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**I asked my son George Jr. to proof this blog before I sent it out. He kicked back majorly to a lot of my arguments. To illustrate how Christians can disagree, and how navigating current events as they unfold in real-time can be tricky, we decided to lay out our viewpoints so you can decide for yourself.**
In 1346, one of the earliest cited examples of biological warfare occurred when Mongol forces surrounded merchants and civilians living in the city of Caffa (modern-day Crimea), largely inhabited by Christians. To tighten the noose around their necks, the Mongols catapulted bubonic plague-infected corpses over the city walls into the besieged city.
Within days, a massive outbreak of the Black Plague ensued.
A city-wide call to fast was issued, along with public prayer and confession of sin. Additionally, the besieged started returning fire with fire, attacking back after being attacked.
The actions they took, or more appropriately, their reactions, were understood not as vengeance but self-preservation, thereby more palatable to religious sensibilities. The basis of such views came from verses like these below:
"Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." (Ps. 82:4)
"Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter." (Prov. 24:11–12)
"There is a time for peace and a time for war." (Eccl. 3:1, 8)
Centuries before the Siege of Caffa, precedence had been set by early church fathers such as Augustine of Hippo (a church father is code for influential Christian thought leaders and theologians) who proposed in the 4th century what came to be known as Just War Theory. By definition, Just War Theory holds that while war is always tragic, the use of force may be morally justified to protect human life, restrain evil, and restore peace — and even then, it must be waged not with vengeance, or an end-goal of conquest, but with restraint, right intention, and as a last resort.
Just War Theory proponents make these arguments:
Admittedly, those stances were probably an overcorrection to what transpired centuries earlier in 167 BC.
As soon as God’s chosen people refused to comply with evil Antiochus IV’s decrees—particularly the bans on Torah observance and circumcision—he responded by sending military forces to enforce his policies. For fear of breaking the Sabbath, they would not lift a finger, much less a sword, to defend even their wives and children from aggressors.
Observance of the last day of the week, the Sabbath, the Rabbis reasoned, took precedence over lesser commands such as Proverbs 24:11 which says, "Rescue those being led away to death," or Song of Solomon 3:8: "Every man shall have his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night."
Tragically, as a result, those Jews living in Judea’s wilderness were annihilated, and future aggressors quickly adapted to attacking on Saturdays to obliterate their prey.
There is one fundamental differentiation I need to point out between Just War Theory historically and America’s current fight against narcoterrorism.
No Christian nation has existed in the past 21 centuries, any more than there is one today. In fact, any time the church and the state overly intermingle, the state wins, and the church loses. Be careful how snug you hope to see your government and your faith become.
So I’m not suggesting I know the perfect remedy for drugs entering the country I live in. And by no means is this a call for individuals to take military matters into their own hands. Not at all. I’m simply making a comparison and contrast to ensure consistency when formulating opinions, especially when it comes to current events.
To conclude:1st - Do you believe the measures the besieged inhabitants of Caffa took when biological warfare was waged against their city were justifiable? I would imagine yes.
2nd - If someone deliberately injected poison into your community or home, would you want the local, state, or federal agencies to intervene to stop that threat?
3rd - What steps, then, do you see as justifiable for a government to take to prevent poisons, such as fentanyl, from entering its borders? Can you make a solid argument why one scenario is ok, but not the other?
"My ways are not your ways, and My thoughts are not Your thoughts." (Isa. 55:8)
To understand whether Just War Theory is, well, "just," we must first ask ourselves which one of Jesus’s tenets this theory means to achieve. As a quick reminder, Just War Theory attests that violence is allowed sometimes when its aim is to protect the innocent, restore peace, and restrain evil. My question is whether or not it is the Christian’s job to fulfill such ends.
Certainly, Jesus calls His followers to relieve suffering when possible:
"Love your neighbor as yourself." (Mk. 12:31)
"I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, whatever you did for the least of these you did for me." (Matt. 25:35)
"Go and do likewise." (Lk. 10:37, regarding the actions of the good Samaritan)
Allowing others to suffer when you can do something is disobedience; both Just War Theory believers and its opponents agree on this point.
"Just War Theory" did not exist at the beginning of Christianity; the idea emerged over time. In the early church, followers of "The Way" were radically nonviolent, drawing the ire of their Roman rulers. They refused military service, preferred martyrdom over self-defense, and protested gladiator fights. The early Church, as we know, was punished for this stance, and did not stand in the way of their executioners when the sword came down.
This changed when Church and State were betrothed under the rule of Constantine. No longer hiding from an oppressor and tempted by the riches of empire, the Church began to corrode.
Immediately, division arose from within the body. Christians had so long been beneath the blade of the sword that they had no idea what to do when they found the hilt in their hand. Controversially, Augustine believed he had the answer: "Just War Theory."
Here I will lay out some of what Augustine says about war, and relevant passages from Jesus.
Augustine: "It is better that they should be brought to serve God by teaching than by fear of punishment; but because the former means are not sufficient, the latter must be employed."
James and John asked Jesus: "Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them?" (Lk. 9:54)
Jesus answered: "You do not know what spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them." (Lk. 9:55–56)
Augustine: "The wise man will wage just wars." (The City of God Book 19, ch. 7)
Jesus: "Put your sword back in its place" (Matt. 26:52); "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matt. 5:9).
Neither is a precedent set by Jesus to gain any ground with the lost through violence. Jesus could have conquered all evil through force; He could have called down His legions to bring justice on the wicked or brought His angels to topple the Roman, Persian, or Greek empires… but He didn’t.
"Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt. 26:53)
Unlike the early Christians, Jesus always had the power of violence at His disposal and actively chose not to use it. Did Christ truly lay down the sword and His life just for later generations of His followers to pick it back up and finish the job? Of course not.
Suffering is a part of life, a recurring theme in Jesus’s ministry. His prescriptions for relieving the suffering of others: hosting, feeding, guiding, actively reducing suffering, not causing more. Bloodshed, violence, and force, even with the best intentions, fight fire with fire. If I were to kill a drug dealer, I might end up saving lives, but just as likely, I might cause more harm than good. If God wants the wicked gone, I assure you He will take care of it. Surely our just God will smite the wicked or raise a secular army (just as he did with Persia against the Babylonians) to wipe out an evil group.
We are soldiers in the kingdom of God, our armor is His virtues, and our weapon is His Word. Jesus’s life was a testament that true healing, true relief comes not from anything in this world but from its Creator. Christianity’s fight has never been against the people of this world but against the true enemy, who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Two of which are accomplished, no matter the justification, by Just War Theory.
I’ll conclude with these words from the Apostle Paul:
"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Eph. 6:12)
