Explain The Ethical Principles Of Christianity In

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Explain the ethical principles of Christianity in relation to war (25) Christianity has many different conflicting relations to war in the religion, from the war like god in the Old Testament, to the teaching of peace and prosperity from Jesus in the New Testament. Christians, during world war two, were absolute pacifists. This meant that they were against all forms of violence and anything to do with violence, including war. Their objection to the use of violence was based on the teachings of Jesus in the new testament of the bible. This is called Christian pacifism. Though the old testament sometimes saw god as the commander of armies, normally fighting for Israel. Jesus sought the teachings of a strand of the old testament found in the vision of the prophet Zechariah, a messiah who banished chariots and war horses and spoke of peace to every nation. Jesus took the part of the suffering servant of Isaiah, who would redeem humanity by his own undeserved suffering as seen in his crucifixion. In a teaching on The Mount (Matthew 5-7), he taught his followers to love their enemies, to forgive those who had wronged them, and to respond to violence with non-violence, returning good for evil. These are the basis for Christian pacifism. However, there are some Christians who may be against violence and war in principle, but may take part in a war for the greater good of all. This is even more of a case when the war is to defeat evil and to preserve religious freedom or rights in the face of evil. Christians who do this are called conditional pacifists. A good example of this is that in the same way that Jesus threw out the traders in the market of the temple using force, as he believed what they were doing was wrong, Christians who are conditional pacifists believe in resisting evil and standing up for what is right. There are some Christians who are selective

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