War And Bloodshed - Our Current Situation

[zshallr]

WAR AND BLOODSHED - OUR CURRENT SITUATION

This is an attempt to write down my thoughts on murder, war and killing in general. I’ve heard viewpoints from people of all different backgrounds and religions. Just about every person you talk to has a different take on it. I have tried to make sense of this from a scriptural and prayerful perspective because without God’s insight we are blind. In such an area where people are being killed on a daily basis like the Iraq war I think it shows an even greater necessity to seek his counsel in such things. Though there are many more citations I could provide I’ll start with a few from the scriptures and the prophet Joseph Smith to set the stage and serious nature of what we are discussing.

For the Lord worketh not in secret combinations, neither doth he will that man should shed blood, but in all things hath forbidden it, from the beginning of man. (Ether 8:19) Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, and it is also written before you, that thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment of God; (3 Nephi 12:21) And now, behold, I speak unto the church. Thou shalt not kill; and he that kills shall not have forgiveness in this world, nor in the world to come. And again, I say, thou shalt not kill; but he that killeth shall die. (D&C 42:18-19) Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13)

The unpardonable sin is to shed innocent blood, or be accessory thereto. All other sins will be visited with judgment in the flesh, and the spirit being delivered to the buffetings of Satan until the day of the Lord Jesus. (Joseph Smith History of the Church 5:391-92) Remission of sins by baptism was not to be preached to murderers. All the priests of Christendom might pray for a murderer on the scaffold forever, but could not avail so much as a gnat towards their forgiveness. There is no forgiveness for murderers; they will have to wait until the times of redemption shall come, and that in hell. (Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith 221)

In my discussions with others they say “I know but………” and the game of rationalization begins. You hear things like “they attacked us first” or “we have a right to defend our God, religion, land, country, wives and children even to the shedding of blood if necessary”. The famous title of liberty by Captain Moroni or George Bush’s reasoning, right? I’ll try to address these two later but for now I’m just trying to understand what the Lord has spoken regarding war and the shedding of blood.

How many people in this world have killed or murdered Heavenly Fathers children? The number would quickly escape us were we to keep count. He is the most forgiving person we could ever know and he operates on certain rules. Here’s one that applies to our topic at hand.

23 Now, I speak unto you concerning your families—if men will smite you, or your families, once, and ye bear it patiently and revile not against them, neither seek revenge, ye shall be rewarded; 24 But if ye bear it not patiently, it shall be accounted unto you as being meted out as a just measure unto you. 25 And again, if your enemy shall smite you the second time, and you revile not against your enemy, and bear it patiently, your reward shall be an hundred fold. 26 And again, if he shall smite you the third time, and ye bear it patiently, your reward shall be doubled unto you four-fold; 27 And these three testimonies shall stand against your enemy if he repent not, and shall not be blotted out. 28 And now, verily I say unto you, if that enemy shall escape my vengeance, that he be not brought into judgment before me, then ye shall see to it that ye warn him in my name, that he come no more upon you, neither upon your family, even your children's children unto the third and fourth generation. 29 And then, if he shall come upon you or your children, or your children's children unto the third and fourth generation, I have delivered thine enemy into thine hands; 30 And then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness; and also thy children and thy children's children unto the third and fourth generation. 31 Nevertheless, thine enemy is in thine hands; and if thou rewardest him according to his works thou art justified; if he has sought thy life, and thy life is endangered by him, thine enemy is in thine hands and thou art justified. 32 Behold, this is the law I gave unto my servant Nephi, and thy fathers, Joseph, and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, and all mine ancient prophets and apostles. 33 And again, this is the law that I gave unto mine ancients, that they should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue, or people, save I, the Lord, commanded them. 34 And if any nation, tongue, or people should proclaim war against them, they should first lift a standard of peace unto that people, nation, or tongue; 35 And if that people did not accept the offering of peace, neither the second nor the third time, they should bring these testimonies before the Lord; 36 Then I, the Lord, would give unto them a commandment, and justify them in going out to battle against that nation, tongue, or people. 37 And I, the Lord, would fight their battles, and their children's battles, and their children's children's, until they had avenged themselves on all their enemies, to the third and fourth generation. 38 Behold, this is an ensample unto all people, saith the Lord your God, for justification before me. 39 And again, verily I say unto you, if after thine enemy has come upon thee the first time, he repent and come unto thee praying thy forgiveness, thou shalt forgive him, and shalt hold it no more as a testimony against thine enemy— 40 And so on unto the second and third time; and as oft as thine enemy repenteth of the trespass wherewith he has trespassed against thee, thou shalt forgive him, until seventy times seven. 41 And if he trespass against thee and repent not the first time, nevertheless thou shalt forgive him. 42 And if he trespass against thee the second time, and repent not, nevertheless thou shalt forgive him. 43 And if he trespass against thee the third time, and repent not, thou shalt also forgive him. 44 But if he trespass against thee the fourth time thou shalt not forgive him, but shalt bring these testimonies before the Lord; and they shall not be blotted out until he repent and reward thee four-fold in all things wherewith he has trespassed against thee. 45 And if he do this, thou shalt forgive him with all thine heart; and if he do not this, I, the Lord, will avenge thee of thine enemy an hundred-fold; 46 And upon his children, and upon his children's children of all them that hate me, unto the third and fourth generation. 47 But if the children shall repent, or the children's children, and turn to the Lord their God, with all their hearts and with all their might, mind, and strength, and restore four-fold for all their trespasses wherewith they have trespassed, or wherewith their fathers have trespassed, or their fathers' fathers, then thine indignation shall be turned away; 48 And vengeance shall no more come upon them, saith the Lord thy God, and their trespasses shall never be brought any more as a testimony before the Lord against them. Amen.

