A comment Lucy McIntosh made as we perused the museum space really caught my attention. She mentioned the overwhelmingly common social belief that God supported the Allies and that WWI was potentially His divine will. This really struck me as it seemed so contradictory with everything I had learned about God through my catholic upbringing and education. Although I’m no longer catholic, I couldn’t help but feel irrationally defensive- surely the fatherly God of Catholicism did not actively revel in the devastating loss of life and social upheaval caused by World War 1… right? I had to find out for myself. So I dug out the Bible I received for my confirmation and began a colossal deep dive into what it said about War.
We all know the Old Testament is full of some fantastical myths and other stranger stories, but it also provides a historical account which is full of violence, death and war. From my (very modest) count there are at least 70 significant conflicts in which God seems involved from His heavenly sideline. For anyone that isn’t familiar with the Bible, the Old Testament is mostly about the generational struggle of the Israelites. They are a fairly outcast social group surrounded by various pagan communities who do not worship the Hebrew god (God). They fight both spiritual and physical battles as they socially establish themselves as God’s people. The sweeping consensus is that when God commanded them to fight or ‘voiced’ His support for their battle, the Israelites came out on top. They do falter sometimes though, but it’s usually because God warned them not to fight and He lets them lose to teach them a lesson. A notable bible character which I can see being a huge role model for soldiers is King David. He is initially an ordinary but God-fearing man handpicked and blessed for battle. All throughout Samuel 1 and 2 David conquers the Philistines by the grace and glory of God. God plainly instructs David to fight a battle, assuring him that He is “going to give the Philistines into [David’s] hand.”(1 Samuel 23:2-4). God continually blesses David and as a result “[David] became more and more powerful because the Lord God Almighty was with him.” (2 Samuel 5:10). It’s really not so much of a stretch to imagine that maybe God chose whole nations of men to represent David in World War I. It’s also not hard to see why that would of been such a comforting sentiment to soldiers and their families.
The New Testament, however, is a new chapter in history recounting Jesus’ birth onwards and it has very different overtones to the Old Testament. Jesus Christ the Son of God hugely disagrees with his Dad apparently because he absolutely loves peace. Jesus was completely committed to his Heavenly message of love for thy neighbour and peace on this earth. In one Gospel he preaches to his followers that “blessed are the peacemakers” (Matthew 5:9). He reminds them in later that that they should turn their other cheek should someone strike them (Matthew 5:38-45). In somewhat of a threatening tone he also warns them that those who live by the sword die by the sword (Matthew 26:52-53). Even as he is being arrested in the garden of Gethsemane before his death, he instructs his disciple Peter to put down his sword and surrender. Jesus is very openly anti-violence, which is the utter antithesis of God in the Old Testament who not only picked sides but also used His divine powers to swing the win for His team. All throughout the Gospel of Luke Jesus’ catchphrase is “peace be with you”- something which is still repeated today in Catholic masses. Point being, Jesus constantly harps on about how important peace is and how it should always be the path his followers take. The conscientious objectors of WWI would of resonated a lot more with Jesus than with God from the Old Testament.
Honestly, I didn’t get the definitive answer I had hoped. God and Jesus disagreed and neither of them were giving an inch. The Father maintained that some wars were necessary to establish communities and that was just the reality of life, while the Son stood staunchly on his hill of radical pacifism. In application though, do I think God wanted World War 1 to happen? No, that seems pretty drastic and unlikely to me. I’d like to think that maybe His Son mellowed Him out a bit.
References:
https://constantlyreforming.wordpress.com/every-battle-in-the-bible/
The Holy Bible. Good News Translation, Catholic Edition.
This was so interesting to read, thanks for delving deeper into this topic. Honestly, as someone who went to a Catholic school, I also find it surprising that God was seen as being supportive of violence. It’s interesting how God and Jesus are portrayed in different ways with historical context, considering the target audience of the time. For example, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is seen a forgiving and inclusive, because Luke wrote for the gentiles.
This was a really great read, thank you for this! I have quite a skewed perspective of religion, particularly Christianity, as, although I’ve never engaged with it myself, I’ve got various family members who were either raised in a very fire and brimstone Catholicism, or who have embraced other forms of very intense Christianity. These sorts of perspectives don’t really lend themselves to introspection, so it’s fascinating to get a better look at the contradictions found in the Bible from the perspective of someone who actually knows what they’re talking about.
The Bible is an undeniably influential book. Even now, with a large number of atheists in the population, it’s used to justify so many conflicts and hateful perspectives. I honestly had no idea that there was such a distinction between the attitudes to violence presented in the Bible, and the various attitudes held by different Christians make a lot more sense in retrospect. Definitely keen to look more into the nuances and details of the Bible after reading this, and learn more about what has informed the perspectives of the various types of Christianity I’ve interacted with.