Just War (Or Just Another Act of Madness?)

September 23, 2001

Scatter thou the people that delight in war.
Psalm 68.30c


What is America going to do about the terrorists?
When President Bush addressed the nation Thursday night he ended with these words:
Freedom and fear,
justice and cruelty,
have always been at war,
and we know that God is not neutral between them.

Several questions have been disturbing my sleep (and probably yours) since September 11th:

What is a just (or righteous) war?
In the 60’s John Lennon wrote the lyrics that made patriotic souls cringe. He sang, Imagine all the people¡living life in peace
nothing to live or die for.

I was just barely old enough to be sent to Vietnam, but I never got the words of Lennon’s song.
Nothing to live for? Nothing worth dying for?

Does our contemplation of engaging in war over the recent tragedy constitute a just war? Is there something worth sending our sons (and now daughters) to die for?

If so, how should this war be conducted?

What if we lose?
(Even more perplexing, what if we win?)

I want to do (at least) two things this morning:
a. I want to answer all your questions (because then
mine would be answered as well). And

b. I really want to run home, jump in bed, pull the covers over my head, and not think about war, so it will go away for ever.

It has occurred to me that both my wishes are unrealistic.

1. I cannot answer all the questions.
(I toyed with faking it, then remembered Billy Graham’s address at the National Remembrance Day last week he said he still has unanswered questions.)

So, I decided to put my omniscience on hold.

2. Pulling the covers over my head doesn’t make anything go away. It only makes the darkness much more my reality. This thing is here, and we must deal with it!

Why? Why grapple with the ethics, the motives, the just-ness of our cause? Because we must! Because grappling with our motives, God’s law, Jesus’ compassion, and the seeming endless contradictions of war and peace is what keeps us from just striking-back in blind rage. It is what separates us from the terrorists. It¡¦s what keeps us from doing what they did, and, therefore, becoming what they are evil!

And so, let’s grapple with the questions:

What is a "just¨ war?
We look to history, and historic theological interpretation for beginning points; from the Westminster Confession of Faith we find 350 year-old reference to Christians getting involved in government, and participating in just war:
23.2 It is lawful for Christians to accept and execute the office of a magistrate, when called thereunto;
in the managing whereof, as they ought especially to maintain piety, justice, and peace, according to the wholesome laws of each commonwealth; so for that end, they may lawfully now, under the New Testament,
wage war, upon just and necessary occasion.
(Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1647 -- Many Baptist "faith statements¨ lean heavily on this.)

In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas said, For a war to be just, three things are necessary public authority, just cause, right motive.
(Bob Phillips, Book of Great Thoughts, Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1993, 326)

"Just war" a phrase derived from commentary on the Scripture. Aquinas used three terms,
Public Authority, or the secured good will of those