How time flies! It has a way of dimming our view and dulling the senses.

It has been 32 years since the last American citizen was drafted. Since then, our wars have been fought by volunteer soldiers.

Do you grasp the full impact of that fact upon Church members? None of our American men under 50 years old have ever experienced standing before a draft board to plead their convictions.

Prior to 1973, every American young man in the Church of God had to be prepared, whether called upon or not, to stand before a local draft board and answer why he was opposed to military service and warfare.

The draft board listened and returned a judgment based upon one primary factor—whether they felt the young man was sincere in his convictions.

I still remember visiting a young draftee in federal prison just outside Tallahassee, Florida. He came from one of our congregations in eastern Tennessee. His inability to convince his local draft board of his sincerity led to an order to report for active duty. When he refused, action was taken and a judge sentenced him to federal prison where we met. In a sense, his "crime" was his inability to convince a draft board of the sincerity of his convictions.

Though the Selective Service stopped actively drafting young men in 1973 and suspended the draft in 1975, if it were to be reinstituted the issue would be the same as it was then—could you convince a draft board of the sincerity of your beliefs against military service and warfare?

Your Obligation; the Church's Obligation

The Church of God can never provide you with sincerity. How deeply you believe what you believe and how steadfastly you live it is something for which you and you alone are responsible. A draft board's task is to consider your sincerity of belief. In judging your sincerity, they can look not only at your explanation of scriptures, but whether your conduct supports your words. How well a person can talk is of little value if his actions contradict his words.

For young men, and possibly women, who plead opposition to military service and warfare based upon religious beliefs, it is the Church's responsibility to provide them instruction in doctrine. Our role as a church is to explain to our members why. Why we as Church members do not become involved in warfare. Why we are opposed to military service.

It is also the Church's role to support its members with formal doctrinal teachings. When the Constitution of the United Church of God was formally ratified in December of 1995, it contained the fundamental beliefs statement of the Church. Among them is a statement of our belief regarding warfare and military service:

"We believe that Christians are forbidden by the commandments of God from taking human life, directly or indirectly, and that bearing arms is contrary to this fundamental belief. Therefore, we believe that Christians should not voluntarily become engaged in military service. If they are involuntarily engaged in military service, we believe they should refuse conscientiously to bear arms and, to the extent possible, to refuse to come under military authority" (Article 2.1.14 Constitution of the United Church of God).

Later in 1998 the Church published its Fundamental Beliefs booklet containing all of the fundamental beliefs of the Church with a brief commentary on each belief. An additional page of explanation with numerous scriptural references was added to the statement above.

In addition to these published doctrinal statements, the Church provides advice and counsel to all of its young men on registering with Selective Service as required by law, and how to have one's beliefs on record in the event the draft is reinstituted.

Giving an Answer

The United States' recognition of its citizens' right to be opposed to military service on the basis of religious conviction goes back to the time of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Since those days young men of several faiths have stood and answered for their beliefs.

For those old enough to remember standing before a local draft board, it involved more than just answering for your convictions and stating your religious beliefs. The members of the board were allowed to cross-examine and challenge your beliefs with scriptural views of their own.

These men were not biblical illiterates. They supported warfare and used the same Bible we do as their basis of belief. It was not uncommon for a young Church member's beliefs to be challenged, and he was expected to answer. It was soon obvious whether the young man had depth to his convictions.

If you are going to argue for your convictions, you surely need to understand the foundation of your convictions. It may be worth your time to also study why others hold a different view and how they support those views.

Foundation of Our Beliefs

We are New Testament Christians.

I doubt that most grasp the import of these few words.

We are not contemporaries of Adam or Noah, we are not patriarchs or ancient Israelites, and (though we look forward to the day we will be) we are not yet resurrected sons of God—we are New Testament Christians. This is the context within which we live.

Our beliefs and practices are based upon the model of Jesus Christ and the apostles. While some of our beliefs and practices go back to ancient Israel and, in some cases, back to creation itself, all of our beliefs and practices conform to what was believed and practiced by Jesus and the apostles.

This is our foundation. It is the foundation of what we practice. It is the foundation of what we believe.

