Last night of the MANY topics that were brought up one that was particularly interesting was the Christian opinion of war and its justification.

There was a comment that because the Children of Israel went to war then that means it is justified and ok with God that we do the same.

This interests me because it makes me wonder how far do we take this line of thinking and what stops us?

First of all, let's not kid ourselves. The Children of Israel didn't just go to war. In the process of war they committed genocide, took the spoils, and made people their slaves. All this was sanctioned by God at the time. I'm not questioning God's command or word here. What I am questioning is the basic argument that "The Israelites did it" and so that makes war in the modern era ok for a believer, because that leaves open genocide and slavery as being acceptable to a believer as well. Does it not?

Personally, I don't know if there is or isn't an actual biblical justification for war or fighting for a nation. I don't see anything in the New Testament that says "thou shalt not" but then again it was a time when to serve in the military you had to worship the Roman deities and Caesar which would clearly conflict with Christianity.

I'm interested to see what other peoples' takes are on this.