Catholic Crusader said:
So, if we were to see states and nations over-run with armies of Godless Fascists, you think the right thing to do is sit back and watch and do nothing? If that were the case, you would not be sitting behind your comfy computer typing right now: You'd be breaking rocks in a Nazi labor camp.
Sorry: I can't buy into that one. Besides, aren't you the same people who (wrongly) chastise Pope Pius XII for not doing enough to stop the Nazis?
Fighting to protect the those who cannot protect themselves from conquerors and evil men is an honorable battle. Christians were never meant to be cowards who shrink back and watch while evil empires subjugate innocent peoples.
Hello Catholic Crusader,
When Jesus was arrested, how did he respond ? Did he take up arms ? Have you not read where Peter, in defending Jesus from the crowd that came with swords, cut off the ear of the high priest's slave, Malchus, but Jesus rebuked him and told him to "return your sword to its place, for all who those who take the sword will perish by the sword." Jesus then says: "Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father to supply me at this moment more than twelve legions of angels."(Matt 26:52,53)
Why did Jesus not put up a fight, but rather appeal to his Father to annihilate these ones ? Because Jesus set the perfect pattern of genuine love for all those wish to become followers of him. Do you grasp what Peter said concerning Jesus, that "
when he was being reviled, he did not go reviling in return. When suffering, he did not go threatening, but
kept committing himself to the one who judges righteously" ?(1 Pet 2:23) Obviously not. Why did Jesus put up with the abuse during his ministry and especially on the night before his death ?(Matt 26:27-37) He imitated his Father, whom the apostle John says is "love".(1 John 4:8)
Jesus said: "Come to me, all you are toiling and loaded down, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for
I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart, And you will find refreshment for your souls. For my yoke is kindly and my load is light."(Matt 11:28-30) Can one imitate Jesus and yet take up arms ? Recorded history has already shown that the early Christians recognized that one must be "mild-tempered" and not take up arms. These adhered to Jesus words, whereas today, most never get the "sense" of what identifies a true Christian as being "no part of the world."
Please note some more history. In
A Short History of Rome, by G. Ferrero and C. Barbagallo, 1919, p. 382, it said that "In the second century, Christianity . . . had affirmed the incompatibility of military service with Christianity." Also, under the subtopic, "Persecution of the Christians in Gaul, A.D. 177,†by F. P. G. Guizot in
The Great Events by Famous Historians, edited by R. Johnson, 1905, Vol. III, p. 246, it said that "the Christians . . . shrank from public office and military service." Edward Gibbon, in his book,
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, said that "While they [the Christians] inculcated the maxims of passive obedience, they refused to take any active part in the civil administration or the military defence of the empire. . . . It was impossible that the Christians, without renouncing a more sacred duty, could assume the character of soldiers, of magistrates, or of princes."(Vol I, p. 416)
Another example, is related by Tacitus, a Roman historian born about 55 C.E. He tells of the rumor charging that Nero was the one responsible for burning Rome (64 C.E.), and then says: “Therefore, to scotch the rumour, Nero substituted as culprits, and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty, a class of men, loathed for their vices [as the Romans viewed matters], whom the crowd styled Christians. . . . First, then, the confessed members of the sect were arrested; next, on their disclosures, vast numbers were convicted, not so much on the count of arson as for hatred of the human race. And derision accompanied their end:
they were covered with wild beasts’ skins and torn to death by dogs; or they were fastened on crosses, and, when daylight failed were burned to serve as lamps by night.†(
The Annals, XV, XLIV)
Why did these not put up resistance, but rather allow themselves to be "torn to death by dogs" or "burned to serve as lamps" ? Because these looked to Jesus example and not men. Did not Jesus say that those who are adhering to his commands, as being "no part of the world", would also be "hated" just as Jesus himself was hated ?(John 15:18,19) Jesus further said: "Bear in mind the word I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also."(John 15:20) This is also an identifying mark of being a Christian, for the apostle Paul wrote that "in fact, all those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted."(2 Tim 3:12)
Pliny the Younger, who was governor of Bithynia in 111 or 112 C.E., wrote to Emperor Trajan, about the Christians. He said that there some who professed to be Christian, but when put to the "test", these "denied that they were or ever had been a Christian" for fear of punishment. These would offer up pagan sacrifices, even reviling the name of Christ, then he said that "none of which things, I understand,
would any genuine Christian do."(
The Letters of Pliny, X, XCVI, 3, 5, XCVII, 1)
Have you not read where the apostle Paul wrote to the congregation in Rome: "
Return evil for evil to no one....If possible, as far as it depends upon you, be peaceable with all men. Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath; for it is written: Vengence is mine, I will repay, says Jehovah. But "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by doing this you will heap fiery coals upon his head."(Rom 12:17-20)
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