Today I would like to write about Pacifism. I will be looking at the religious views of a Christian and what my views are on the subject. As always, I want to hear what you think! So read the article and possibly leave a comment if you have the time.
“Christians should always forgive and never retaliate. War is always wrong for a Christian”.
A little bit about what a Pacifist is about needs to be said before we start this article. A Pacifist is someone that believes in peace and keeping the society calm and friendly. They feel that war and violence should not be used. It is associated with Christianity but you can be from any religion to be a pacifist. They oppose fighting in wars because they believe war is a waste of gods resources.
Quakers are a group of Christians that are Pacifists. They believe that all involvement in war is wrong because they feel that you must ‘love your enemy’ because it is in the Bible and you are not loving your enemy if you have an involvement in the war against them. In the ten commandments it says people should not murder which is another reason why they do not feel that fighting in wars are correct. Quakers follow the belief in god and the commandments.
Although some Christians believe in the Just War Theory. This is where people can got to a war for a certain reason (a just reason). They say the war must have a good reason on why it is started, it was be declared by the country leaders or government and the war must be a last resort as in they have tried other ways to solve the issue. The theory also says that you must only kill if needed and the war must have a reasonable goal and chance of success. The final thing that the just war theory says is that you must only kill people involved in the war and should use the lowest amount of force needed.
Personally I believe in the just war theory because sometimes there can be a right reason to go to war. For example, if a terrorist attack happened, you would need to go to war to protect your country. However the reason for most of the wars are just for the resources or to prove they are a strong country. I also agree that people that are not involved directly in the shooting in wars should not be injured because they are not doing anything to threaten or harm someone. Sometimes a war can be the only way to solve issues and protect your own civilians.
War is never a nice thing though and there are never any real winners. A lot of people from both sides die for reasons of just wanting the resources and power over the people.
My questions to my readers is, do you feel that wars are sometimes right? and do you agree with the just war theory like I do? I am looking forward to what you have to say about another religious and controversial subject I am writing about.
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I don’t see anything right with wars. and truth be told Christians are to be blamed for quite some bloodbaths, not to mention some pretty ‘dark ages’, when the Church would set fire to any ‘heretics’. I am a Christian myself, but I don’t see too much use in most of these wards. But hey, we’re too small to matter
Very true dojo. We are just as much to blame. Most countries want the prestige which is why the wars happened. People can feel how they want but there will always be wars happening. I just thought I would teach a bit about the subject to anyone interested. Thanks for reading.
It’s hard to come out and say that war can be “right” even if it does have a “just” cause. It may be necessary and I believe that at times, it is necessary, but that still doesn’t make it the right thing and war is always wrong hence why it usually is a last resort type of action.
Unfortunately though, we live in a world where people just can’t agree or agree to disagree, and thus wars have erupted numerous times through out history. Some more reasonable than others, but none were “right” or humane. Some might say the world would be better off without any wars, but think about it. The US could still be under England’s rule if we didn’t go to war with them. Hitler could still be killing millions of innocent people too, would that be right? No. Sometimes you have to take the greater good, even if that option isn’t really good (just better than the losing option).
Thanks for the comment. I agree with what you are saying. Sometimes wars are needed which is sad but not wanted. They do not happen on the same scale as they used to which is good though because it used to be a much more of a prestige thing. For example with the British Empire.