How come most wars are waged by Jesus's followers who taught peace?

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   Thrillerposted 14 years ago

   Just look back in history: The 1st and 2nd world wars, the Iraq war, Afghan war, cold war all have been fought by believers in the name of world peace only to make the world a more dangerous place to live in. Today Iraq and Afghanistan are nothing short of terror dens. Did Jesus teach to kill in the name of peace?

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      Brenda Durhamposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      First of all, your statement that the "worst wars" were waged by Jesus's followers is, at the very least, debatable.
      
      And there is such a thing as justice having to be brought about by less-than-peaceful means.
      I'm not sure those wars were fought in the "name of world peace" as you say, but moreso in the name of correcting injustices in the world.
      
      If everything was always "peace", then police officers wouldn't have to go searching for criminals at gunpoint, there would be no such things as jails and even courts, and there would be no injustices done at all in the world.
      
      You might ask first and foremost why there are people like Hitler and why there are groups like Al Queda and why there are child molesters and such.   Then, when your obvious anti-Christian bias is addressed,  we might have a platform to continue.

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      habeeposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think most of the folks in Iraq and Afghanistan follow Jesus, do they?
      
      As for WWII, do you think Hitler should have been allowed to continue his regime?

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         pisean282311posted 14 years agoin reply to this

         he meant usa and not iraqis and afghanis....ya but iraqis and afghanis do respect jesus...they call him prophet...

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      pisean282311posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      @Thriller jesus has nothing to do with crusaders or world wars...Jesus is last person to promote violence even for defense...but even jesus can't do much ....we inherited violent nature since our jungle days...doctrines or religion cannot change basic..in end we are all same and we are all humans ...

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         Brenda Durhamposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I have to disagree with some of that.
         
         Jesus is God.
         
         And while the New Testament may not show Jesus advocating for war, He is still God, and God is a God of both peace and war and love and judgement.

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            pisean282311posted 14 years agoin reply to this

            your belief and i respect it...i was talking in historical point of view and not belief system...historically no jesus or krishna or buddha has been able to change human basis to much of extent...humans remain pretty same..i understand for you jesus is god and i dont have problem with that...

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      BDazzlerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      There are several historical, logical, linguistic and philosophical issues with your question.
      
      The first and foremost being the underlying assumption that the word translated to English for "Peace" means absence of war or conflict.  It does not.
      
      The second being the assumption that those who claim to follow Jesus are, in fact, his followers ... he Himself said, "Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say?"   
      
      The third unchallenged assumption is the word "most" ... it's not even close to "most" by any objective measure.
      
      There are others but those three assumptions alone make the question itself questionable.
      
      As to your final question, there is no place in scripture when Jesus gave instructions to specifically kill an individual or group, no place that he advocated it in general and one place where he implied that killing in self defense may be acceptable.
      
      If your point is that people who claim to be Christian aren't always terribly Christ-like, it's a valid and frequently made point.

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         Aficionadaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         
         
         Excellent post.  I totally agree.
         
         
         
         AND
         
         
         Both of these also very well expressed and insightful!
         
         People who want or choose to wage war will find and use whatever reason they believe will justify it with the population.  The "justification" given does not have to be (and, I believe, usually is not) identical with the reason that actually underlies the conflict.  One day there will be wars that are waged "in the name of Science" or perhaps "in the name of Natural Selection" or perhaps "in the name of Randomness" - whatever the people of the time will agree to fight for.
         
         [EDITED]

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      Moonchild60posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Christians think "thou shalt not kill" meant just randomly and not collectively.  So they don't pay attention to that.

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   Jeramiposted 14 years ago

   Druid Dude  wrote a hub that answers this question.
   
   It is easy to blame ALL of the worlds injustices on someone or something that we don't like.
   
     Yep !! Everything bad in the world is the fault of religion.  NOT.

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   Rajab Nsubugaposted 14 years ago

   "Have eyes but do not see, have ears but do not hear." I think this answers part of the question. It is hugely because of misconception of scripts. I think.

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      BDazzlerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Also a very valid point.

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   Thrillerposted 14 years ago

   some people seem to have misunderstood me. Jesus spoke of forgiveness and love which when followed leads to personal, regional and world peace. But what the protagonists of the Iraq war did? Tony Blair said god came in his dreams and showed the way. George Bush said he was guided by god in his decision to invade Iraq. Hitler murdered millions in the name of god. So in a way Jesus has been used as a shield to further ones own hideous goals.

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      BDazzlerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Deleted
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      pisean282311posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      but isn't it age old story...jesus might get replaced by some other name...but murders happen in name of god...it is much before christianity ...using god's name to get political end has been part of human race...

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         BDazzlerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I agreed to readily ... The US is not a theocracy, nor should it be, and if the UK was making this a region based choice , it should have been the queen as head of the church, not the prime minister who made the claim of divine guidance for the nation.
         
         It was Christ who popularized the idea of separation of Church and state, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's  and God what is God's"
         
         While Blair or Bush may or may not have been truly guided by personal faith, it was in their position as "Caesar" that they waged war.
         
         To understand the issue in depth, I recommend reading the biography and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
         
         
         "God loves human beings. God loves the world. Not an ideal human, but human beings as they are; not an ideal world, but the real world. What we find repulsive in their opposition to God, what we shrink back from with pain and hostility, namely, real human beings, the real world, this is for God the ground of unfathomable love."
         — Dietrich Bonhoeffer (A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Daily Meditations from His Letters, Writings, and Sermons)
         
         
         
         "If we look more closely, we see that any violent display of power, whether political or religious, produces an outburst of folly in a large part of mankind; indeed, this seems actually to be a psychological and sociological law: the power of some needs the folly of others. It is not that certain human capacities, intellectual capacities for instance, become stunted of destroyed, but rather that the upsurge of power makes such an overwhelming impression that men are deprived of their independent judgment, and...give up trying to assess the new state of affairs for themselves."
         — Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Letters and Papers from Prison)
         
         Understand, in context, that this man was executed by the SS for his role in the plot to assassinate Hitler. With the full knowledge that God loved Hitler.  He wrote that last not long before his execution.
         
         I believe two things: God did love Hitler and God wanted him assassinated. That does not fit neatly into any theological or philosophical package.
         
         You seem intelligent and to be seeking wisdom, don't oversimplify Christian ethics or their abuse for a single political point.

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      Moonchild60posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Me too.  They use God to justify their poor decisions and that is hideous.

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         Castlepalomaposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         I'M not a Christian, yet do have mystic feeling for Jesus and sense he not violent expect the translation were wrong. To kill another human, most likely you would think of them being sub human or like demon to kill them. Killing is a mental illness and no reason for it, other than protecting your self. I can't imagination running out of ideas to kill someone and have not harmed anyone through my world travels.
         
         Power to the people.

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