This should be interesting...

So I decided last week to enter a group project addressing the social problem of war, militarism, and terrorism, mainly because I'm hoping to enter the Navy Chaplain Corps and it's important to me to be able to address this issue from a biblical perspective. I know I'll be approached by many sailors and marines facing hellish situations not only with questions of theodicy, but what my personal take on war is.

I'm not a war-monger, and although some chaplains may be offering unwavering and/or unquestioning support to the military institution and the government, I do not. I do have a brain, a conscience, and a spiritual home that is elsewhere, and my ultimate alliances are not to the US Government, but to God.

Yet I did make an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and oaths are not something I take lightly. I do my part by serving and ministering to the men and women sacrificing their lives in duty to their country. On paper, I'm serving the Department of the Navy. In real life, I just want to make sure Pfc. Ozzimo makes it home from Iraq alive, both physically and spiritually.

And I can appreciate both sides. I'm not a strict pacifist. I don't believe it would have been right for us to stand by and watch injustice unfold before our eyes in WW2 or to witness the carnage and slaughter of people in Somalia as warlords purposely starve their enemies. We're called to defend the cause of the orphan and the oppressed, and surely this can't just mean in words or policy?

Yet I also cannot deny that Christ's teaching always points to love and not to fighting or war. People who try to justify war are really stretching Scripture much more so than pacificist who use Scripture to defend their views, in my opinion. They use examples that rely on human reason, natural human reactions (e.g. would we stand aside if someone was attacking our family?), and not as much on Scripture, simply because, in my opinion, there isn't as much ammunition there for their argument.

And if all I'm here to do is to be a voice that challenges both sides, great. I'll take the crap from everyone if that brings helps us all expand our minds and humbly approach the issue looking for something we can learn and a new insight that the Spirit will reveal to us.

This is going to be interesting, and fun, I hope.