Does the New Testament Support Pacifism?

My Feedback page on The Early Church Fathers and the Military brought several comments, but the one below sparked some good discussion regarding pacifism and the New Testament.

My Response:
I appreciate your comment and I understand your perspective.
First, I would like to offer a comment on your secondary point:
I would ask you to consider that people will not be judged by whether or not they hear a particular gospel presentation. I think Paul addresses this in Romans 2.

My Opnion: People will be judged by God's justice based on how they lived according to what they knew. If and when someone is judged by God it will be because they refused to live by what they knew was truth. If you have not read CS Lewis, "The Great Divorce," you should go get it. It is a profound way of thinking of Hell and final judgment.

If you are correct, then a Christian cannot take part in the prison system because prisoners are killed every day by other inmates. A Christian guard could somehow be cooperating in a death. A Christian would not be able to be involved in a capital trial that could end in the death penalty. A Christian could not be a lawyer or a Judge because he/she might be involved in some way with the death penalty.

A Christian would have to be very careful about being in the medical field. What if their actions (or inactions) helped lead to a death? Now I realize that this is a far cry from killing someone in battle, but the logical threads are there nonetheless and must be explained, or at least contemplated if you take such an absolutist stand.

What if an armed robber breaks into my house? Do I hope and pray that he will not kill me and my children? Do I trust that he will not rape and kill my wife and kids like the guy did to the doctor's family in Connecticut (the Joshua Komisarjevsky trial). If I shoot and kill him to protect my family is that the same as the soldier in the battle?

Just some things to think about.

My Reply
I have some difficulty using the Sermon on the Mount as an absolute rule. An ethical guide, yes. But not a rule. We all agree that Jesus uses hyperbole in this message. We all agree that he is presenting a HIGH road of ethics and spirituality, maybe one that is impossible to attain completely (I would certainly say this, but I know others would disagree). I think he is intending to expose the religion of the Pharisees and present His ideals which were contained not in the rituals or keeping the laws of the OT, but in the new heart of Jeremiah's vision.

I think we also need to keep the historical context in mind when we read "Love your enemy," "Do not use force," and the "die by the sword" comment: in addition to simply preaching the new kingdom of God, Jesus has to keep from being drawn into the desire of the Zealots who want a Messiah to overthrow the Romans. Many of the Jews believed that the only way to shed Roman rule would be by the sword. Even the Essenes thought it would take a military confrontation, though their vision was more of a heavenly army.

So in the first instance, I do think these citations really speak to the issues we typically think about when we discuss pacifism. I think ALMOST ALL Christians would agree that to advance God's kingdom through military force is NOT what God intends.

To use physical force or violence to advance God's kingdom is categorically different to me from defending oneself from violence. I would have to ponder each circumstance on its own merits, but my basic belief is that self-defense is never wrong. This is an understanding that comes from Mosaic law - true self-defense is always acceptable.

For a street preacher to allow himself (or others) to be physically assaulted and beaten without allowing someone to HELP is actually encouraging anarchy. "When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong." Ecc 8:11. When this preacher allows himself to be beaten and refuses the help of his friends some onlookers with a weak conscience will not be deterred at all from beating someone on the street. If that street preacher had friends nearby with stun guns and zapped an attacker, others would think twice before attacking him. I am not suggesting that this SHOULD be done, but neither would I say that stun gun self-protection is sinful.

I would also suggest if something like that happened the preachers should probably retreat in order to avoid an escalation of violence. I am not advocating the encouragement to use violence - I am mainly in strong disagreement with the absolutist view of pacifism using the NT texts as an authority.

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