On the other hand, Jesus’ teaching in this situation is focused on personal endeavor, not on governmental action. We can take from this that Jesus deeply wants us to keep peace among ourselves: to live in light of eternal grace and justice, moving above the petty issues and acting as cooperative, intelligent human beings who can discover peaceful solutions and disagree without engaging in war.
To paraphrase Thomas McFaul, while Jesus was alive, He invoked images of a peaceable Kingdom governed by love and void of violence. As the early Church developed, Christians pursued Jesus’ vision of peace. When the early Christians were called upon to join with Roman officials and defend the Empire with brutality and perhaps bloodshed, they refused, pointing to Jesus’ teaching of avoiding vengeance, forgiving wrongdoers, loving enemies and not returning evil for evil. As Christianity expanded and Constantine in particular embarked upon the mission of conquering his enemies in the name of the cross, the change from pacifism to military participation was complete (50). As Christians began to participate in military pursuits, they lost the essence of Jesus’ vision: “a peaceable Kingdom governed by Love and void of violence” (McFaul 50).
In this paper, my goal is to search the scriptures, looking at the teachings of Jesus and the actions of the early Church to understand logically whether I personally should join in military pursuits. I have not covered all of the questions such as is governmental war ever justified, or if others should join the military. People in America can choose not to engage in combative war based on religious conviction, and, as you can see, this is my conviction! In order to uphold the teachings of Jesus the Nazarene, and follow the practice of the early Church, I will not condone any war-like pursuits. The sword protects, but Love saves.
Amber Agnew, Anno Domini 2008

Works Cited
McFaul, Thomas. Transformation Ethics. University Press of America, 2002.
NIV Study Bible. 1985. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

Katy's play outfit

so here are a couple of pictures of Katy's outfit almost finished...I don't know what happened the the pix of the outfit finished...I'll have to take some more and post them later! But for now...enjoy!

Oh, and Katy's in that stage of "this the cool way to smile"...and thus lends errrr "coolness" to the picture! Also, she found that slumping is really fun in a boned bodice!

Outfit of the Day

We were shopping at Talbot's where I found this fun but wery expensive jacket...

and this is what I'm wearing today...Evy, I couldn't find a sparkly scarf...would brown work, what?

smiles...!