Christians, War, and Hypocrisy (+)

Contrary to what some think a Christian supporting a war against evil is not hypocritical.

But Jesus said to "turn the other cheek" is often thrust at me. I say this: read Matthew 5:39

But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
- World English Bible

The key here is right cheek. Stand face to face with a friend and pretend to strike your friend’s RIGHT cheek using your RIGHT hand. You have to do a backhanded slap. This is not an assault but an insult. I believe Jesus is saying if someone insults you to turn the other cheek to an insult. It does not mean to stand there and be pummeled without defending yourself. The old adage "sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me" comes to mind. Jesus is saying to ignore words meant to hurt us.

In Matthew 24:43 and Luke 12:39 Jesus acknowledges the head of a house will stop a thief from breaking into the home if he knows it is happening. Perhaps a stretch on my part but I believe this means you defend yourself. In Luke 22:36 Jesus warns the disciples if they do not have a sword to buy one. Once again the implication is to defend yourself from bodily harm.

America was attacked by people sworn to destroy us. We defend ourselves or perish. It really is black and white. France chose appeasement and now the Islamic Fascist are threatening to kill Frenchmen unless France repeals the headscarf law.

Britain stood up to Nazism too late to stop the millions of deaths under Hitler. America passively sat out that war until it was almost too late for everyone. We cannot afford to make the same mistake this time. Put it in perspective, if you have a house full of loved ones and a group of people intent on harming them is heading your way, would you want to fight them:

a) inside your home endangering your loved ones
b) as far away as possible from your loved ones

Logic says to keep the loved ones as far from harm as possible. Some argue we have only made ourselves a target by going to war. HELLO!!! What do you think the WTC and the Pentagon were? What was the USS Cole? What were the embassies in Africa? The list of American targets goes on and on. I believe the success of the 9/11 attacks made America a much larger target than defending ourselves in Afghanistan and Iraq. Watch the video from around the world on 9/11. See the people dancing in the street and rejoicing at the death and destruction in America. How many were inspired by these evil acts? How many of our enemies are rejoicing now? Do they hate us any less today? I don't think so but they certainly have more respect for us today than in 2001.

We will fight, we will be strong
Together we're marching on
United, we move as one
Our finest hour has just begun
- from the song Our Finest Hour performed by Philmore, words by J. Greiman (c) 1998