Chadders67

Pope Leo: “[Jesus] does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.” There is absolutely no biblical basis for this whatsoever. Christians should strive for peace, yes. We don’t revel in death and destruction. And a Christian could make a sound argument against the particulars of many wars throughout history, including the war with Iran today. A Christian could also agree that God shouldn’t be used to justify unjust wars. But to say that God is against war per se is flat out false. All throughout the Old Testament God calls for war in defense of His people. Exodus 15:3 declares, “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.” David constantly prayed to the Lord while battling his enemies. He says his cries to the Lord “reached His ears” and God answered him. God didn’t just answer David by hiding him away but by giving him lethal strength: “He trains my hands for war” (Psalm 18:6, 34). If you discount these examples because they’re in the Old Testament, you don’t understand Scripture or God. Jesus is God; therefore everything God has ever done Jesus has fully agreed with and participated in, and He does not change (Hebrews 13:8). Mind you also that Jesus Himself promises to come back as a warrior to wage war against evildoers. There are categories of people whose prayers God does not answer: the self-righteous, those who pray with selfish motives. People who wage war are not automatically in one of these categories. I’m so glad our founders did not believe this way. I love this retelling of the story of the pacifist Quaker who allegedly heard Washington praying in the woods at Valley Forge: “He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching to interpose with his Divine aid, as it was His crisis, and the cause of the country, of humanity, and of the world.” Sometimes force is necessary to defeat evil and advance good. When it comes to these matters, Pope Leo has repeatedly proven that he is not wise.