In an article for the New York Post, Richard Lowry tried to use the Bible to refute Pope Leo XIV's remarks on war and peace. Unfortunately, Pope Leo needs to brush up his Bible and its lessons on war and peace only succeeded in demonstrating his own ignorance of what Scripture has to say on the subject. A word of advice to Mr. Lowry, in the future, he may want to think twice about future attempts to correct the scriptural understanding of a man who holds a doctoral degree in Canon Law from the Pontifical University of Thomas Aquinas and is the leader of over a billion Catholics! In other words, the pontiff did not attain his position by being a biblical dumb-dumb.
In the article, Lowry wrote:
Jesus preaches love and mercy, of course, but that is not a warrant for pacifism.
The great Christian thinkers St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas gave us just war theory, reconciling Christian ethics with the existence of evil in the world and the necessity of warfare.
According to this view, which is embraced by the Catholic Church, a war can only be fought for a just cause and has to be waged in keeping with moral standards minimizing harm to civilians.
Leo has wrongly made it sound as though no war can possibly be just — and regardless, his opposition to the Iran war isn’t dispositive or binding on anyone else.
Now, as Mr. Lowry points out earlier in his article, the Bible is certainly full of war. There are wars in the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, etc. Moreover, rightly or wrongly, it is clear that many of the human authors of scripture attributed these wars to God himself and declared them righteous. Even so, God clearly told Moses on Mount Sinai: "You must not murder" (see Exodus 20:13). Moreover, we read in the book of Deuteronomy that God claimed that vengeance was HIS prerogative (Deuteronomy 32:35). Of course, all of that is Old Testament, and Lowry claims that Jesus didn't preach "a warrant for pacifism."
Jesus did, however, preach "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Matthew 5:5, 7, 9, ESV) He went on to declare: "You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew 5:38-39, ESV) He also said: "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:43-45, ESV)
Likewise, in his letter to the Christians at Rome, Paul quoted the prophet Isaiah - who wrote: "Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace." (Compare Isaiah 59:7-8 with Romans 3:15-17) In the epistle to the Hebrews, Christians are instructed to: "Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14) Notice too, what James said about the origins of fighting. He wrote: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war." (James 4:1-2, NKJV) Clearly, then, the Apostle James thought that fighting was NOT of Divine origin, but arose from human passions!
Jesus taught that the entire Law of God was comprehended in Two Great Commandments: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and to love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-40) Likewise, Christ also taught that the requirements of God's Law could be met by treating other people the way that you would like to be treated by them. (Matthew 7:12) Now, how is war consistent with ANY of those expectations? No, from my perspective, Mr. Lowry would be much better served by staying within the realm of secular political commentary! What do you think?
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