Sermon: A Time for War and A Time for Peace.
It is fun to preach on topics like Christmas or going to heaven. However, I would not be doing my duty as a pastor if I did not occasionally speak about some dark subject. Today, that subject is war. Our Bible chronicles many wars. Today, The Council for Foreign Relations, an independent international nonpartisan think tank that tracks war data, says there are currently 31 wars on earth, the largest number since WWII ended. Those wars range from the Russia-Ukraine war to the civil war in Haiti. The Bible counts some wars as righteous, Just Wars. So, what is a Just War? What is an Unjust War?
Saint Augustine saw Just Wars as protecting peace and punishing wickedness. He based his justification for war on Romans 13:1-5. “ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct but to bad. Do you wish to have no fear of the authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive its approval, for it is God’s agent for your good. But if you do what is wrong, you should be afraid, for the authority does not bear the sword in vain! It is the agent of God to execute wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be subject, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.” 1
Saint Thomas Aquinas came along some 800 years later and did an in-depth study of what constitutes a Just War. He maintained that violence should be the last resort, but it is not always a sin to wage war. Aquinas believed an offensive war was proper against intolerable injustice. In battle, violence was justified only to the extent necessary to defeat the enemy combatants while avoiding cruelty. However, in the pursuit of justice, and with good intentions, a moral act could justify negative consequences including killing innocents. Aquinas set three criteria for a Just War. Firstly, a declaration of war must come from the rightful sovereign. Secondly, a just cause must be the reason for the war, some wrong the attacked have committed. Thirdly, the intent of the war must be to promote good and to avoid evil. 2, 3
For illustrations of Just Wars, we look back on three of America’s wars: John Locke and his ideas concerning the natural rights of man led to a novel form of government in America. Our Revolution was thus extraordinary for it introduced self-government to the world. Government of the people, for the people, by the people was truly unusual for at that time the nations of the world were ruled only by kings, emperors, potentates, chiefs, and strongmen. The idea of natural rights bloomed into the abolition of slavery after our Civil War. In World War II, we were attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and four days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Certainly, classifying these and many other American wars as Just Wars is accurate. However, Just Wars kill, maim, destroy, and scar minds just as do Unjust Wars.
Unjust Wars are conflicts in which one party attempts to enforce dominance on another party. The reasons for such wars range from any number of causes including economic gain, power, ethnic cleansing, or religious differences. 4 Our first example of unjust wars is the many aggressions for territorial gain by the United States against Native American tribes. A second example: In October 2002, America convened a war on Iraq by a joint resolution in Congress to eliminate Weapons of Mass Destruction in the arsenal of Dictator Saddam Hussein. When we found no such weapons, we discovered that US intelligence had slanted estimates, even falsified, to accommodate political pressures. The justification for the Spanish-American War remains debated. From the Spanish perspective, the United States interference was unjustified. “Remember the Maine”, February 1895, this phrase referred to the explosion of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor in Spanish-controlled Cuba. American journalists used that phrase to create enthusiasm in America for a war with Spain. “Remember the Maine” was widely employed by the press operations of early newspaper, known generally for “yellow,” or biased, journalism. Driven by this kind of misinformation and colonial ambitions, America saw the war as a moral duty to protect oppressed Cubans and expand our influence. The post-war actions of the United States such as the Platt Amendment established US control over the former Spanish sovereignty for Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines, and Cuba. 5 The current war of Russia on the Ukraine is unjust for it is a blatant seizing of the territory of another nation. Iran’s proxy war on Israel has the stated aim of illuminating Israel from the face of the earth. Such are the examples of unjust wars.
Silly but dangerous wars: A treaty established the British (Canadian)/United States border on June 15, 1846. The unclear line between the two nations resulted in American and British settlers sharing the San Juan Islands. The Pig War was a border confrontation in 1859 concerning that border. On 15 June 1859, a pig wandered into the vegetable patch of an American farmer named Lyman Cutler. This was not the first time the pig had been in Cutler’s patch rooting for potatoes. Cutler decided he had had enough and shot the offending swine. Charles Griffin, a British employee of the Hudson Bay Company, confronted Cutler. Though Cutler offered $10 in compensation, Griffin demanded more money and ultimately reported Cutler to the British authorities who threatened to arrest him. The conflict quickly grew to involve three British warships and hundreds of troops on both sides. In late 1859, the two sides agreed to a joint military occupation of the islands; this lasted until 1872 when the San Juan Islands became part of US territory. Fortunately, there were no human casualties in this silly war. 6
Another silly war that was deadly: The Hatfields and the McCoys were two families who lived along the border between West Virginia and Kentucky around the time of the Civil War. The families had been on opposite sides during the Civil War. Memoires of that conflict did not die. The real trouble, however, began with the murder of a McCoy by a suspected Hatfield. The feud simmered on, and a McCoy claimed that a Hatfield had stolen his pig. The McCoy claimed to be able to identify the pig by the markings on his ear. The Hatfields claimed that the mark was, in fact, a Hatfield mark. A judge ruled in favor of the Hatfields. Found murdered soon after the pig trial, was the sole witness. In but a few weeks, two McCoys were tried, and acquitted of murder on the grounds of self-defense.—This dispute continued for decades climaxing at the Battle of Grapevine Creek.—The result of that battle, the sheriff arrested the few Hatfields and McCoys that survived the vicious fight. The judge sentenced members from each clan to life in prison and sentenced one hanging. The final score was Nil-Nil. 7
