WAR AND CHRISTIANITY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23940, 16 October 1939, Page 5

WAR AND CHRISTIANITY

TO!THE. EDITOR

Sir, —Your correspondent “ Maranatha ” would have the Holy Word of God agree in principle with this ruthless slaughter that is to-day demoralising the human race. “Maran-atha” quotes Scripture which is quite irrelevant to the subject. Did Jesus exhort His followers to go to war? God forbid, but rather “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.”' At the crisis of the. Lord’s arrest Peter drew his sword and struck a servant. Jesus said. “ They that take the sword shall perish by the sword.” Further. He said, “ Ye hath heard that it hath been said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek turn to him the other also.” “ Maran-atha ” says that if a pacifist took his argument to a logical conclusion we would be at the mercv of dictators. Let us reason. If all churches were true to the Word of Christ they would be pacifist. The Presbyterian Church was of German origin, and with the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches reaches into every country. If all were brethren of a true type they would be pacifist. War would be impossible, and what a glorious state of things! If a pacifist is inconsistent so are the Scriptures, but God forbid so that His mercy and truth mav prevail.—l am. etc., October 14. M. Dockers.

[The above letter has been abridged. We are very doubtful whether correspondence on this issue would be lively to be profitable, but in any case the pressure on our space is so great, and so continuous that we cannot undertake to provide the opportunity for a controversy on the subject of the Scriptural view of war.—Ed. O.D.T.]