When we think about the subject of war, we must remember that God is LOVE, that Only God is good, God is Eternal, and that God is the Only One with Complete Understanding...God sees the Complete Picture of All Things and All Things in the Future...He is Eternal...
Jesus' brother James wrote in chapter four, “Where do wars and fights come from among you?...Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?...You lust and do not have...You murder and covet and cannot obtain...You fight and war”...
In Joshua 11:20 it is written, “For it was the LORD Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that He might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.”...So as believers we must try to view war from God's point of view as best we can...The Prophet Ezekiel has many verses about war...For me many verses of Ezekiel are despairing and depressing about war...But God tells us in Ezekiel, “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD...Repent and live!”...And there is this verse written in 2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”...The Psalmist writes in chapter thirty three, “He LOVES whatever is just and good, and his unfailing LOVE fills the earth.”...And like Ezekiel, the Prophet Jeremiah writes about the ungodly nature of mankind...The Prophet writes dark messages during the time Jerusalem would be seized by the Babylonians...
God uses and allows war to crush and judge the sinners of the world...He uses the Leaders of the world to punish evil and to help those in need...
God had promised His people, the Hebrews, the Promised Land, after a covenant with Abraham...Years after Abraham's death, God's people would wind up living in Egypt and be slaves to the Egyptians...After four hundred years God was ready to help His people leave Egypt and have His servant Moses take them to the Promised Land...From the exodus of Egypt to the Promised Land would be a trip of forty years...But to get to the Promised Land and then to take the Promised Land for their own the would have to go to war to fight to (even) get to their destination and then root out those living in their Promised Land...And Moses told them, “After the LORD your God has done this for you, don’t say to yourselves, ‘The LORD has given us this land because we are so righteous!’...No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that He is doing it.”...
In one way when we are in a war, we have an enemy...But Jesus tells us that we have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’...But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven...He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous...If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?...Are not even the tax collectors doing that?...And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?...Do not even pagans do that?...Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect...
C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity writes this about war and killing a neighbor: Does loving your enemy mean not punishing him?...No, for loving myself does not mean that I ought not to subject myself to punishment – even to death...If you had committed a murder, the right Christian thing to do would be to give yourself up to the police and be hanged...It is, therefore, in my opinion, perfectly right for a Christian judge to sentence a man to death or a Christian soldier to kill an enemy...I always have thought so, ever since I became a Christian, and long before the war, and I still think so now that we are at peace...
I imagine somebody will say, ‘Well, if one is allowed to condemn the enemy’s acts, and punish him, and kill him, what difference is left between Christian morality and the ordinary view?’...All the difference in the world...Remember, we Christians think man lives for ever...Therefore, what really matters is those little marks or twists on the central, inside part of the soul which are going to turn it, in the long run, into a heavenly or a hellish creature...We may kill if necessary, but we must not hate and enjoy hating...We may punish if necessary, but we must not enjoy it… Even while we kill and punish we must try to feel about the enemy as we feel about ourselves – to wish that he were not so bad, to hope that he may, in this world or another, be cured: in fact, to wish his good...This is what is meant in the Bible by loving him: wishing his good, not feeling fond of him nor saying he is nice when he is not...
St. Paul said these things that are related to war...Obey the government, for God is the One who put it there...All governments have been placed in power by God...The authorities are sent by God to help us...But if we are doing something wrong, of course we should be afraid, for we will be punished...The authorities are established by God for that very purpose, to punish those who do wrong...St. Paul urged us, first of all, to pray for all people...This would include our enemies, and those we are at war with...For man's struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places...So as we make our prayer requests for our enemies, we should plead to God’s mercy upon them, and give thanks...Pray this way for kings, presidents, prime ministers, and all others who are in authority, so that we can live in peace and quietness, in godliness and dignity...So wherever we are in fellowship and with others we should pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy...Because we know that God causes everything in the universe to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them...
Or Creator has made us to love Him, but we fell from grace and sin has entered our world and our lives...War entered our lives and has been with us since our fall from the Garden of Eden and is a consequence of our sins and disobedience to Him...War has become a behavior of mankind...Since Only God is good, God is LOVE, and God is Perfect and gives Perfect Justice, then God seeing the whole picture sees, is in control of all things, allows war and takes care of evil at Godspeed...God will at some point judge us and there will be no more war, and He has proven that by raising and appointing His Son to be the Judge of Mankind...Jesus tells us that, "And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic...Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately."...For those who have kept the faith, Jesus will be there for us...