I shared the following with our congregation this Sunday. These principles show how a nation and godly citizens should respond to acts of terror.
7
Principles for a Biblical Response to Terror
1. Human iniquity is such that sometimes a violent
response, even a lethal response is absolutely necessary
(Romans 13:1-5).
Three
cases in which the sword is necessary:
a) Defense
b) Deterrence
c) Justice
2. Whenever violence is necessary, Christians must valiantly attempt to exact no more suffering or death than is absolutely essential to accomplish and maintain the peace.
3. Motives of revenge, brooding anger and fury are unworthy of Christian men (1 Pe. 2:13).
4. Christians must seek to protect those who are uninvolved (Lev. 20:1-2).
5. Except in the rarest of cases, a social order or a constituted national entity should be the vehicle of retributive justice.
6. When the enemy fails and falls, godly men must not rejoice in that calamity (Matt. 6:12).
7. The aftermath of the confrontation yields one of three things: bitterness, hatred or forgiveness.
For
the godly man, it must ultimately result in forgiveness because forgiven men
have no choice in this matter
Notes taken from a message by Paige Patterson in September, 2001 following 9-11. Read the entire Baptist Press article from September 18, 2001 here.
No comments:
Post a Comment