I have come to give you life
And to show you how to live it
I have come to make things right
To heal their ears and show you how to forgive them
Because I would rather die
I would rather die
I would rather die
Than to take your life
How can I kill the ones I'm supposed to love
My enemies are men like me
I will protest the sword if it's not wielded well
My enemies are men like me
Peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication
It's like telling someone murder is wrong
And then showing them by way of execution
When justice is bought and sold just like weapons of war
The ones who always pay are the poorest of the poor
-Derek Webb
Is Derek Webb a pacifist? Probably. Does that bother me? Maybe. Could I explain why? Not really. Until now.
Whenever I heard this song, a process of thought would begin to churn the cream of confusion. Is war really justifiable in light of Christs' teaching? Do we excuse the soldier by way of semantics, calling it killing rather than murder?
What about capital punishment? Is the judge that sentences the murderer to death pardoned for his actions? What about the guy that "pulls the lever" or "pushes the button"? What about the jury of the accused? Is retributive justice condonable in an "Age of Grace and Forgiveness"?
One of C.S. Lewis's arguments for Christianity was its coherence, or it's ability to make all things fit together. He said, "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." The doctrine of vocation is one color in the full spectrum of light that allows us to see clearly.
What if I was to decide that people who exceed the speed limit in the parking lot of our apartment complex are deserving of capital punishment, and then proceeded to execute each one with a single shot to the head through their windshield? It would be unethical, illegal, unbiblical, and sin. I am not called to legislate. I am not called to enforce the law or to prosecute those who fail to abide by it. I am most certainly not called to put them to death. But that doesn't mean that it would be wrong for everyone else as well. Those who have been nominated into legislature (ex. Congress) have been given the authority (although nominated by the people, the authority is derived from God Rom. 13) create a law that dictates the speed limit. Those who have the proper education, physical ability, moral fitness, can pass the civil service exam, and then survive Police Academy, may then go on to become Police Officers. They have the authority to see to it that the speed limit is enforced and may even exercise limited prosecutive authority. And so on, through the Prosecutor, Judge, and although my example is a bit exagerrated, even the executioner that injects the lethal dose of Potassium Chloride has been given authority, by God, do carry out their respective duties.
That's not to say that these people cannot sin against their profession. In the example of the executioner, he/she does not have the authority to execute at will. Just sticking a lethal dose of Potassium Chloride into his enemy's neck just because, is not what he was commissioned to do. Likewise, a soldier who has been commissioned by his country to carry out acts of war has not been given the authority to rape women. But as long as that soldier is acting within the commission he was given by his authority, he is within God's will, with the exception being a commission to deny Christ.
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