Should Christians Join The Military?

[JP1]

spending the day in MOPP4 in 100 degF heat was not a cakewalk

Oh my gosh, yes! I hated that MOPP suit. I think MOPP4 was the most miserable part of the military!

Well, I would say the support here for the military has been overwhelming, and I appreciate it greatly - as I'm sure all of our veterans do. LadyC, your comments were very kind and I thank you. Glory to God! And God bless our troops, who put themselves in harm's way every day over in Iraq.

Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful)

[irishcowboy]

sorry to have come across with the sense of being bitter,

I am not, I did what I was lead to do, I stayed as long as I was to stay, even being passed over for promotion due to my beliefs and standards.... I would not break morals to do some of the things that was required.....

what I was tying to come across with was, that a person needs to keep it between them and God.... much like alot of other things people are asking about..... some will use a question as such to pass responsibility.... saying that so and so said this is the way it is to be done.....

yea, it is tough, my last duty station only had three people I could trust. The Commanding Officer, The Chaplain, and a Boswains mate. yep, that is out of 525 people....

as far as church services at my last command, I was able to attend maybe three services, because of duties..... my duties had me going 16 - 18 hours aday, with 6 - 8 hours to do all my personal stuff, which included eating, cleaning, uniforms, study, planning, sleeping, letter writing, and that would be broken up between General Quarters, Fire drills, ships replentishment, and what ever other things I was called upon to do.

Bitter? NAAAA, not in the least, would not give up what i have seen or done or experienced....

depart seeing my son as an infant, return when he is walking, and dosnt have a clue who I am....

as I was saying, the Military is not for every one......

as the question was posed, should Christians join the Military? was giving a view that some never know unless they have been there..... the military is not glamorous.... not in the least..... they look good, marching in parades, but for the most part, that is the most glamorous you will see them....

if you are not a strong Christian, your faith will be tested.

you can either bend with the pressure, go with the flow, or you can stand on your moral beliefs and take a beating.......

some that join falter and slip away, others will tend to walk the fence, and some will maintain their stand for the Lord.....

the company I work for now, is a totally Christian company...... there are no, non-Christians employed.... and the standard of service is that of God.....

mike

[JP1]

yea, it is tough, my last duty station only had three people I could trust. The Commanding Officer, The Chaplain, and a Boswains mate. yep, that is out of 525 people....

Where I currently work now, which is a firm of about 250 people, I know of two that are Christians. Sure, there are people that believe in God, but I'm talking about born-again believers. The people that I work with daily, in my department, every other word out of their mouth is a swear word, and all the men do is talk about women and what they would like to do to them.

What I am trying to point out here, is that the picture that you are painting of the military is no different than daily life in most of the rest of society (minus the discipline and travel).

the company I work for now, is a totally Christian company...... there are no, non-Christians employed.... and the standard of service is that of God.....

Well, that explains a lot! No wonder you see such a huge difference! Believe me, your work experience is far different then most persons! I would love to work at a company like that. That is not the calling that God has for everyone though. Jesus needs his disciples out among the sinners to witness to them. If by my positive, Christian attitude, and just letting my light shine for our Lord, I can be a witness to someone at work in this non-Christian envorinment, and lead them to Christ by my example, then that is fantastic. I would not have that opportunity in an all Christian environment.

as the question was posed, should Christians join the Military? was giving a view that some never know unless they have been there..... the military is not glamorous.... not in the least..... they look good, marching in parades, but for the most part, that is the most glamorous you will see them....

I have no problem with this. I agree as a matter of fact. Good point. It applies to anyone joining the military, Christian or not. One needs to think long and hard about what they are getting into. There have been people who signed up just to get a free college education and then find themselves in a war zone wondering what happened.

As far as your faith faltering because you are among many unbelievers? Like I said, that is daily life (except of course, if you work in an all Christian environment). As a sidenote, I wonder how your employer gets away with "there are no non-Christians employed" as it is illegal to discriminate for hiring purposes on the basis of religion (unless of course you are not in the US). If a Moslem came and interviewed there, who was otherwise fully qualified, you couldn't base your rejection on his religion. As a matter of fact, you are not even allowed to ask about their religion in an interview.

Anyway, back to your faith faltering - I point you to 1 Corinthians 10:13:

"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

And I don't think the "should Christians join the Military?" was referencing the fact that it was because they might lose their faith. I believe it was saying because it is not Biblically correct to join the military, and THAT is wrong.

[johnjackofmn]

I can honestly say that if it wasn't for my time in the Army, I would not be a Christian today. Yep, that's right, this is not a misprint. I was led to the Lord by a fellow soldier while I was stationed at Ft. Carson. True, most of the military is non-glamorous. It's dirty, boring, and quite tiresome. It stretches you to your limits at times.

I am a 3 year veteran of the US Army and I also spent over 17 years in the National Guard in Minnesota. I retired 10 years ago. My former unit is now on active duty in Germany training for Kosovo. I support the troops and the Commander-in-Chief. Remember God gave His authority to the Governments.

[WayneB]

yea, it is tough, my last duty station only had three people I could trust. The Commanding Officer, The Chaplain, and a Boswains mate. yep, that is out of 525 people....

