Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1982

Ban The Bomb
John Opmeer

Can the human race avoid the 'rider on the red horse' without turning to the Prince of Peace?

As I write this, it will only be a few days before the United Nations' Conference on Nuclear Disarmament opens. A giant demonstration is planned in New York, at which half a million people, from all over the world, are expected. Throughout the Western world, peace marches are being organized. Ordinary citizens are fed up with government inaction and are putting pressure on their leaders to do something to halt the 'doomsday' race. What is the Christian position?

Mixed Feelings -

Let me begin by pointing out a dilemma in which many Christians feel somewhat caught. We are for peace - who isn't? We have no choice, as followers of Jesus, who said "Blessed are the peacemakers" and "Love your enemies". At the same time, most of us believe that national freedom is a cause worthy of defense, if need be by force. Moreover, the lesson of history is that weakness in the face of evil only encourages evil to be aggressive. We don't want to make peace with evil!

A few weeks ago I was forced to search my heart again with regard to this dilemma. I was planning to participate in a pro-life march in Vancouver. The week before that there would be a peace march, which in a way is also pro-life. In fact, some pro-life banners, such as "choose life, not death" could actually be used at both demonstrations. Why then did I finally choose not to participate in the peace march in Vancouver?

On one hand I want to raise my voice in favour of peace, and nuclear disarmament. The terror of nuclear holocaust is all too real. As a peacemaker I want to do all I can to stop the madness of global suicide. On the other hand, I cannot escape the conclusion that the peace movement - unless it becomes much more balanced - might end up being counterproductive! I had noticed last fall in Amsterdam, and in much of Western Europe, that the massive peace demonstrations, however noble, tended to be shallow and negative. Their strength was their protest. Their weakness was their lack of insight, their one-sidedness, and to some extent their violence! In spite of the fact that the churches played a large and constructive role in the mass gatherings, there still was a lot of hostility, unworthy of would-be peacemakers. The American President, Ronald Reagan, was all too often painted as the villain, and some of the criticism directed against him was malicious. It also became clear that the Kremlin actively encouraged the peace marches (although never allowing them on their own soil), because they have the effect of weakening the will of the West to stand up for human rights and basic freedoms.

As I watched the Vancouver peace march, I noticed the same confusion again. The feelings were genuine, the desire to get rid of such satanic weapons laudable. But the slogans were all too shallow. You can't talk about a remedy (for example, unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United States) unless you are willing to deal with the disease itself And the disease certainly is not nuclear weapons, but the desires of the human mind (James 4: 1). Does it make sense to protest against the whirlwind, when we ourselves sow the wind?

Just War or Pacifism? -

Perhaps this brings us closer to the Christian principles involved. I realize that it is easy to criticize the peace marches. But surely the Christian church ought to give leadership when a large part of mankind pleads for a stop to the madness of bigger and bigger bombs, the endless spiral toward doomsday. What does the church teach about the devilish machines for destruction that are poised to strike a thousand cities in the world? This is no time for pious platitudes. As a Roman Catholic bishop, Walter Sullivan, has declared, "The church's teaching on nuclear weapons is the best-kept secret in the world"!

Traditionally, there have been two Christian positions on the matter of war and peace: the ideal of pacifism, and the just war ideal.

Pacifism teaches that a Christian may only use nonviolent means to settle disputes. A Christian, therefore, may never bear arms. The early Christian church, a persecuted minority, mainly took this attitude. However, with the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine, in 312, the Christian church became responsible for leadership in the Roman Empire. Pacifism passed out of fashion soon. Within two years a church council ruled that "those who in war throw away their arms be excommunicated"!

The just war teaching holds that the government of a country has a divine right and a holy duty to preserve freedom and justice against attack from inside and outside. The understanding is that since we live in a fallen world, evil must be curbed. Basing himself on Romans 1 3, and John the Baptist's attitude to baptized soldiers, the church father Augustine worked out this teaching in such a way that most of the church has adopted it right up to the present time. Augustine developed a number of criteria to make sure that a war could be judged to be just or unjust. It must be a last resort. Its purpose must be restoration of peace and justice. The conduct must be just (civilians must be spared as much as possible). There must be a reasonable hope of accomplishing the object of the war. And finally, the war must be the lesser of two evils!

Can Nuclear War Be a Just War? -

If the last three criteria are applied consistently to all-out nuclear war, there is no way that such a war can ever be classified as a just war by the church. It would fail totally on the criteria of conduct, prospect of success and lesser evil. I believe therefore that the Christian church ought to teach clearly in this area, and just use emotional arguments, either for or against the use of nuclear weapons.

I believe that the church, if it wants to give leadership in the peace movement, must resist the temptation to use the arguments of pacifism. Many of the younger Christians think that they are pacifists. However, they may never have thought through what they are really saying. I used to be a pacifist myself. But I realize now that the pacifist, too, has to answer the various criteria of the just war teaching, particularly the last one, the "lesser evil". The pacifism of the thirties is largely responsible for the unopposed aggression of Hitler during the same period! The killing of Jews by Hitler was stopped by violent means - let us not forget the lessons of history! Or, to take another example, there are some pacifists in Israel today. But if all Jews in Israel took the pacifist position, the state of Israel would cease to exist within two weeks. A third example is that of the rising international terrorism. Peaceful nations have already been destroyed by unopposed terrorist action. The evil of killing terrorists has to be weighed against the other evil of people being killed by terrorists!

The Rider on the Red Horse -

We live in a fallen world. Even if the two superpowers can agree to do away with their whole nuclear arsenal, there still is no solution. Millions of human beings can be destroyed by non-nuclear weapons too! Moreover, terrorists can hardly be stopped from acquiring possession of nuclear weapons. Wars or even rumours of wars will always stay with us. And that's exactly what Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24:6. God indeed promised that He would make wars to cease to the end of the earth (Psalm 46:9), and that nations will at one time not learn war anymore (Isaiah 2:4). But let's not be naive as Christians: we will not build a better world unless we repent and believe in Jesus Christ! Isaiah 2 will not be brought in by peace marches! Sooner or later the peace movement will be shattered again on the hard rock of the reality of unredeemed humanity!

Revelation 6 introduces the rider on the red horse (vs. 4). He is allowed to take peace from the earth. This is judgement! It may be World War III, we don't know. Perhaps next time I will march along in a peace march. We are, after all, for peace. We have clear teachings that help us to decide whether it is justified for us to participate in a given war. We owe it to ourselves to give leadership in the peace movement. But we better be sure about our banners! We know that nations will continue to rise against nations as long as man rejects God's Kingdom. We know that it is useless to deal with symptoms, rather than with the disease.

We will fight the symptoms. But as God's peacemakers we have bigger, more radical goals in mind: we appeal to people to get reconciled to God. We introduce the peace marchers to the Prince of Peace. The rider on the red horse will not go away because we march or legislate him out of existence. War is in the human heart. So, peace must enter the human heart first, before it can be seen in the world at large. Peace begins at home! Peace marches are in order, depending on what the message is. But we as Christians have a much tougher assignment: to participate in God's peace offensive, which appeals to the stubborn human heart to repent,,and to follow the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Let us not be sidetracked from our first commission: to preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen as God's answer to the war-tom human heart and community. That's why God has poured out His Holy Spirit upon us!

Please click the "Back" button of your browser to return to previous page.