How do we get so twisted up that we view each other as enemies? How can millions of people through the centuries be hoodwinked over and over again into picking up arms and killing their fellow humans, when they have nothing personally against them? How can we fall so easily for charismatic leaders justifying the invasion of other countries and killing innocent children? And how come bullying is such a problem in schools and the workplace, as though we actually hate each other and love hurting people? Something is tragically wrong.

Yes there is, but Jesus came to change it. How? 1 John 3:8 - “the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work,” because our real enemy is the devil. It’s not each other, it’s him. And that really struck me while following a slow driver. For mile after mile a whole trail of us were stuck behind him travelling well below the speed limit, and when, at last, the opportunity came to overtake him he immediately drove out in front of me without signalling, forcing me to take evasive action. Whether he did it on purpose or not, I do not know, but I realized at that point he wasn’t my enemy. The fact that we’re all driving cars on packed roads with few opportunities to overtake isn’t his fault. The reason we’re all stuck in these ridiculous circumstances is because the Devil got to us from the very start.

He’s the enemy, because he got us all thinking we could do without God, and look what we’ve got as a result. We’re into endless situations cropping up where we think of and treat each other as the enemy. I watch siblings, for instance, who stir and poke each other to get a reaction and make the other cry, but when faced by a common enemy they join hands in mutual support. It’s insane. They’d die for each other when others oppose them, but when there’s no opposition they fight each other!

But, as Peter writes in 1 Peter 5:8, ”Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” It helps explain the utter insanity and cruelty we inflict on each other, when what, pray tell, is accomplished by any of it?

We acknowledge that instinct on Remembrance Day as we remember the men and women who died to free the world of a brutal evil. But where did such an instinct come from? It flies in the face of Evolution for a start, which talks of species doing whatever they must to survive, but all through our history humans have put aside their need to survive, and in the prime of their lives they do what Evolution would never support a species doing. Where in Evolution does a species give up its life when it’s at the top of its game? Never!

So where did this conundrum of self-sacrifice come from? From God, because it helps us to understand him. We see God best “in the face of Christ,” 2 Corinthians 4:6, and what we see in Christ is God willing to give up his life in his prime too, and for the same reason we are willing to give up our lives – to rid the world of evil.

What Christ did, then, rings a familiar and honourable bell in a human heart, because the most honourable thing a human being can do is give up his life for others, especially in his prime. But it’s in us to do that. It’s instinctive in us to give up our lives to crush evil. And we honour that instinct every year on Remembrance Day, because to us it’s so obviously right.

But that’s the beauty of Remembrance Day because it not only shines a bright light on the amazing phenomenon of a species being willing to give up its life, it also shines a bright light on God – because we’re not so different, we humans and God, are we? He was willing to rid the world of evil by self-sacrifice, so are we. It makes it very easy for us to understand God, then, because tucked away inside us is the same heart he has.

No wonder the Christian message “commends” itself, or rings true, “to every man’s conscience,” verse 2, because the sacrificing of a life to rid the world of evil is what we already believe in as good and true as well. Remembrance Day isn’t really such a conundrum, then, because self-sacrifice is a desire God has given us to help us understand him.

“Great Father of us all,” he began, his voice rising, “We, your suffering children, come to you in our embarrassment to say how sorry we are for all the death and misery you’ve had to witness for yet another horribly violent year. And here we are on Remembrance Day, sorry yet again that we have to put you through the same old routine. We march, we cry and we pray, and we get terribly serious about the horrors of war and we seek your comfort for the bereaved, but nothing changes. Year after year it’s the same. We never bring you good news, only bad.”

“We think of you shaking your head at our blindness, because you told us how wars happen and how war first got started, but do we see it? You’ve given us warning and wisdom, like a good Father should, but do we heed it? You told us what to do when evil threatens, but have we listened? You told us of powers much greater than ours we could trust in, but have we believed you? You told us you sent your Son to bring us peace, but are we interested? So now you have to watch us shuffle off home for another year, and we’re none the wiser, as usual. And we’ll be back at this time next year with more sad stories to tell you, as if you haven’t heard enough of them already.”

“What must it be like to be a Father to children like us? Could we ask you, therefore, to do something for us, that would bring some joy to this day instead? Could you give us the sense this year to go home and read what you wrote about peace, and help us understand and believe it, so that next year we can come to you with different stories, of how we began to grasp the solution to war, how we found the courage to try it, and how surprised we were by its success.”

“Here’s hoping then, Father, we can bring you some good news at this time next year, as we, your children, take up your offer and your challenge to live the way of peace, and to show our children that one day peace will reign on this Earth and sadness will no longer be the tired old routine it is today. We ask because, as you can see dear Father, we your struggling children are in desperate need of help.”

In all these difficult situations killing can seem a right thing to do. And sometimes what other choice have we got? In war, for instance, especially against a lunatic like Hitler, we depend on killing for survival. It’s either kill or be killed.

