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Fair one Ron.

Greenronnie wrote:

Airborne Legend wrote:I think what you have to remember is that as a British soldier the only time you'll ever fire your weapon at someone is if they're are about to kill you or someone innocent and you need to kill them to stop that happening (any other time and you'll get shat on from above).

And as for the enemy being evil, baddies etc, that's a bit of an over simplified view, tom163. Some of our forces' actions may quite easily be seen as evil when viewed from the other side.
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Yeah it was really, I was just trying to help him understand something. Personally I don't think i'd have a problem killing somone but im sure no one will ever truly know untill they are faced with that senario.




Tom

Hello Jordan,

Ultimately if the thought of killing someone is a real problem, personally I reckon you should think very carefully about it. Because where does the moral obligation end? Whatever your role you will be part of an organisation that could potentially be involved in killing. I think you need to resolve in your own mind how you feel about the potential 'enemy' you could be deployed against. It does say 'thou shalt not kill' changed to 'thou shalt not commit murder' in many Bibles - for just this reason!

I think its not just a religious question. I know people (uk reservists) who have a preference for a deployment in Afganistan over Iraq because THEY feel there is more of a moral justification in fighting the Taleban.

I am not particularly religious and have no morals!

Have you talked to your priest/vicar about it? What do the other members of your church think?

Jordan:

I'm a Chritian man (not a particualrly good one, mind) and I've been a soldier in one form or another for 26 years.

Do yourself a favour, mate...get off the "ooh, what do I do if I have to kill someone?" thing. It'll drive you bloody nuts and quite possibly knacker a promising career. Consider Mark 22:49-51, which alludes to the garden of Gethsemane when Judas led the soldiers in to arrest Jesus...

49 When Jesus' followers saw what was going to happen, they said, "Lord, should we strike with our swords?" 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

51But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him.

Here's a question for you... Why on earth were Jesus' desciples carrying swords? They certainly didn't use them as tent pegs! You might want to think about that.

Here's a more important set of questions for you right now, though, ...

How will your faith stand up in the face of the temptations that you will surely be faced with as a soldier? There is a huge amount of peer pressure!! We don't even have to consider drunken orgies here. It could be as simple as the things coming out of your mouth starting to deteriorate as time goes on. A small wedge, but a wedge nonetheless.

And, yes, how will you handle your off-duty time with your new-found (non-Christian) friends? When they are going out to get pissed and get laid, what will you be doing?

When things go pear-shaped in the local dive and a scrap starts up with civi yobbos, are you right in there backing up your mates?

How will you handle daily ongoing sport of character assassination? How will you handle gossip?

What will you do when one of "the lads" does something unethical? Bubble him to the chain of command, keep quiet, or cover his arse?

How will you obtain and continue credibility as a hard-working reliable soldier who is "one of the boys", while maintaining a right relationship with God?

Finally, if your relationship with God is sound...why aren't you asking your original question of him, instead of a bunch of strangers on a forum?

These are questions you should be challenging yourself with, not "what if I have to kill someone."

My sincere advice to you is this: You want to know what to do? Get your relationship with God sorted out. Everthing else will fall into place. Ask...seek...knock!

ܗܟܢܐ ܓܝܪ ܐܚܒ ܐܠܗܐ ܠܥܠܡܐ ܐܝܟܢܐ ܕܠܒܪܗ ܝܚܝܕܝܐ ܢܬܠ ܕܟܠ ܡܢ ܕܡܗܝܡܢ ܒܗ ܠܐ
ܢܐܒܕ ܐܠܐ ܢܗܘܘܢ ܠܗ ܚܝܐ ܕܠܥܠܡ

Thanks anglo saxon, lots of very good and challenging questions, and to be honest im not certain of the answers. I believe that i can make the right choices, stand up for my beliefs, keep my eyes focused on god. Ofcourse its gonna be hard, and ill stuff up at times but yeh i believe i can do it, just comes down to the choices i make. I know that as soon as i take my eyes off god, things are going to start getting really difficult for me, but aslong as i stay focused, get into the word, spend time with god, and keep in touch with good christian mates i should be able to do it.

And, yes, how will you handle your off-duty time with your new-found (non-Christian) friends? When they are going out to get pissed and get laid, what will you be doing?

I will be going "God give me strength cause i sure cant do this on my own" .

To be honest, i dont know. But i have many, many non christian friends who drink, take drugs, sleep around, and ever since ive given my life to god ive been able to draw a line, and very rarely cross it. Yeh it will be alot harder in the army, and its a different situation to teenage parties etc, but i hate the taste of beer to start with, i dont like drinking or getting drunk, so thats not hard for me. Sleeping around, well that just comes down to choices to. I really, really dont want to sleep with a women until im married, yeh ive been tempted, and been in situations where i could have, but its something really special to me, and i dont want to throw it away to some random chick. Now dont get me wrong im not trying to say im perfect or never going to stuff up, because i have stuffed up, and no one that has or ever will walk the earth, is perfect (Except jesus ofcourse)But if i stay true to god, keep my feet planted on the rock, and get my strength from god, it might just be possible to do it, and do it right.

When things go pear-shaped in the local dive and a scrap starts up with civi yobbos, are you right in there backing up your mates?

I dont know, im the kind of person to always back my mates up. And id probaly be right in there if things got out of hand, but id try to stop it before it got that bad. Sometimes it pays to be the sober one .

Finally, if your relationship with God is sound...why aren't you asking your original question of him, instead of a bunch of strangers on a forum?

Mate, im chatting to god pretty much none stop about this , aswell as many other people in my church and around me. But i thought i could get some opinions of people (like yourself), who have experienced what its like. And sometimes asking a bunch of strangers isnt a bad idea, they can easily be brutally honest to you, which is good