honor

My family has a bit of military history. My father was in the military, as was my brother, as is one of my brothers-in-law. When I was in college, I attempted to join the ROTC, though I was not accepted.

Without shame, I have much respect and honor for those who serve honorably in our military. And none at all for those who seek to spread lies and defamations about them.

I grant the possibility of a person being a thoughtful and principled pacifist, but I've met few if any of them. My own view of most of those I've had any kind of contact with is that, they are the kinds of people who will gladly take the freedoms (freedoms of speech, assembly, the press, and so on) won for them by the sacrifices of warriors who fought to gain them, and use them to criticize and castigate the ones who have and are now defending those rights for them.

Someone else wrote a very good piece about Christians and the military. The writer, one Kevin DeYoung, says very well things that I think, too.

Why Memorial Day is Worth Remembering

1. Being a soldier is not a sub-Christian activity. In Luke 3, John the Baptist warns the people to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. The crowds respond favorably to his message and ask him, “What then shall we do?” John tells the rich man to share his tunics, the tax collectors to collect only what belongs to them, and the soldiers to stop their extortion. If ever there was a time to tell the soldiers that true repentance meant resigning from the army, surely this was the time. And yet, John does not tell them that they must give up soldier-work to bear fruit, only that they need to be honest soldiers. The Centurion is even held up by Jesus as the best example of faith he’s seen in Israel (Luke 7:9). Military service, when executed with integrity and in the Spirit of God, is a suitable vocation for the people of God.

5. This may be controversial to some, but I believe the facts of history will demonstrate that on the whole, the United States military has been a force for good in the world. Obviously, as a military power, we have blundered at times, both individually and corporately. But on the whole, the men and women of our armed services have fought and are fighting for causes that promote freedom, defend the rights of human beings, and reject tyranny. War is still hell and a tragic result of the fall. Praise God for his promise to one day end all human conflict. But in a world where people are evil by nature and leaders are not always reasonable and countries do not always have good intentions, war is sometimes the way to peace–at least the best peace we can hope for between peoples and nations this side of heaven.

There is more to it, and I hope you will read it. It is worth reading.

(oh, and you emergents (yes i know you're out there), maybe just maybe, in a faint whisper so none of your leftie pacifists friends can hear you (because we all know how ugly those peace-loving types get when you don't agree with them), maybe you'll want to show at least enough integrity to whisper a "thank you" to the soldiers who gave you the freedom to blog against them and what they do, ok? thanks)