CHRISTIANS AND WAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 95, 23 April 1928, Page 10

CHRISTIANS AND WAR.

PRESBYTERIANS' VIEW.

FORCE THE LAST RESOURCE.

BUT IT MAY BE NECESSARY,

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

CHRISTCHURCH, this day.

References to "the doctrine of nonresistance" were made by the Rev. T. W. Armour in a sermon at Knox Presbyternan Church yesterday. Mr. Armour based his remarks on the words of Christ-. "But I say unto you that ye resist not evil." It was mainly from this text, he said, that it had been deduced by some people that Christ's dominant and characteristic note was that of non-resistance to evil, and during the early persecutions of the Church patient suffering was regarded as the duty of the Christian.

The injunction to "resist not evil" did not mean that the burglar was to be welcomed and even assisted in his criminal exploits, said Mr. Armour. It was recorded that Christ employed force when He scourged the moneylenders from the Temple courts. He had declared that force would be used against persistent and confirmed evildoers. The mind of Christ could not be gathered from fragmentary phrases but from His general mood as revealed in the New

Testament. When His justice was remembered with His meekness, we saw that the mere doctrine of non-resistance was not enough. War at its best was the rude servant of Tustlce, as were our Law Courts and criminal procedure, but where men and nations persisted in disregarding the rights of others, war, like the processes of justice in the State, might be the one method left to defend the weak and at the same time correct i and discipline the evildoer for his good. I In national and international affairs we must be ready to exhaust all possible avenues of peace rather than resort to force, and make every concession, short of the impossible, rather than resort to arms. When justice had been vindicated we should do all we could to forget the evil memory and bring about an abiding reconciliation.