Of Wars, Muffins, and Bre Not Making a Lick of Sense (AGAIN!) -- Breanna Poole
Of Wars, Muffins, and Bre Not Making a Lick of Sense (AGAIN!)
by Breanna Poole
I'm gonna be honest y'all, this particular reading was not one I had the best time understanding. Some parts of this text despite re-readings I simply just can't get a grasp of what the text is supposed to be saying -- I understand the basic premise, but the nuances of what Aquinas is trying to get me to understand.
But, as I sit here enjoying my glorious chocolate chip muffin, I have come across something that I actually have a quite bit of thoughts about. One of the topics brought up is if it is ethical for Christian's to wage war, which is something I've held strong, albeit uncertain, opinions about even before I came to know Christ.
War has always seemed....strange to me. War between two countries has always been something I have never truly been able to understand. The majority of the time, most problems with other countries seem to come from their respective leaders disagreeing rather than the people having problems with each other. And yet they fight, because that is the war their people have declared.
In his reply to Objection 4, I found exactly what it is I think is something I can agree with. Aquinas basically tells us that the war must be justified, that a Christian can not wage war just "because".Christians can't just declare war to slaughter people they don't like, which is something that I think can go back to simple basic tenants of Christianity: forgiveness, and not taking the name of God in vein.
As Christians, we are called to forgive those that have wronged us -- and by declaring war on undeserving people unprovoked is not forgiving those that might have wronged us in the past. Also declaring undeserved war in the name of God can be construed as taking the name of God in vein, because if it He does not want the war, you representing Him and His word in a way not intended as well as possible being blasphemous because you are putting words in God's mouth.
This blog post probably makes no sense (mine never do though, let's be real), but I just find the idea of Christian warfare to be an interesting one to discuss.
P.S. I commented on Owen/Osten and Abbigayle's posts.
by Breanna Poole
I'm gonna be honest y'all, this particular reading was not one I had the best time understanding. Some parts of this text despite re-readings I simply just can't get a grasp of what the text is supposed to be saying -- I understand the basic premise, but the nuances of what Aquinas is trying to get me to understand.
But, as I sit here enjoying my glorious chocolate chip muffin, I have come across something that I actually have a quite bit of thoughts about. One of the topics brought up is if it is ethical for Christian's to wage war, which is something I've held strong, albeit uncertain, opinions about even before I came to know Christ.
War has always seemed....strange to me. War between two countries has always been something I have never truly been able to understand. The majority of the time, most problems with other countries seem to come from their respective leaders disagreeing rather than the people having problems with each other. And yet they fight, because that is the war their people have declared.
In his reply to Objection 4, I found exactly what it is I think is something I can agree with. Aquinas basically tells us that the war must be justified, that a Christian can not wage war just "because".Christians can't just declare war to slaughter people they don't like, which is something that I think can go back to simple basic tenants of Christianity: forgiveness, and not taking the name of God in vein.
As Christians, we are called to forgive those that have wronged us -- and by declaring war on undeserving people unprovoked is not forgiving those that might have wronged us in the past. Also declaring undeserved war in the name of God can be construed as taking the name of God in vein, because if it He does not want the war, you representing Him and His word in a way not intended as well as possible being blasphemous because you are putting words in God's mouth.
This blog post probably makes no sense (mine never do though, let's be real), but I just find the idea of Christian warfare to be an interesting one to discuss.
P.S. I commented on Owen/Osten and Abbigayle's posts.
I find your point interesting, that we as Christians have a tied connection between that of waging war and forgiving people. That entire section of the document really reminded me of the Crusades where we had Christians "fight for God" who were really just fighting for themselves. I think that we can all agree with St. Aquinas's point that if war is going to be waged, there must be a very good and justified reason.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, Aquinas' points on war are something I believe to be very valid. Now here we are in the twenty-first century and we are at war with people who threaten us and have wronged us, but is this what we should be doing? A lot of Christians commend the war and the brave soldiers, and while yes in scripture God has told us before to kill people who tells us to kill. Are we following the same principles today? This is a very interesting question we should ask ourselves.
ReplyDeleteZane Duke