Considering how many of Gods children have been murdered and killed it’s amazing to me how forgiving he is and how precisely he follows his own rules outlined above. Did you notice how much it actually takes before you are justified in “not forgiving”. Now most readers would say “okay it’s the fourth offense where the offender has not repented so we are justified in dropping our nukes and rounding up the tank squadron”. WRONG! Even on the fourth offense what is OUR action item? To take these offenses BEFORE THE LORD and if that person or people still don’t repent then THE LORD (not us) will avenge the wrongs or in other words HE will fight our battles. This reminds me of the manner in which the Israelites were delivered from Egypt and many other examples I will illustrate below. Even after so many offenses against us bloodshed is still not justified in Gods book.

Remember the Zormaites? There was a split in this particular group and the poorer class among them became faithful followers of Christ after realizing their sins of murder. They laid down their weapons of war and entered a covenant with God never to commit murder again. Even in later wars they allowed themselves to be slaughtered by attacking armies rather than commit murder and bloodshed. As these Zormaites were allowing themselves to be slaughtered on the battlefield what happened?

23 Now when the Lamanites saw that their brethren would not flee from the sword, neither would they turn aside to the right hand or to the left, but that they would lie down and perish, and praised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword— 24 Now when the Lamanites saw this they did forbear from slaying them; and there were many whose hearts had swollen in them for those of their brethren who had fallen under the sword, for they repented of the things which they had done. 25 And it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war, and they would not take them again, for they were stung for the murders which they had committed; and they came down even as their brethren, relying upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them. 26 And it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved. 27 And there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people. (Alma 24:23-27)

It’s so amazing to me to see Gods law in action. Had both sides fought to the death there would have been far more bloodshed and no conversions to God in the process. Rather, more would have died and there would have been more people committing murder. Murder is playing with fire that could damn your eternal soul. This response by the Zoramites resulted in less killing and more people turning to God. We are assured that those who died were received unto God (Alma 24:26).

And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things. (Alma 24:30)

This story of the Zoramites reminds me of a conversation I had with my brother in law. We were talking about things that may come upon this nation such as foreign armies attacking etc. We were speaking hypothetically about our families being in jeopardy, children being killed or our wives being ravished. We both said we’d probably defend our wives and children even to bloodshed BUT we also agreed it would probably help us better on the other side if we did not kill such attackers and let God himself judge them. After all, this is what plays out for God on a daily basis when his children are being killed upon this earth. Does God come out of the heavens and rush the attacker with knives or guns on the spot? No! He deals mercifully and with justice on the other side. This is our blueprint.

Going on, as we know the stints of righteousness in the Book of Mormon are short. Not many years later the people are in a grave state of wickedness. Alma gets his best team of missionaries together to preach the word among the wicked and blood thirsty people. Again the example is given between bloodshed and the word of God.

And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. (Alma 31:5)

Well the people didn’t listen and they got their 14 year war just like they wanted. This was perhaps the greatest of all in the Book of Mormon next to the Jaredites. After this extremely long and bloody war what happens? You get more awesome missionaries (Nephi and Lehi) who preach the word of God, repentance (Hel 5:11), the rock of Christ (Hel 5:12), with power (Hel 5:17-19). Even when imprisoned they were untouchable and remembered of the Lord (Hel 5:21-50). More importantly they had mighty power in converting many souls. Hearts were changed, conversions occurred, forgiveness was granted, voices and ministering angels from heaven were received and more importantly something else that Captain Moroni or any other military operation failed at accomplishing.