As a church, we are fully aware that some of the patriarchs fought, that ancient Israel and Judah had armies and that Christ will subdue the armies of this world when He returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. None of this has any bearing on us today. We are not under the Old Covenant and we are not yet immortal sons of God—we are New Testament Christians.

New Testament Teaching

Every era has a point of origin and a foundation. Christ's formal teachings began with the Sermon on the Mount, and it serves as the foundation of the New Testament era. It was in this instruction that Jesus set the standards for His disciples and for the Church of God that was to come into existence a few years hence.

Immediately following the Beatitudes and the Similitudes, Christ addressed norms that He intended to change. He told His followers they had heard one set of standards, but He was giving them another. In Matthew 5 these are set apart by the term, "you have heard that it was said... but I say" (Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44). Christ was telling them He was magnifying the biblical standards and replacing the nonbiblical common ideas of His day.

In three of these "you have heard that it was said... but I say" situations Christ set standards that simply do not allow for involvement in military service or warfare by their very nature.

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" (Matthew 5:21-22).

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven... For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ... Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:38-48).

These standards are direct. All who profess Christianity squarely face a sobering fact—we all fall woefully short of measuring up to these statements. Does our weakness nullify them? No! If we feel a certain guilt because we fall short of doing what Christ commanded here, do we simply cut these words out of our Bibles? Again, no!

Christ gave focus to these new standards by His words in verse 45. Where is compliance to these teachings leading? We are to live by these standards, "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven" (verse 45).

At the end of chapter 5 it becomes obvious that all these teachings are benchmarks. In striving to reach them, we are striving to reach the goal of the last verse of this chapter, "Therefore you shall be perfect just as your Father in heaven is perfect" (verse 48).

Whether we can attain it or not, aiming below perfection is not acceptable.

The Model of Jesus Christ

The greatest commentary on anyone's teachings is his or her conduct.

Men have written endless commentaries on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, yet the greatest commentary of all is His recorded example in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

Did Christ practice what He preached? Yes, He did.

There is not a single account of Jesus ever striking another human being while on this earth. His teachings and practices were one and the same.

The only instance weakly used to support a contrary opinion is the account of Christ cleansing the temple in John 2. Yet there is no reference to striking any human being in this instance, and numerous commentators and translators make the point that the whip and its use was focused solely on the sheep and oxen. Among the commentators who make this point are Matthew Henry, Ellicott, Cook and Vincent along with the RSV, NRSV, NIV, ASV, Darby and Weymouth, just to name some of the translations.

Christ's most telling comment on warfare and His servants' involvement in it was made in response to Pilate's questioning shortly before the crucifixion. When questioned by Pilate as to whether He was a king, He made an instructive comment.

"Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' Jesus answered him, 'Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me? Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have you done?' Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here'" (John 18:33-36, emphasis added).

In its own reverse manner, Christ's statement to Pilate was direct—My servants do not fight.

The Model of the Apostles

After Christ ascended to heaven, how did the apostles conduct themselves?

The record of the apostles' lives is identical to that of Christ. While most of them disappear from the biblical record early in the book of Acts, their conduct is the same as Christ's.

While tradition has it that most of the apostles were violently killed, it contains no record of violence on their part.

Paul, called later than the other apostles, makes the most interesting study. By his own admission he was a violent man prior to conversion. His actions, authorized by the state, centered on persecution of the Church of God—torturing, maiming, imprisoning and even endorsing the execution of members.

This was the preconversion Paul. Conversion brought transformation.

The persecutor became the persecuted with a most notable change in approach—he didn't retaliate (2 Corinthians 11:23-25).

Paul, the Saul who stood and approved the stoning of Stephen, was transformed into a man who lived the teaching of Christ in the manner given in the Sermon on the Mount.

Summary

The beauty of the New Testament and its teachings is that its words and its models are consistent. What Christ and the apostles taught regarding violence they lived. It wasn't dependent upon whether others lived it, or what society was doing around them.

If indeed you are a New Testament Christian, you, to borrow a phrase from the book of Hebrews, "are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses"—witnessed to by actions, not by words alone—the actions of Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our salvation, the 12 apostles and by Paul, the apostle to the gentiles.

All these models moved so far away from aggression and violence toward fellowman, they left no room for justifying being involved directly or indirectly in the taking of life through warfare and military service. UN