Response to Adventism’s Non-Combatancy

KASPARS OZOLINS

In the early hours of October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists streamed across the Gazan border and began to commit acts of savagery against Jews not seen in the world since the Holocaust. For hours, they engaged in unspeakable barbarism, raping, torturing, murdering. Their victims were men, women, young people, even little babies. Even now, weeks after that black day, Israeli authorities are still discovering bodies, and piecing together the horrid details of the evil that took place that day. Over 1,400 Jews were murdered, while the terrorists themselves filmed all of this extensively and deliberately and proudly proclaimed their wickedness to the world by flooding the internet with these videos. They often did this with the stolen phones of their murdered victims, sending the video to their families via social media, so as to inflict maximum pain. 

Besides this, Hamas terrorists took hundreds of Israelis hostage. The videos show their desperation and horror at being suddenly kidnapped at gunpoint, not knowing what fate awaits them in Gaza. They are presumed to be currently imprisoned deep within the labyrinthine network of tunnels dug by Hamas. It is not known whether they are receiving food and water, or medical care. One shudders to think how much they must have been tortured and raped and terrorized by now. 

I personally felt the need to watch some of these videos, not out of curiosity or a desire to see something shocking (God forbid). Rather, I needed to be reminded of the evil of mankind, and I needed to be aware of the kind of monstrosity that continues to be perpetuated against the Jewish people to this very day. I saw unforgettable scenes of cruelty, such as a man, lying on the ground and clearly wounded, who was hacked to death with a hoe by gleeful terrorists. I saw a little boy, kidnapped to Gaza, and now being mocked by other Palestinian children who had surrounded the frightened child. I thought of my own sons and my wife, and shuddered to imagine how I might feel if anything like this had happened to them.

Israel is therefore now engaged in a great struggle against Hamas and has vowed to destroy it. And since this terrorist organization fundamentally operates on the principle that Gaza’s civilian population serves as its main shield against Israel’s military, that population is now undergoing immense suffering. One of the most disheartening revelations of these attacks has been the world’s reaction to all this, which seems to have quickly shifted from sympathy for the families of Jews massacred by Hamas, to outrage at the Israeli military’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Much of this outrage has been unmistakably antisemitic in character. Protests in support of the Palestinians have erupted all over the world, which include demonstrators chanting dark slogans like “Gas the Jews!” (as occurred in Sydney, Australia). 

Adventist Non-Combatancy

The events of the last few weeks have also reminded me of Seventh-day Adventism’s historic attitude toward wars and conflicts. A press release on the very day of the massacre, October 7, dispassionately described the events as a “conflict” that “broke out on the Sabbath—a day traditionally observed as a time of peace by both Jews and Adventists.” The church called for “an immediate halt to the hostilities” adding that their prayer was that “God will open avenues for diplomatic discussions to bring a quick end to the violence and prevent further loss of innocent lives.” The statement is reflective of the general Seventh-day Adventist attitude toward war, which in this case took no consideration of the need for the Israeli state to protect its citizens by decisively dealing with the existential threat that is Hamas.

The official Adventist perspective on military conflicts may be described as one of “non-combatancy.” At the 1972 annual GC meeting in Mexico City, Mexico, leaders adopted the following resolution:

“Genuine Christianity manifests itself in good citizenship and loyalty to civil government.  The breaking out of war among men in no way alters the Christian’s supreme allegiance and responsibility to God or modifies their obligation to practice their beliefs and put God first.

This partnership with God through Jesus Christ who came into this world not to destroy men’s lives but to save them causes Seventh-day Adventists to advocate a noncombatant position, following their divine Master in not taking human life, but rendering all possible service to save it.  As they accept the obligation of citizenship as well as its benefits, their loyalty to government requires them willingly to serve the state in any noncombatant capacity, civil or military, in war or peace, in uniform or out of it, which will contribute to saving life, asking only that they may serve in those capacities which do not violate their conscientious convictions.”

This position, essentially pacifist in perspective, is inherently appealing to a postmodern West, which is hostile to categories of right and wrong, or the very idea that justice could ever be retributive. A major Hollywood epic Hacksaw Ridge, released in 2016, features the story of Desmond Doss, an Adventist who served as a non-combat medic in World War II owing to his pacifist beliefs. Doss’ popularity extends even to the organization PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), which posthumously awarded him for “refusing to touch a steak knife,” let alone a gun. The “Hero to Animals” award was presented in 2017 at the Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy, an Adventist school in Lynchburg, Virginia. The principal Steve Doss stated, “I’m honored to receive this award on behalf of Desmond,” as reported by Adventist Review. PETA has previously run morally repugnant campaigns such as “Holocaust on your plate,” comparing the consumption of chicken to the murder of Jews in concentration camps. (In light of this moral confusion, it should not be surprising that PETA’s position on abortion is non-commital and reminiscent of the detached and ultimately contradictory statement officially released by the Seventh-day Adventist church.)

A Christian perspective on war

“War is hell.” This phrase is popularly attributed to William Tecumseh Sherman, one of President Lincoln’s most able generals during the American Civil War. No one can agree more with such a sentiment than the Christian, who is informed by a biblical theology that identifies the locus of all human wars as the human heart. Jeremiah proclaims that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). Our Lord solemnly declares that “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matt 15:19). The systematic, often brutal, killing of human beings in the innumerable conflicts which have spanned the entire history of mankind is a dark testament to the fallenness of the human heart and its need of radical transformation. The proposition that man is evil (so often challenged by non-Christian worldviews) is soundly proven by even a cursory examination of today’s newspapers, or an investigation of yesterday’s history. 

