Quote QuoteAnd when Daniels friends were to follow the law made and bow down to the image, did they? Think of Daniel in the lion's pit.Or when king ahaseurus made the decree that all the Jews were to die, was that God's will Nick?Any comments?What we learn from this is simple: Our allegience is to God above all else. If our government makes a…[Read more]

Jesus stated: “You are my friends if you do what I am commanding you,” and one of his commandments is that we “love one another.” (John 15:14, 17) And we would especially love our brothers, despite what country they live in. So how could we then pick up a sword and slaughter them?1 JOHN 4:20“If anyone makes the statement: “I love God,” and y…[Read more]

Quote Hi david,Who decides whether God has or has not spoken through the God appointed ruling authorities? The Bible helps. Is it God's will that people kill one another? Is it God's will that people claiming to be Christian kill one another? What does 1 John 3:10-12 shed on this?

No Christian can war against another Christian—it would be like a man fighting himself.“The children of God and the children of the Devil are evident by this fact: Everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, neither does he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beg…[Read more]

“The earliest Christians did not serve in the armed forces,” states an article in The Christian Century magazine. It explains that until the decade of 170-180 C.E., there is no evidence whatever that Christians served in the army. The article then adds: “Only gradually did Christians abandon their opposition to military service.”The editor of Holo…[Read more]

Quote And when Daniels friends were to follow the law made and bow down to the image, did they? Think of Daniel in the lion's pit.Or when king ahaseurus made the decree that all the Jews were to die, was that God's will Nick?Any comments?

Quote Hi david,If If If. Now is hard enough without all the ifs men imagine.Things change quickly Nick. If you don't know what you'd do now, how do you expect to know then? Perhaps you should figure out what is right and wrong now, so that later, when it does come, you are ready.

So Nick, you have it right.The early Christians had it wrong.And Jehovah's Witnesses have it wrong.Noting an interesting parallel, lecturer in church history Geoffrey F. Nuttall once commented: “The early Christian attitude to war was more like that of the people who call themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses than it is comfortable for us to suppose.”

Quote Nick, would you ever kill your spiritual brother? (if the government sends you to war to kill) Just wondering?

Quote Nick, I know you're not part of a religion that's banned in several countries, and so perhaps are having difficulty with this. But if God says: “Preach the good news,” and the governement says: “You may not preach,” whom would you listen to Nick? Who? Just wondering?

My kingdom is no part of this worldYou are to be no part of this worldSatan is the ruler of this worldSatan is misleading the entire inhabited earth. The whole world is lying in his power.The Early Christians were no part of the world–didn't get involved in politics, hold office, become soldiers, or vote.Perhaps they didn't do these things…[Read more]

Quote Hi david,But not on the matter at hand it seems. You have applied spiritual restrictions to behavior in the world. Are you trying to save the world? Is that our role? Nick, why do you often accuse me of things that seem to apply to you?In what way is being neutral and not taking part in wars “trying to save the world?”

Quote Hi david,We do not read your publications so still await your version of the good news. Really? The Watchtower is the most widely distributed religious journal in the world, being distribued in 148 languages.MATTHEW 24:14“And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and t…[Read more]

Quote Hi david,This matter is of the world. It is a political decision not to take part in the defence of your country, not a spiritual one. Really?I thought we were to pray to God incessantly, about every aspect of our life. Would not the decision to go to war and take the life of one of God's creatures be something that merits God's thinking on…[Read more]

Nick, would you ever kill your spiritual brother? (if the government sends you to war to kill) The World Book Encyclopedia says that 55 million people were killed in World War II. They were killed by people of every major religion, but not by Jehovah's Witnesses.Someone, annoyed with our refusal to go to war, once stated: 'You Jehovah's Witnesses…[Read more]

Jehovah God decreed that Israel should make war to rid the Promised Land of the depraved Canaanites. (Leviticus 18:1, 24-28; Deuteronomy 20:16-18) Just as God had punished evildoers by means of a deluge in Noah’s day and fire in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, so he wielded the nation of Israel as his sword of execution.—Genesis 6:12, 17; 19:…[Read more]

Anyway, back to the good news:“Celsus, the first writer against Christianity, makes it a matter of mockery, that labourers, shoemakers, farmers, the most uninformed and clownish of men, should be zealous preachers of the Gospel.” (The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries, by Augustus Neander; tra…[Read more]

Quote The point I make is that it is unwise to make new moral laws for ourselves and others. The idea of refusing to take part in military service is a couple thousand years old. The early Christians refused to engage in warefare. So it is not a “new moral law.”The Christian idea that refusing military involvement is older than the apostasized…[Read more]

Quote Hi david,That scripture does not state when this will happen does it?No, but at some point it will, right. And you said: “His gifts are for all generations.”Ok, back the good news.

Nick, I realize we are talking about the “who is my neighbor,” good samaritan parable.But what that has brought us to is you commiting treason. Who is your neighbor Nick? Only New Zealanders? Only people of your country? Or does it include the wounded soldier who has come to your country to kill you and your neighbors? Because if it does, I…[Read more]