We humans have made formal rules of war. The Hague Peace Conference of 1907 defined the official international protocol for declaring war. The protocols are four. One, a nation attacks another without a prior formal, declaration of war as Germany’s attack on Poland in 1939. Two, declaration and/or attack without standard, formal declaration before those affected hear about it, leaving them with no option for negotiations as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Three, a state of war arrives with an ultimatum as was Great Britain and France’s response to Germany’s attack on Poland. Four, a nation makes a formal declaration of war, as was America’s response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Those rules for declaration of war along with those categories, just, unjust and silly wars were useful in guiding national judgments until soon after July 16, 1945, the Trinity explosion of the first Atomic Bomb in New Mexico’s desert. On August 6, 1945, America used the first atomic weapon on Hiroshima Japan instantly killing 80,000 with many more dying in the years following. That bomb began the nuclear arms race. November 1, 1952, saw the explosion of the first Hydrogen Bomb. Hydrogen bombs have the potential to be 1,000 times more powerful than atomic bombs. Now we have two more types of nuclear bombs, the radiological weapons called dirty bombs. These weapons are distinct from atomic and thermonuclear weapons in that they are unlikely to cause the deaths of millions of people, but can make an area uninhabitable for long periods. Finally, we have the Neutron Bomb. It produces a minimal blast and heat but large amounts of neutrons. High-energy neutrons, though short-lived, can penetrate armor or several meters of earth and are extremely destructive to living tissue. Because of its short-range destructiveness and the absence of long-range effects, the neutron bomb is highly effective against tank and infantry formations. The enemy is dead, and in a short time, the aggressor has the tanks and all of the infantry equipment already gassed up and ready for the victor’s use.
Rated by the power of their weapons in the world today are 145 countries. The unknown strength of North Korea makes 146 nations that are armed with military organizations ranging from the top five most powerful: The United States, Russia, Communist China, India, and South Korea to the five least powerful: Kosovo, Somalia, the Central African Republic, and Benin. In addition to the top five nations, we must be keenly aware that Pakistan, Great Britain, France and North Korea each of which has intercontinental missiles and nuclear weapons. 8
I now go back in my military past: 1968 found me stationed in the then West Germany. My best friends all outranked me and wanted me to re-enlist. I was interested in Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR). They sent me to a short, two-week long, course on CBR in Vilseck, a lovely town in Bavaria. The school was not an in-depth study of these three types of warfare, but an overview of what we in the infantry might expect if we got in a war with Russia. It was frightening. All four types of nuclear warfare are most effective when released on an unsuspecting enemy. The primary instructor said, “If the Russians get the drop on us, the war will be over in one day, and they will be the winner.” That attack will be like the attack on Pearl Harbor, a sneak attack without a prior, formal declaration of war until after the attack.
America replies on mutual assured destruction (MAD) to keep us safe from nuclear attack. That national security policy says that full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would result in the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. We are living in an insane world.
Russia has 6,257 atomic weapons, The United States 5,550, China 350 and making more, France 290, Great Britain 225, Pakistan 165, India 156, Israel 90, and North Korea 50. 9 Attack without a formal declaration, attack without a formal declaration, an ultimatum or formal declaration war no longer matters. Neither do the Just War, the Unjust War and the Silly War categories. The attack will be without a warning. It will be more devastating than our wildest mind can imagine.
What does history teach us: in 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by one anarchist started World War? His murder cascaded into a world war that lasted until 1918. During the four-year conflict, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead. We humans had not invented radiological weapons when WW I was fought. If they were, would the combatants have used them? We have used atomic weapons in WWII. History teaches that what has happened once will happen again. One evil or one crazy person, can under the right circumstances, wipe humankind off the face of the earth. Such people exist.
I was a soldier once. My baptism of fire was that of an infantry machine gunner in Vietnam. Many of our engagements were at close quarters. Though it has been sixty years, war’s horrors still vex me. I relive them nightly. Things are not all right. Wars kill, maim, destroy, and scar minds. If there was ever a time when the world needed Christ, it is now. I ask you to get on your knees and beg God to help you spread the Word. It is not a time for loafers. It is a time to preach boldly. It is a time to go into the mission field to help the poor and forgotten. This time calls for us to be as selfless as the Apostles, willing to die rather than shut up. Are you willing?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, “1 For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted; 3 a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; 5 a time to throw away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing; 6 a time to seek and a time to lose; a time to keep and a time to throw away; 7 a time to tear and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak; 8 a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.”
1 Seth Lazar; Helen Frowe, eds. (2018). The Oxford Handbook of Ethics of War. Oxford University Press.
2 Robert L. Holmes (September 2001). "A Time for War?". ChristianityToday.com.
3 Aquinas, Thomas. Summa Theologica. Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
4 Michael Walzer (1977). Just and Unjust Wars. Basic Books.
5 Walter Dorn Canadian Forces College, David R. Mandel DRDC and York University, Ryan W. Cross The University of British Columbia (2014). How Just Were American Wars? A Survey of Experts Using Just War Index.
6 Artucle byTaylor C. Noakes, The Pig War, The Canadian Encyclopedia, Published Online August 6, 2021
7 Taken from a West Virginia travel brochure with no biography.
8 GFP/Annual Rankings of Military Strength, 2025, Online.
9.Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at A Glance-Arms Control, 2024 World Population Review, Online.