51 And as many as were convinced did lay down their weapons of war, and also their hatred and the tradition of their fathers. 52 And it came to pass that they did yield up unto the Nephites the lands of their possession. (Hel 5:51-52)

In the church we seem to admire and hold Captain Moroni on a pedestals and site many of the same title of liberties for going to war but we seldom mention the principles taught above. Captain Moroni’s creed was to defend the homeland (Alma 46:12), democracy (Hel 5:2), rights and privileges of your country and above all God and your families. Hitler called Germany the “motherland” and today we call it “homeland”. Hitler was a very religious man as is President Bush. I find these creeds extremely at odds with scripture when couched in the most serious crime of all. The shedding of blood! Much of these teachings are Captian Moroni’s or Mormon who is compiling the plates. Mormon was also a man of war set in the same picture of war and bloodshed as Captain Moroni. Perhaps Mormon’s role model or hero was Captain Moroni and maybe he named his son after him. Mormon lost his life in wars after disobeying a command from God to no longer help the armies of the Nephites (compare Mormon 3:16 and Mormon 5:1). Mormon’s son, Moroni who was also a military man lived out his days a lonely wanderer after all his kinsfolk had been killed. Though they were all good men doing the best they could in the circumstances they had placed before them I view Captain Moroni, Mormon and Moroni son of Mormon failures in their cause of warfare. Not hero’s as is generally taught and accepted in the church. They accomplished far less than the humble Zoramites, Alma and his team of missionaries or Lehi and Nephi. War is never as fruitful in the end and it sends more souls to the other side in grave danger of having committed murder which is potentially unforgivable without suffering blood atonement for one’s own actions when unrepentant (D&C 19:15-19; Alma 34:16; Luke 13:36).

To bring this home I would like to insert and excerpt from a book called “May God Bless America: George W. Bush and Biblical Morality” by Joseph J Martos.

George W. Bush is a religious man. A Newsweek cover story in March 2003 described his religious upbringing, recounted his spiritual conversion, and explained how his faith has guided what he says and does as president of the United States. A more recent book describes his spiritual growth and religious faith in greater detail. There is little doubt that he is sincere.

Yet sincerity is not enough. A person can be sincere and also misguided. A person can be trying to do the right thing and yet be mistaken. A clear conscience is no guarantee of correctness.

The history of Christianity is filled with people who thought they were right at the time. The early centuries are replete with individuals and groups whose sincere beliefs about God and Jesus were eventually judged to be heretical. In the Middle Ages, Christian nobles and knights were convinced that God wanted them to rescue the Holy Land even if they had to kill thousands of Moslems to do it. During the decades following the Reformation, Protestants and Catholics waged war on one another in the name of true religion. For over two hundred years, Christians in the American South believed that slavery was justified by the Bible.

It is always easier to see the mistakes of the past than those of the present. Long after the events, it is not difficult to compare the beliefs and actions of Christians with the teachings and behavior of Christ, whom they claimed to follow. It is much more difficult to do this in our own time and in our own lives. We tend to think that if something feels right, then it is right. We also tend to think that society's approval is a sign of God's approval. Both liberals and conservatives are guilty of this kind of thinking. Nor is this kind of thinking limited to Christians. Everybody does it.

President Bush is no exception. He works hard to understand what America needs, and he tries sincerely to meet those needs. He devotes time to studying international issues, and he uses his best judgment to address those issues. But there is little evidence that the president or his advisors consult the Bible when formulating national and foreign policy. There is little to suggest that before making a decision they ask, "What would Jesus do?"

Of all people upon the earth why are latter day saints so divided on such a serious matter? Same question with Bible believing Christians? The Book of Mormon is for our time as President Benson quipped. Do we understand it?

[CrimsonKairos]

Hitler was an atheist at his core. Like Saddam, he used the religion of those around him to manipulate others into following him into lunacy.

The meek may inherit the earth, but they don't win wars.

Murder is killing someone in anger and without provocation or for personal gain only.

Serving your country in times of war is not murder. You're kidding me, right?

So you go by the three strike rule eh? Suffer three attacks before you're justified in striking your enemy? Let me lay it out for you.

1993 - WTC Bombing by terrorists

2000 - U.S.S. Cole Bombing by terrorists

2001 - WTC Kamikaze attack by terrorists

There are more I can list like overseas strikes on our foreign embassies, but history shows we have been more than patient with terrorists and tyrants. We've turned the cheek more than three times. Now it's time to let fall the sword of America's might on all who oppose our great land, people and allies.

Choose ye this day whom ye will serve, whether the anti-American forces at home and abroad, or the shining land of America. As for me and my house, we will serve America. B)

[Dr T]

As for me and my house, we will serve America.

BLASPHEMER!!! (Psst, it's "the Lord" CK-the Lord) :)

[CrimsonKairos]

Actually, it's likening the scriptures Dr. T. B)

[Dr T]

"likening the scriptures" to what?

[CrimsonKairos]

Likening Joshua's words to our day and age.

The common denominator shared by Joshua and us today is that we face a time of national transition. Either we choose one thing, or we choose another. No fence-straddlers, please.