Praise God that you had three men you could trust. I had none...including myself!

Military is not for every one

Agreed! You do have to be strong. I feel somewhat bad because I was one of those guys you described. I wasn't a Christian when I was in the service. I didn't come to the Lord until 7 years after I got out. Praise God for the Blood of the Lamb!

if you are not a strong Christian, your faith will be tested.

It's that way everywhere. Our faith is tested everyday, sometimes in ways we don't recognize.

Mike, I think I have figured out the problem though. JP1 and I were Army (OK, so he came from the Marines but the Army is somewhat too tolerant at times). Too bad you didn't join the real military. At least you weren't in the "chair" force.

God Bless all,

Wayne

[Guest LadyC]

JP1, you are welcome

to the person who first asked this question, and to any others who may agree with him, let me ask the following:

should a Christian join the police department? after all, there are corrupt cops, there are incidents of police brutality.

should a Christian run for political office? I'm not even talking about the big offices, i'm talking about ANY office, including your local schoolboard, state representative, town mayor, whatever. after all, corruption is rampant in politics.

should a Christian be employed as a fire fighter? after all, some of the most notorious arsonists in history have worked for their fire department.

[irishcowboy]

one differance between the "real " world and the military, is if you have a shop full of people that play the christian for everything they can, at least in the civilian world, you can go home after work..... when aboard ship, you are stuck in the same birthing compartment as those that are butting heads with you during your shift, no locked doors, your ownly space is very small, 6' x 2' x 2', unless you have a top rack ( 3 beds high, and some are set for 4 high ) your locker is what is called a coffin locker, which is about 8 inches deep and 6 ' long and 2 ' wide...... your hanging locker is about 6 inches by 30inches by about 2 foot deep.... your privacy is a curtain that you can pull across the one side of your rack that is open for all who walk by...... oh yea, if some one dont like you, you may not sleep very well, for they have full access to you while you sleep....

while I was in the gulf, I had more answers to prayer in a short time then I had ever had in the same time frame ever before...... my relationship with the Lord became the best it had ever been upto that time...... and has been growing stronger daily...... earlier I spoke of "no mans land" that area is called that for that is the area of the ship that gets the most movement, so if a person has the tendancy to become motion sick, that area is the last place they wish to go, the further back you go and the further down you go the more calm it is.... the sail locker ( where a few of us went and i mean a very few ) was the most forward and deepest compartment of the ship.....

the ship was 520 some feet long, 30 some feet wide....

the work I enjoyed most was when I was working aloft ( that means up in the rigging or on the mast and yardarms ).... you see, my supervisors did not like going aloft, and well, during HIGH SEAS, there was no one else that would go aloft.... I liked it, there were a couple times that i was aloft, and if I was to look down, all I seen was water over 100 feet below...... I did the antenna repairs ...

one thing I liked about being aloft, was no one was there to bother me, no one messin with me.... and well, even my chief, well, he would not go aloft during calm days in port..... lol.....

no, that did not make me feel any closer to God, that was just peaceful, what brought me closer to God was the times I spent as far forward on the main deck watching the dolphins play in the wake..... talking to the Lord, listening to the Lord, and to the gulls and well, even watching the goonybirds... we had one that was with us almost the entire 6 months out....

I have been as far north as the northern border of Finland, as far east as three miles from the Soviet boarder, as far south as New Zealand, and as far west as the western end of the persian gulf.......

I have seen things that alot of people wont ever see, done things that alot of people will never do, and met people that most will never meet....

I have been mistaken for being a local in many places ( Iceland, Finland, Denmark, England, Australia, ) have been to many countries, to all but one state, and still looking forward to going to more..... one day I hope to go to China, and or Korea, maybe even other EuroAsian countries......

my experiences in the military were great, did they prepare me for what I am doing now??? no, not in the least...... did they help me spiritually??? probably so....

my son wishes to go, he may or may not do it, that is up to him...... my step son ships out in feb 2004 ( in a month ) and his cousin also.....

well, I guess i have rambled enough.... sorry..

mike

[JP1]

Mike, I think I have figured out the problem though. JP1 and I were Army (OK, so he came from the Marines but the Army is somewhat too tolerant at times). Too bad you didn't join the real military. At least you weren't in the "chair" force

And to think, I had a "squid" remark all set to go, and then decided to be nice and not say anything! :x:

[JP1]

well, I guess i have rambled enough.... sorry..

I enjoyed reading your "ramble", Mike! It's always nice to visit with other veterans, and especially when they are a brother or sister in Christ.

Oh, and those living quarters you described on ship? LUXURY compared to what you sailors give to the Marines to sleep on! A piece of canvas strung at least 4 high, so close together that a guy in the middle doesn't even have enough room to roll over because the guy on top's canvas is sagging down almost touching you! At least you had a mattress and a curtain!

[WayneB]

well, I guess i have rambled enough.... sorry..

No need to be sorry. I enjoyed your "ramble" also. I am a rambler also...from way back. Seriously, thanks for sharing your experience. I'm just glad a chose dry land to do my time!