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Stupid Doog said:
I'm still waiting for the scripture that Jesus talks about taking up arms to defend your nation.

I know you're not going to find it because it's not there, but I'm waiting for you to admit it.




Y'know, it really bugs me that you addressed me in such a confrontational way.

And even if I am wrong (although I don't think I am), I think it's clear that I'm talking here from my best memory of scripture as I recall it.
I fail to understand your eagerness to see me proven wrong, and attempt to rub it in may face.


Here is the initial exchange I had with Klinton, recalling the first two times I mentioned the verse:

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Wonder Boy said:
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klinton said:

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Wonder Boy said:
But Jesus also allowed for those who serve in the military to defend their homeland, their homes and their families.




Did he really? Are you sure of that? What did he have to say on the issue of Roman control of Israel?




I can't recall the precise verse, but there is a verse in the New Testament that allows for service in war for one's country.



Again, it's quite clear I was recalling the verse from memory, and I've been very specific about so much, but it's hard to recall everything with complete accuracy.
About a year ago I made comments about the movie The Passion, a South Park episode parodying it, and the contrast of actual scripture and true Christian beleifs. I made some minor factual errors, corrected them, and acknowledged the error.

topic HERE

Regarding this current topic, I spent several hours today looking for the verse that I remember, and the closest I could find is ROMANS 13, verses 1-7. I recall others that I can't find.





I agree that Jesus, in all specific quotes I could find in the four Gospels, urges love, avoiding violence, and turning the other cheek.
But that doesn't mean that the Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, (i.e., "God-breathed" scripture, written under the direct inspiration of God) doesn't instruct that there are times where war is appropriate action, or military service toward that end, either in active war, or as a deterrant to war.

From a related article to one of my above previous links:

    http://www.gotquestions.org/war.html#warwrong


    Question: "I think all war is wrong!  Jesus told us to love each other, not kill each other!"

    Answer: ...I do not think your view of war is Biblical. 
    In the Old Testament, God ordered the Israelites to: "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites (Num 31:2). 

    See also Deuteronomy 20:16-17,
    "However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you."
     
    Exodus 17:16 proclaims,
    "He said, "For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation." 

    Also, 1 Samuel 15:18,
    "Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out." 

    So, obviously God is not against all war.  Jesus is always in perfect agreement with the Father (John 10:30), so we cannot argue that war was only God's will in the Old Testament.  God does not change (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17).



    ... It is an error to say that God never supports a war.  In a world filled with evil people, sometimes a war is necessary to prevent even greater evil. 
    If Hitler had not been defeated by World War II, how many more millions of Jews would have been killed? 
    If the Civil War had not been fought, how much longer would African Americans have had to suffer as slaves? 
    We must all remember to base our beliefs on the Bible, not on our emotions (2Tim 3:16-17).

     




    Question:  "What should our response to the war be?"

    Answer:  Ecclesiastes 3:8 declares, "there is a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." 

    In a world filled with sin, hatred, and evil (Romans 3:10-18), war is inevitable. 
    Some wars are more "just" than others, but all wars are ultimately the result of sin. 

    Christians should not desire war, but neither are Christians to oppose the government God has placed in authority over them (Romans 13:1-4; 1Peter 2:17). 

    The most important thing we can be doing in a time of war is to be praying for godly wisdom for our leaders, praying for the safety of our military, praying for quick resolution to the conflict, and praying for minimum casualties on both sides of the conflict (Philippians 4:6-7).





One last thing:

The verses that you listed as "just thrown in" because they mention soldiers.
As the article you quoted them from makes clear, those verses are listed because they show consistently that soldiers are portrayed (in both Old and New Testaments) honorably working in a noble profession as soldiers, honorably upholding law, and preserving order, in the profession God has allowed them to pursue. And whether Christian beleivers or not, upholding God's design of justice and order.

In the specific verses from Acts that you list as the greatest waste of time, Roman soldiers who don't necessarily like or agree with the apostle Paul, nonetheless listen to reports of an assassination attempt on Paul's life, and act to protect Paul and save his life.




Also, as described with crystal clarity in the same linked verses you deconstructed, several soldiers in the Bible are described favorably in scripture.
If Jesus and his disciples saw being a soldier as anti-Christian or contrary to Christian teachings, these soldiers would not be described as favorably in the Old and New Testament, and exalted ( in Matthew 8, exalted by Jesus himself) as faithful servants of God.

There does seem to be a dichotomy Biblically of :
(1) manifesting and spreading peace/"love one another",
and
(2) with other parts of scripture, more subtlely in the New Testament, where soldiers and war are also conducted in the service of God.

In particular, the battle of Armageddon in Revelation describes Jesus leading the armies of God in The Final Battle.