And hasn’t God killed people? Yes, many times. He not only ended the lives of multiple thousands of people in the Old Testament himself, he also commanded others to kill for him, and that’s after he gave the commandment “Do not kill,” too. So in his mind there were times when it was right to kill people. But God, of course, has the power to bring people back to life again, whereas we have no such power when we decide to kill someone, do we? To many people, therefore, killing can never be justified. Taking a human life is inexcusable, in any form, whether it be in war or in self-defence, or by abortion, euthanasia or suicide.

But, others reply, death isn’t the end of the road from God’s point of view, because there isn’t a death, deliberate or accidental, that Christ’s sacrifice does not cover. God also has the power to give life back to someone who’s been killed, including aborted babies. Death is no obstacle to God, and neither is human failing. If we kill a person, therefore, that person isn’t dead forever. What we did may be inexcusable, but it is forgivable and it can be reversed, because God can restore a life too.

To all those men and women who went to war, therefore, who now look back in shame and despair at what they did – killing innocent people, killing fellow Christians, and killing in hate – who now need reassurance that all is not lost for either themselves or the people they killed, Jesus offers reassurance. He may not remove all the nightmares or the flashbacks, but he offers understanding and compassion toward our weakness and our circumstances. He knows the awful dilemmas we find ourselves in, and the fears that drive us to kill, and he made provisions for every one of them through his death and resurrection.

In 430 A.D. Augustine said “Yes.” In his book ‘The City of God’ he wrote that Christians can go to war and kill so long as the cause is just, the intent is right, and war is declared by a legitimate authority for the sake of restoring peace. It was the beginning of the “Just War” doctrine. In 1274 Thomas Aquinas stamped his own approval on it, giving Christians reasonable cause ever since to go to war and kill people.

It resulted, however, in Christians killing each other, because Christians often found themselves fighting on both sides of a conflict. In World Wars 1 and 2 and the Civil War in the United States, for instance, many thousands of Christians died at the hands of other Christians. It’s not surprising, therefore, that many Christians reject the Just War theory.

But, say Christians who support Just War, what about Romans 13:1-5? Governments are instituted by God, so if our government legitimately declares war we are all obliged to support it. And why shouldn’t we Christians go to war, they ask, when it’s for a noble cause like protecting the innocent and defending the defenceless?

Well that may sound right from the world’s point of view, other Christians reply, but to Christians in the church Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives,” John 14:27. To the church Jesus promised a way to peace unlike any method the world uses to create peace. He was true to his word, too. Soon after the church began, when Jews and Gentiles became Christians, the enmity between them fell away, Ephesians 2:12-16. In a world that seethed with remembered atrocities and justice crying out for blood, the Cross, in contrast, was making even the worst of enemies into friends.

Ah but, comes the reply, that may work in the church but what about maintaining peace and order in society? God gave that job to the government of a country, Romans 13:4, and governments often have no choice but killing to stop evil in its tracks, and it’s the God-given duty of Christians, therefore, to support them, verses 1, 2 and 5.

So now we’ve got two sets of scriptures for Christians – one set for life in the church, and another set for life in society. So, can a Christian honour both sets of scriptures, and be a good citizen without hating his enemies and without killing his fellow Christians? Tricky indeed, eh?!

Yes, some Christians say, it’s our civic duty and right to defend family and nation against evil, and what greater sacrifice can one make than giving one’s life for one’s friends? If someone broke into your home with murderous intent, would you not have the right and the responsibility to protect yourself and your family, using whatever means it took to subdue the villain, which might include killing him?

Other Christians, however, challenge that view, quoting several obvious scriptures in reply like, “Do not kill, love your enemies, don’t repay evil with evil, overcome evil with good, and ‘vengeance is mine’ says the Lord.’” And does sacrificing one’s life for one’s own friends justify sacrificing the lives of other people’s friends? And what about Jesus’ statement in John 14:27? “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.” It’s the world that uses war to create peace, not Jesus.

But doesn’t Jesus use war to create peace, too? In Revelation 19, he “makes war,” verse 11, and “out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations,” verse 15. Ah but, other Christians reply, Jesus can kill because he’s God and God can resurrect people back to life again, whereas we can’t. And besides, haven’t these verses been used to justify the Crusades and other monstrous cruelties by Christians?

And on and on the debate goes, scripture versus scripture – but what an awful irony it creates, of Christians fighting over whether we should fight, or not! But what’s the answer, when scriptures can be found that support both views?

I don’t know because I have no idea what I’ll do if someone attacks my home or country. It depends very much on my understanding of Scripture and my relationship with God at the time, so how I react now may be very different to how I react in 5 years time, when my understanding of God has grown. Peter, for instance, sliced off a man’s ear with his sword in John 18:10, but in 1 Peter 1:5 he talks of being shielded by God’s power through faith. Actions may change, then, as understanding grows.

What’s helped me in this dilemma is Romans 14, because Christians can have different views, based on their beliefs at the time (verses 3-8), but still be at peace. And isn’t that what this world needs to see? It’s not Christians fighting over whether they should fight, or not, it’s Christians who are living the way of peace with each other (verse 19).