War, what is it good for?
We live in a society that is surrounded by war and at times it seems like we are becoming desensitized to it. The amount of times that I’ve killed someone in a game that’s based on a war scenario is probably in the thousands, and for some of you it’s probably in the hundreds of thousands. I know it’s just movies and some of us can separate our thoughts from the real and the make believe, but it’s like we can get this glorified idea of what war is and maybe even a desire to get involved in a war, without really thinking about all the reasons why there are wars and what we really think about them.
Right now today, there are more wars going on than we’ve ever experienced in the history of the world! From 1990 to 1995, 70 international states were involved in 93 wars which killed five and a half million people. Many of the wars we won’t hear about on the news, because they are either ongoing for years and years or they are in such far away locations that the media has lost interest. I guess the wars that we see most often, are the ones that Australian troops are called in to help out with and with this whole issue of war, we come to look into who our allies are and wether we should follow them into war if we disagree with what the war is all about. Finally I just want to say that in the Christian world, there is a big debate on the whole issue of war. Some Christians, who believe in God and have a real heart for him, will be really pro-war. They will see the best way to solve a problem is a military one, they won’t have any problems with troops being sent to muscle their way into a country or to help out an ally or to enforce their will on another country. On the flip side, there are also many Christians, who have a great relationship with God, but their views on war is that Christians shouldn’t have anything to do with it. They should stand strongly against any war, because our fight isn’t against stuff we can see in this world, but it is a spiritual fight that we should be spending time saving people’s souls… Sorry, that got a bit deep there for a moment. But these people don’t see that there is any purpose for Christians to go to war. There are also a whole heap of Christians who have views somewhere in the middle of these two beliefs and what we’re going to be figuring out tonight, is what you think about war and maybe give you a chance to have a think about what you think is the Christian response to war and would Jesus go to war if he was alive today.
Small group time
War, what is it good for?
1.Do you know someone who has fought in a war? Which war was it? Have you heard stories about it? Many people returning from war don’t want to talk about it, why do you think that is?
2. When you see or read about reports of war going on around the world, what does that make you think about? What concerns you most when you hear these reports?(war coming to Australia, your family, the people who are suffering, where is God in all of it?)
3.What do you think? Do you agree ordisagree? (discuss as you go)
__Some video games promote war.
__War is exciting.
__There’s nothing good about war.
__It’s good for our country to support war.
__War is avoidable.
__People should have the right to protest against a war.
__War is never right.
__My generation will fight in a war.
__War allows peace to happen.
__Small children should be discouraged from playing with war-type toys.
__ I would be willing to fight in a war someday.
4.If your country were to go to war, what would you do?
__Never fight, no matter what the reason for the war.
__Fight, but only if I thought the war was justified.
__Fight, whether or not I thought the war was right.
5. What kind of things are worth fighting for? What makes a war right or wrong to get into? (some examples of this could be if another country is trying to invade – so like a defensive war, or if they are creating weapons to invade, or if their human rights are bad, or if they are a bad government, or if they have great resources and bad defences??)
6.What do you think God thinks about war?(This is a good possibly difficult question to answer, obviously God has initiated many wars in the Old Testament against people that disobeyed him, but he also calls us to live in peace and to love our enemies, so there’s a balance in how military force should be used and ultimately God is the one who sets this balance.)
James 4 says this 1Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves.2You lust for what you don’t have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn’t yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.
You wouldn’t think of just asking God for it, would you?3And why not? Because you know you’d be asking for what you have no right to. You’re spoiled children, each wanting your own way.
4You’re cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and his way.
7. How does this verse say that most wars are started? (the selfishness and greed of people)
8. What does this selfishness and greed do to our relationship with God?
Romans 12: 17If someone does wrong to you, do not pay him back by doing wrong to him. Try to do what everyone thinks is right.18Do your best to live in peace with everyone.19My friends, do not try to punish others when they wrong you, but wait for God to punish them with his anger. It is written: “I will punish those who do wrong; I will repay them,” says the Lord.20But you should do this:“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;if he is thirsty, give him a drink.Doing this will be like pouring burning coals on his head.”21Do not let evil defeat you, but defeat evil by doing good.
9. Is this the way you deal with someone who has done wrong to you or has said bad stuff to you? If not, do you think this approach would work?
So with all this stuff on war to concider, who would actually want to go to fight and even die in a war that you knew wouldn’t be appreciated by the people you were out to save? That would be a pretty tough thing to give your life for. Surely we’d want a really good cause if we were going to risk our future’s for right? The bible gives a great example of a worthwhile cause that God was so concerned about, he let his son go to fight it.
Romans 5:6-86When we were unable to help ourselves, at the moment of our need, Christ died for us, although we were living against God.7Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good person someone might possibly die.8But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
While we were still in a state of not loving or even caring about God, God still cared and loved us. That says a lot about God, that he still loves us, even if we don’t show any love for him. It also shows that the wars he fights are very worthwhile ones.