What Does It Mean To Say That All Christians Should Be Pacifists?

Violence, it has been a main tool in the Christian arsenal since the middle ages. From the Crusades to the Inquisitions of Spain, violence is ever prevalent. Even in this day and age, intolerance and violence continue to be preached. But is this violence an instrument of God or man? Is violence an inherent part of this religion? Some would say that it is indeed built in to the very fabric of its being. The Old Testament is full of the smiting of infidels and those who defy God. The Book of Revelations tells of the violent and fiery demise of this entire planet. There are instances of mass genocide, the killing of innocent children, holy wars, you name a violent act and God has called for it. The story of

However, some Christians will agree on conventional wars but not nuclear wars, this is because nuclear wars are seemed to be never justified. Nuclear war can cause innocent deaths in seconds after the explosion while conventional war can be controlled to not kill the innocent. Many Christians will argue nuclear war can never take place as it is against many evidence from biblical text, such as Matthew 5:38-48, where Jesus mentions how Christians should never being lead into violence and killing innocent people. Another biblical text is from Matthew 26:47-53 where Jesus told his disciple not to interfere the soldiers from arresting him, because violence should not be acted against with violence, this is taken not only for nuclear wars but conventional and any violent acts. However, freedom fighters known as terrorists fight for what they believe in can cause deaths of innocent people and conventional war is acceptable from Christians in order to stop it, as suggest from Mark 11:15-18 but nuclear war should not take place since it is no different form terrorists.

Overall, there will always be droughts whether during war it is best to be pacifist or anti-pacifist. We can forecast that it is best to be anti-pacifist during any war that we may be faced with. This is what’s best because talk about pacifist will always aid the enemy in various ways from encouraging them, making us easy targets, and the preparation of it. We have to be aware that sometimes war is the only answer to defeat evil and establish peace. Before people start judging how bad war is and inhumane they should consider how many evil people we have gotten rid of before they were able to do more harm. It will always be up to the people weather or not they should be pacifist or anti pacifist during a war but we can conclude that pacifism will always aid the

Pacifism covers an array of views and there are many subcategories of pacifism, some of which I will cover, but the main definition of the word pacifism is the opposition to war and/or violence. Perhaps the most famous use of the word pacifism is found in the “Sermon on the Mount”, where Jesus claims the “peacemakers” are blessed. In this passage, the Greek word eirenopoios is translated into Latin as pacifici, which means those who work for peace. One common and simple argument for pacifism among religious groups or god fearing people is the argument that god’s revealed words says, through the bible, “Thou shalt not kill.”

We think this inspite the following Biblical verse: 'But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father in heaven. Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘A man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. - Matthew, 10:34 Thus, Jesus rewards those who help his people and his cause. Clearly, these conditions are not at all peacefull, but rather war-like. He brings about the Kindom of God with violent meanseven if he did not want such methods to be used- just like Caesar

"I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will " (ch. 23 pg. 280) This quote intensifies Jane’s transitional character from her former ruled life to her now independent life. The metaphor of the bird tells an allusion as unlike a bird she has no entrapment and she can move around whereas as a bird has a cage trapping its freedom.

The Qur’an stated that God does not love aggressors. The Qur’an stated that you should fight for the sake of God against those that fight against you, but only if they attack first. Upon being attacked, you should slay them where you find them and drive them out of the places from where they drove you; fight against them until God’s religion reigns supreme. For nonreligious violence, the Qur’an stated mankind has the right to guard himself against evil, but only if the means are just; one should not devour one's property by unjust means or be the first to attack.

Islam is not the only religion that use violence for instance, the Christian use violence to destroy Islam. In the article crusades the idea of violence was demonstrated when pope urban II send innumerable amount of solder to “Rise in a spirit of cruelty against the jewish people scattered through the cities and slaughtered ’the women, also, and with their swords pierced tender children of whatever gender and sex.” The soldier did not stop there they also “Destroy the houses, synagogue of the jews and divided among themselves a very, large, amount of money [that once belonged to the jews].” Christians were influenced by Pope Urban II to assassinate million of people. It is estimated that about 1.7 million of people died during the crusades.

