Is it lawful to lay ambushes in war?
I think it is very interesting to look at war in this way. I have often wondered growing up how biblical war is. Obviously war is a major theme in the Bible and rules of war are often presented to those involved, but the deceptive side of war has always seemed a little foggy to me. The first objection clearly states that the deceptive nature in ambushing in war goes against Biblical teaching. I was often taught that essentially all bets were off when it came to war. Murder wasn't murder because it was the point of war. People weren't people because they were soldiers for the war effort. It is very interesting to read this idea of unbiblical war tactics and know that they are clearly not biblical. My question to all of you is where, if we do at all, do we draw the line? When is murder, murder? When is deception allowed, if it is? Were any of you raised to believe this way about war or were my parents just mean?
P.S. I commented on Spencer and Hannah's blog posts :)
P.S. I commented on Spencer and Hannah's blog posts :)
I thought this was pretty interesting too. I have always been taught that war was not considered sinful because it was not considered murder. It also is throughout the bible as well. I think that the definition of murder has to be established before it is considered biblical or unbiblical.
ReplyDeleteI would say that war in the defense of your country, self, or someone else who is an innocent civilian is one thing. You can bet that if someone attacks my friends or family that I will stand and fight to keep them safe. That is where the fine line meets the other side. There is a very, very fine line here. If you charge into a war without having planned your moves out and gathering information about your opponent, you fail. If you simply use available information to plan an attack I do not think you can call that deception. Now if you call a truce then slaughter the enemy while it is in effect, I believe that would be the deception we seek to avoid. Google the Vietnam War Tet Cease-fire. Grade A example of deception.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really sure on war politics or biblical war ethics, but I do know that there are stories of, what I would see an ambush. Like with when the Israelites looked over the enemy camp with torches in clay jars. They all meet up on the mountain, and they broke the jars and then attacked. This to me seems like an ambush. Also, there is Joshua and Jerico which wasn't a secretive ambush but definitely was an ambush itself, and was decreed by God.
ReplyDeletespencer wood