The flip side of the coin is I don't know and so am putting questions like this in the column of, "danged if I know."
{{{{{{{Jerry}}}}}}
On Dec 30, 2011, at 6:31 AM, David Peterson
Don
Am in Hawaii with family. Ha e some thoughts. If I have time later on will share them.
Happy New Year
Dave
Sent from my iPad
On Dec 28, 2011, at 4:08 PM, "Lamar Hunt"
Some good words for the young man, Don, and I can’t add much more.
As to the question of God “telling” Joshua, et al, to annihilate everyone, even the babies. That is something that troubles me, always has. The concept of total annihilation does violence to the concept a good God, good to/for whom? Babies too? I got some help from a VERY liberal friend who had done seminary, but gave up on ministry as a vocation, and rightfully so, in my opinion. His thought was that when God gave the land to Israel He just gave it to them. They responded in their mind sets and realized the promise according to the way things were done in that time. I don’t expect that this response will win any awards, but if one really wants to deal with the nature of God he/she must deal with Joshua.
I am not suggesting that this should be part of your response to the young man, much too far out for where he is now, but if he should ask, this is my thought on the subject.
I applaud your taking the time to deal carefully with this young man. He is truly blessed to have you responding to his questions.
Blessings. Lamar
From: dbreland@st-joseph.org [mailto:dbreland@st-joseph.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 4:39 PM
Subject: FW: Military Service
10 Chaps:
A young man who is about to graduate from Texas A&M contacted me and said that he felt that God was leading him into the Marines. However, he has some concerns that he would be violating the Scriptural prohibition of taking human life. He was about to go into a meeting where he was going to be asked to make some preliminary decisions about receiving a commission. He asked me to give him a “quick and dirty” layout of some of the issues involved. So, off of the top of my head, I sent him the message below.
He is going to want to discuss this more in depth, and I would like to have your wisdom to share with him. Anything that you can add will be appreciated. And, if you are interested, I would be glad to pull together all of the comments that I receive and send the whole package back out to each of you.
Don
Chaplain Don C. Breland
Coordinator of Spiritual Care
ACPE Supervisor
St. Joseph Regional Health Center
Bryan, TX 77802
(979) 776-3988
FAX (979) 776-5939
dbreland@st-joseph.org
From: Don Breland
Sent: Monday, December 26, 2011 2:10 PM
To: 'Storm Reichard'
Subject: RE: Military Service
Storm:
I am really pleased that you want to struggle through your concern over obeying vs. disobeying Scripture around the issue of military combat. I encountered many young men over the years who had not settled this for themselves before coming into the military. Then, in basic training, they were trained to accurately hit human-shaped targets with their bullets. It was then that many realized that some day they may be put in the position to shoot at real humans. This caused a crisis of conscience within many of them.
Whether a person is a Christian or not, the prohibition against murder is part of our value system and our laws. There would hopefully, then, be an inbred reluctance in all of us to take a human life. But for the Christian, there is an additional concern about following God’s will and purposes for us. All of this adds up to a major issue for the Christian in the military.
For example, in one instance in Vietnam, the Cav troop that I was with was ambushed. I was on a personnel carrier that had three machine guns mounted on top. I was sitting next to the gunner of one of the machine guns. A VC soldier suddenly popped up and began to spray us with an automatic weapon. The gunner next to me instinctively swung his machine gun in the direction of the VC and began to fire. He immediately hit the VC, and the VC crumpled to the ground. My attention was then pulled toward some other action that was taking place. When I looked back at the gunner next to me, he seemed to be in a daze and was not firing. I thought that maybe he had been hit and questioned him. He didn’t answer immediately, but finally said, “I just killed a man.” Obviously, he had not prepared mind and soul for that moment.
Stories like this one cause many Christians to wonder if they should be part of the military. My strong answer to that question is, “Yes, if God calls you into the military, then that is where you need to be.” I base that response on the following factors:
First it is important to be clear about the nature of God. He is not a god of confusion. He does not prohibit something, and then turn around and instruct people to do the prohibited thing. This truth is important to take with us as we examine the subject of the taking human life as presented in Scripture.
The Scriptures do differentiate between murder (the Ten Commandments for example) and killing under certain circumstances. Those instances where murder is the focus tend to be in the relationships between individuals. Killing has to do more with corporate situations, done under the command or authority of others, including God. [We can go deeper into a Scriptural study on this if you like]. Note for example, all of the times that God directed Israel into battle, even into battle where He instructed the complete annihilation of the enemy. So, there must be differentiation in the mind of God about how and under what circumstances human life is taken.
In spite of the seeming conflicts in Scripture about taking life, God does call people to serve in the military. He would not put a complete ban on the taking of a human life, and yet call people into the military.
Next, the military can be part of the “sword” that God authorizes rulers to exercise in order to maintain peace and stability among their people. (Romans 13)
Finally (for this list at least) I believe that God calls persons into the military for at least the following reasons:
To live out the great Commandment as a life testimony in the presence of the whole military community
To pursue the great Commission, seeking to make disciples among military people
To influence the “conscience” and morality of the military community.
In my case, I am totally convinced that God called me into the military and very clearly had a purpose for my being there. I praise Him for His oversight of that process, and cannot imagine a ministry that I would have enjoyed more.
Any of this is open to discussion. Please let me know where I can help.
Don
Chaplain Don C. Breland
Coordinator of Spiritual Care
ACPE Supervisor
St. Joseph Regional Health Center
Bryan, TX 77802
(979) 776-3988
FAX (979) 776-5939
dbreland@st-joseph.org
From: Storm Reichard [mailto:stormkreichard@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 4:32 PM
To: Don Breland
Subject: Re: Military Service
Mr. Breland:
I am planning to join the Marine Corps, and I'm worried about what the Bible says about killing. I've been told by several people that the Commandment in question is actually more accurately translated as "Thou shall not murder", meaning premeditated killing in cold blood, so I was wondering if this was just them trying to further their own philosophy using the Bible, or if that was actually the case.
I was also reading Matthew 5:39 and it states not to resist an evil person, so does that mean that killing is never justified, even when your life or someone else's life is in danger, or am I misunderstanding what Matthew was trying to say.
I still want to join the Marine Corps, but I'm afraid of disobeying Scripture and, therefore, God.
I really do appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Storm
Dialoging via email is OK with me. If you could begin by laying out your concerns, then I will respond.
I understand that you are considering a stint in the military. I spent 27 years as an Army Chaplain, and found it to be a very rewarding and fulfilling experience. It certainly has its challenges, and the issue of taking another human being’s life in combat is certainly one of them. All of us who were reared in the Judeo-Christian value system have been taught to reverence human life, and to place ourselves in a situation where we may have to kill someone can create grave doubts.
So, if you will open the discussion, we will go from there.
1 comment:
My dad (Glenn McGaw) is looking for any current information about Chaplain Don C Breland. Does he have a blog, facebook or anyway to communicate with him. My dad met him when he served in the army years ago
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