The most common example of brutality caused by religion is the Crusades. Crusades were an expedition by European Christians as a response to retaliate against the Muslim expansion on Jerusalem, the Holy Land of Christians. In order to conquer the land from the Muslims, the European Christians imprisoned, enslaved and converted Muslims into Christians. The massacre that resulted in thousands of deaths of both Muslim and Christian sides was just an attempt to conquer Jerusalem. If Jerusalem did not have such religious significance to the Christians, the retaliation would

We have the Muslims, Christians and Jews. These are all monotheistic religions, which means they believe in one God, the same God. Yes, there might be different names, different rituals and routines, but at the end of the day it’s all the same. It is the same God, you’re worshiping, a God that tells us to be good and avoid sinning. So why are we fighting over it? Why kill, torture, and bring terror amongst people that worship the same God. It isn’t our job to fight for God, or kill for him. It is our job to love one another, care for another and be kind. I think that if everyone looked at religion this way, we wouldn’t have all these problems. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front, it gives the reader an example of the reality of war. The death of the main character took a toll on me, especially when you think that there are millions of others like him. As he states on chapter 12 “I am very quiet. Let the months and years come, they can bring me nothing more. I am so alone, and so without hope that I can confront them without fear. The life that has born me through these years is still in my hands and eyes. Whether I have subdued it, I know not. But so long as it is there it will seek its own way out, heedless of the will that is within me. “There are many others like him that have been robbed of their life and innocence. And it’s darn shame that we as human beings allow this. If we could simply realize that every life matters, and that everyone has feelings, then we could be united. Maybe, then we could achieve peace. As for now, I don’t think that will happen because we still believe that peace can be brought violence. That is impossible, but people always love a

There are, however, various categories of ‘pacifist’. A ‘total pacifist’ is someone who completely avoids violence and believes it can never be justified, not even in self-defence or to protect others – this they see as the only morally correct view of war. A relative pacifist is someone who may use violence in certain situations but who supports disarmament. They are discriminating about WW1 but agree that WW2 had to be fought. Nuclear pacifists believe that conventional weapons are acceptable as a last resort if war is inevitable, as it is, but nuclear

As explained by William Hawk in his essay “Pacifism: Reclaiming the Moral Presumption”, the pacifist is a person that refuses to participate in war for in any circumstance for two reasons; the grounding belief that war is wrong, and the belief that human life is sacred and invaluable. Many pacifist

Verses 2:190-194 and 216-218 of the Quran reflect what Muslims believe constitutes a just war. A part of verse 191 says, “And kill them wherever you overtake them, and expel them from where they had expelled you.” The Quran even supports a just war in sacred places and sacred times of the year. Another part of verse 191 says, “But do not fight them at the Sacred Mosque, unless they fight you there.” The first part of verse 194 mentions fighting during a sacred time when, “The sacred month for the sacred month; and sacrilege calls for retaliation.” It also addresses how it is a necessity for a Muslim to fight if there is persecution by verse 216 saying, “Fighting is ordained for you, even though you dislike it.” The rest of verse 216 says that the person who finds fighting unappealing must still fight. These people who do not like fighting do not know what is best for themselves, but God does according to verse 216.

The Just War Theory is a doctrine founded by Saint Augustine which has helped bring much discussion and debate to wars and the morality to fight in them. Wars and fights between people have gone on forever and are not perceived to stop anytime soon so it is important that some people thought about when and why they should ever fight. For many years Christians never part toke in this fighting due to teachings of the Bible and Jesus' teaching on 'turning the other cheek' and 'live by the sword, die by the sword'. Saint Augustine would be one of the first to talk about how a Christian could be a soldier and serve God at the same time. Through this thought we would receive the Just War Theory which gave a set of requirements for someone to partake

Hinduism evaluated to its core, claims to be a peaceful religion and has pacifist teachings. “Hindu Spiritual practices aim to inculcate the idea of non-violence among its practitioners.”(V) Even though there are various beliefs and traditions that identify themselves to be under the guides of Hinduism, the religion itself advocates diversity, they all have have several beliefs and philosophies at their cores. In common with most religions Hinduism condemns the act of war despite have some teachings that advocate, and even encourage it. “The teachings that condemn violence are contained in the doctrine of ahimsa, while those that permit it centre around the Kshatriyas - the warrior caste.”(BBC).