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Hebrews 2:14-15 – A Defense of War
It is the fear of death that perpetuates war. That is the paradoxical conclusion of Ted Peters (“Sin – Radical Evil in Soul and Society, chapter 2). Death is nonexistence. While the fear of dying is what makes us defend ourselves, how does that fit in with being the aggressor? War is begun due to the anxiety of losing one’s life by killing before we can be killed. The attack on Pearl Harbor was preventative although ultimately unsuccessful. Even greed for what a nation does not have to perpetuate its national life perpetuates war. Similarly, the fear of being forgotten leads leaders to aggression. Man “dies” when he is forgotten because his memory ceases to exist. Man kills in order not to be killed. Shockingly, a Vietnamese man defended the American’s massacre of his fellow countrymen in the “My Lai Massacre” by saying, “I have never been shot by a dead man” (ibid., p.41. ftnt 3.). The “War on Terror” currently being waged is the same. “Better to face the enemy over there than at home,” is a common advocacy. Again, it is the fear of death.
But as Christians, we are not afraid of nonexistence. Therefore is there any justification for war?
In reading Peter’s book, it struck me how brilliantly simple his observation, but it is incomplete. He quotes Becker,
“From the beginning men have served the appetites of one another in the most varying ways, but these were always reducible to a single theme: the need for fuel for one’s own aggrandizement and immunity. Men use one another to assure their personal victory over death….Through the death of the other, one buys oneself free from the penalty of dying, of being killed. No wonder men are addicted to war (p.53).”
Let me alter his next to last sentence: “Through the death of oneself, one buys another free from the penalty of dying.” Does that sound theological? Freedom from death is the power of Christ’ sacrifice. Sacrifice leads to life for others. Therefore, there is another reason for war besides the fear of death, which is the sanctity of life. Jesus did not fear death, but valued it. In our mortal combats, no one wants to die, but all are willing because of a cause greater than themselves. War protects life. Again, this is a paradoxical conclusion.
While few wars are justifiable, when a third nation joins the fight, and joins to fight against the aggressor, with little or no fear that it is “better to face the enemy over there than at home,” there can be just a few answers why. They are willing to die, not to protect their life, but to protect the lives of people that are strangers or allies. Their individual right to live is not more important than any other individual’s right. This higher calling and cause is the love of life. This belief that life is special and sanctified pushes them forward. It is the belief that no one has the right to take a life. God said a man should be put to death because of the sanctity of God’s image (Gen.9:6). Part of God’s image is life. In war, it is not the death of the enemy that gives them, their third nation, life; it is the death of the enemy that preserves life for others. They fight, not out of a fear of dying, but out of a love for all life.
Pacifism is not the choice of cowards, for it takes strength to stand against the majority. Some pacifists are naïve as seen in the anti-war slogan, “Suppose they gave a war and no one came?” Just ask all the nations that the Nazis and Communists invaded. War still came.
But didn’t Jesus command us to turn the other cheek? Since this short article is based upon the paradoxical, let us keep that theme. I believe that I have no right to aggressively protect myself from harm by hurting others, but I do have the right to protect others. I believe that I have no right to aggressively protect any life if being persecuted for righteousness. But the Bible does give the right to protect life for the sake of life. This is found in the very principle of capital punishment.
While many Christians are understandably pacifists, only unbelievers are pacifists in the spiritual war. There is a war going on in the spiritual realm (Eph.6:10-17). Satan is the aggressor and all of mankind is being attacked. Satan feeds on us. We are his meat. We are his reason for existence.
A third nation, Heaven, intervened. Jesus came to war in the flesh of man, attacked Satan and died, but won. Jesus fought, not due to a fear of death or nonexistence. His death did not produce more fear, but removed the fear of death (Heb.2.14). Jesus came to war because of the sanctity of life, to save those made in the image of God.
As Christians, we are not afraid of nonexistence. But we are advocates of life.
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