OK, I've been considering all this quite a bit. Here's some items I've been going over.
I think once we begin to view all these things in light of our called purpose, the answer starts rising to the surface for some of things we have been discussing here.
What is our called purpose as believers?
What is an authority or nations purpose?
What is Gods will for us, and how do we stay within those confines with Godly principles at times of war, defense, and our called purpose?
Keep these 3 things in mind as we barely scratch the surface.
Mar 16:15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
This is our mission as believers! Once we believe on Christ and are adopted into the family of God, we are commissioned to preach the Gospel to the ends of the world. Once God achieves this mission through us, the Church will be going Home!
Paul says he was called for a purpose....
Rom 1:1 Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus,
called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
Rom 1:2 which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,
Rom 1:3 concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
Rom 1:4 who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord,
Rom 1:5
through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles
for His name's sake,
Rom 1:6 among whom
you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
Not only Paul, but this group of Roman believers as well as us too. Our calling as believers is to be set apart for the gospel of Christ. First and foremost!
Now, what is the deal with nations and authority's?
Rom 13:1 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.
For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Rom 13:3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior,
but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;
Rom 13:4
for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid;
for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. OK. So authority's and nations are not necessarily called to spread the Gospel as individual believers are. They are a minister of God, or an avenger who brings wrath on those who practice evil. Even though, they might not be a Godly nation, God Himself has set up ALL these authorities to serve His good purpose. We must include authority's here who are evil as well if we take Rom 13:1 at face value. Even though the likes of NK would be considered Evil, They still exist according this verse for Gods purpose of avenging evil, even though they do not follow their God given authority. Clearly they are wrong and disobediant, and are suffering in that regard, and will probably suffer a great defeat if they continue to not serve Gods intended purpose. Throughout the OT, we can see how God used nations who were obedient to Him to avenge and destroy evil nations. God used Israel for this purpose a few times. I don't doubt for one second that if NK's government would start behaving with Godly principles, God would bless that nation, and use them in the pretext of Romans 13. As it stands right now however, they exist outside of this pretext and not only suffer from their own government, but will suffer from some other nation God will use to avenge them. At least this is how I am seeing this.
So God sets up all authority's, and they can either follow Gods purpose for them, (to avenge evil, or those who practice evil within its borders), or they might themselves become corrupt and fall out of the purpose God set them up for - thus bringing wrath on themselves from another nation. Making sense here?
Lets be very clear about what scripture says regarding war and defending innocence.
Exo 22:2 "If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account.
This hits right between the eyes doesn't it? Jews had the right, as I believe we do, to defend ourselves even to the point of killing if necessary to defend ourselves, and will be held blameless.
Deu 19:10 "So innocent blood will not be shed in the midst of your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and bloodguiltiness be on you.
Protection of innocence is called for. In fact, Israel was told here if they
did not defend innocence within their borders, they would be found guilty of the innocent blood that was shed. WOW! Think about that regarding NK or Iraq! So there is no way to say War is never justified. And there is no way to say the defense of innocence within the border of a God placed Authority is wrong.
The question is, where do we as believers fit into this whole picture, and love our enemy's, yet distinguish the time and need for war and self defense?
Our first and foremost objective as believers is to preach the Gospel. With regard to all these other circumstances mentioned above, it is our job to find Gods will and
be used by Him in each case as He calls us to be used. Just as PR described in his case. He submitted to that God given authority over him as a soldier, YET Lived according to Gods calling on his individual life (sharing the Gospel to fellow soldiers and enemy's), and fulfilled Gods Will within the GOD GIVEN authority to the nation he submitted to and served as a combatant soldier. Summerized, God used PR in the entire scope of indivual Believer's calling AND by serving the same Godly authority given his nation. PR served God, PERIOD!
Same with Tom. He was a believer who was a police officer. His first role as believer preaching the Gospel to other officers as well as criminals, yet he was still in submission to Gods authority by being part of that minister who God uses to avenge evil and wrongdoing. Serving GOD period!
You will note that Daniel, even though he was a wrongly held prisoner by a wicked nation, was still a good prisoner and fulfilled Gods will by preaching Gods word. Even though he was captive, he served God within the confines Gods authority OVER him. Where that authority stopped, was when it called for Daniel to pray to other gods. He did not pray and worship other Gods as demanded, but kept true to His first calling, the highest Authority! Obeying this one authority above all others. So I see here that we can be soldiers and officers and even wrongly held prisoners provided we remain true to the highest authority above all. When God is overruled by a wicked authority that strays from Gods calling for them, we must stay with the one true authority and live in accordance to Gods word.
I think the key here is being able to yield to Gods will under any circumstances. There might be a circumstance where God calls us to martyrdom, and uses our death for his purpose. In principle, our life is HIS, to do with as HE pleases. Our job is to find His specific purpose and fulfill it, whether that be as soldiers, officers, prisoners or martyrs. Our mission is to be in HIS will, and serve His ultimate Authority.
This seems to me the only way to answer my original question. I must love my enemy and do good to them who hate me, but if God leads my nation to war (by His authority), I can still serve His purpose as that nations citizen, AND an individual believers on the battle field by living Godly and staying in the center of His will and purpose for my life. So its not written in stone when, where, how, to do both....but it is written in stone for us to yield to God and God alone. When we submit to Him, AND obey, we can find HIS way in any of these circumstance and be used by God in any way He sees fit to use us, for His Glory and purpose.
Thoughts?
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