Part V: What Price Glory?
I thought a good way of wrapping up my thoughts on war would be to touch on what some people refer to as "just", or justifiable, war. When I think of it I also think of justifiable homicide, an issue which for many is probably more clear-cut. So what kind of homicide is justifiable? You may not kill a man if he has something you want, or if his dogs poop on your grass. You can't even do it if he slashes your tires or he rear-ends you in the Wal-Mart parking lot. In fact, the only real reason you have for taking his life is if you feel he is a threat to yours or that of other innocents. This applies to car-jackers, rapists, house thieves, muggers, and just plain murderous types.
Carrying it over to war, I consider the two situations of personal threat and national threat to be pretty much equivalent. If the safety of the nation is at risk, war is justifiable. I'm not saying it's the only option; but it needs to have a spot right up there on the list of recourses. If a nation's allies are threatened, the same rules apply. This is why governments need to make wise choices of allies; ones who will be willing to come to their aid in time of need.
Another possible reason for justifiable war which I've been pondering is protecting nations from "evil" nations trying to take them over. Take Korea, for example. Communist North Korea was bullying and threatening to overrun the south. We weren't allied to South Korea, but we deployed anyway to help out. The result was a conflict which claimed many American lives and has yet to be decided. Were we justified in going into Korea, or Vietnam, just because we didn't like Communism? Who's to say that the established goverments of South Korea and Vietnam were any "better" by biblical standards than Communism? Those are the questions that pop up in my mind when I think about those conflicts.
So there you have it; my thoughts on war. There's more, to be sure. But I think it would be nice to get back to regularly scheduled weblogging. I really appreciate and encourage the discussion these thoughts have generated. It's a good way for me to sort some of my thinking out. I also think it's probably a good place to apply a thought-sorting process. Can't get enough of those.
Carrying it over to war, I consider the two situations of personal threat and national threat to be pretty much equivalent. If the safety of the nation is at risk, war is justifiable. I'm not saying it's the only option; but it needs to have a spot right up there on the list of recourses. If a nation's allies are threatened, the same rules apply. This is why governments need to make wise choices of allies; ones who will be willing to come to their aid in time of need.
Another possible reason for justifiable war which I've been pondering is protecting nations from "evil" nations trying to take them over. Take Korea, for example. Communist North Korea was bullying and threatening to overrun the south. We weren't allied to South Korea, but we deployed anyway to help out. The result was a conflict which claimed many American lives and has yet to be decided. Were we justified in going into Korea, or Vietnam, just because we didn't like Communism? Who's to say that the established goverments of South Korea and Vietnam were any "better" by biblical standards than Communism? Those are the questions that pop up in my mind when I think about those conflicts.
So there you have it; my thoughts on war. There's more, to be sure. But I think it would be nice to get back to regularly scheduled weblogging. I really appreciate and encourage the discussion these thoughts have generated. It's a good way for me to sort some of my thinking out. I also think it's probably a good place to apply a thought-sorting process. Can't get enough of those.