Nevertheless, the sweeping of all war into a single moral category is simply not morally tenable. A pacifist stance (1) does not take into account the conditions leading to each conflict, (2) overlooks the biblically sanctioned category of the nation state and its sovereignty, (3) ignores considerations about a legitimate authority which may justify a military campaign (whether divine or a divinely sanctioned human authority), (4) does not consider the way that a war could be conducted or which persons are to be the target of a military response, (5) above all, it erases the moral (and linguistic) distinction between killing and murder. 

There is a long Christian tradition of reflection on the criteria for a just war (bellum iustum), most famously in the person of Augustine of Hippo. In his works, especially The City of God, he provides helpful answers and categories to all of the above. Although war should always be a last resort, sometimes evil committed by a state or a group of individuals can only be responded to by armed conflict. Indeed, sometimes war is the only justifiable response to certain kinds of evil which would otherwise threaten the existence of entire societies. We have examples of divinely commanded war in Scripture, and we know that the God of peace will also one day deal decisively with all evil, punishing it and upholding perfect justice.

It must of course be acknowledged that there is a place for a Christian to object to an unjust war and to refuse to cooperate with a government that commands one to engage in any activity contrary to the revealed will of God. This can be harder for us as Western Christians to understand, given our democratic traditions. Nevertheless, it is not contradictory for Christians (who believe in the forgiveness that God offers in Christ) to recognize that human evil sometimes necessitates a military response in this fallen world. In point of fact, it is not at all contradictory for Christians to pray for the salvation of souls—even of Hamas terrorists—while also praying for the just judgment of God who uses government as “an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Rom 13:4). The same God who offers complete forgiveness in Christ also exacts perfect vengeance on his unrepentant enemies. The Lamb who was “slain before the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8) is the same Lamb from whose wrath the wicked will one day try to hide (Rev 6:16–17). 

The great Protestant Reformer Martin Luther wrote a brief tract titled Can Soldiers Be Christians? in response to a nobleman who asked him this very question. Although Luther (with Augustine) acknowledged the state of fallen humanity which brings about both the presence and occasional necessity of wars, he did not see it as contradictory for a Christian to serve as a soldier: 

“Even when I consider the work of war, punishing the wicked, slaying wrongdoers, and causing so much misery, it seems to be a very un-Christian work and directly contrary to Christian love; but when I consider how it protects the good, woman and children, homes, property and honor, and sustains and preserves the peace withal, then it appears how precious and divine the work is…All that is said and written about the war being a great curse is true; but at the same time people ought to consider how much greater is the curse that is prevented by war.”

Given the nature of fallen humanity, Luther recognized the need for governments to sometimes respond to large-scale evil with the arms of war, and that is something that Christians can and must acknowledge. We can even recognize that God uses imperfect, sinful governments to punish evil on earth. Even wicked Assyria was chosen by God as his instrument to punish Israel for her sins (although it greatly overstepped its authority in its arrogance). Turing our attention to more recent history, we can readily acknowledge that the United States has to some degree been a deeply flawed nation throughout its history. None of this, however, implies that American Christians could not in good conscience have fought against Nazism in Germany, against Communism in Korea, or against Islamic terror in Iraq, all forms of evil which must be opposed.

Adventist moral equivalency

The traditional Adventist non-combatancy position is both shaped by and shapes the theology of God’s attributes. Jack Hoehn, for example, claims in an article titled “Adventist Tomorrow: Militant Pacifism” that the Old Testament “warrior God” was a misunderstanding brought about by Old Testament prophets “bringing God down to their level.” Presumably, modern societies are far more enlightened and therefore have no more need for such a practice. Not only is the God of the Old Testament thereby distorted, but the very nature of Christ is twisted by proof-texting his Sermon on the Mount and ignoring the distinction between interpersonal relationships among believers, and the very real evil that threatens entire societies.

Equally troubling, the Adventist non-combatancy position leads to moral confusion about human actions in war. This was brought home vividly in a recent Adventist Today article titled “Brothers at War: Why You Should Avoid Simple Answers about the Israel-Gaza Conflict”: 

“Do not listen to one side when they tell you that the state of Israel is the bad guy and the Palestinians get a pass for any abhorrent behavior because it’s justified. It’s not that simple. And do not listen to the other side when they tell you that the Palestinians are the bad guys and Israel gets a pass for any abhorrent behavior because it’s justified. It’s not that simple. Sarah and Hagar could not have known that their family problems would lead to this terrible outcome, a conflict that today threatens to draw in the entire world. I believe that peace is possible in the Middle East. I hold to that hope. But peace will not come through war. And it will not come through simple, partisan solutions.”

Biblical Christians must reject such moral equivalency. As New Covenant believers, our primary call is to be ambassadors of the gospel, sharing the love of Christ even with the worst of the worst, if granted the opportunity, so that they, too, might be saved. At the same time, along with the Psalmist, it is also right to pray that God would “break the teeth of the wicked” (Ps 3:7), imploring him to “do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more” (Ps 10:18). †

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Kaspars Ozolins

Kaspars Ozolins was born in Latvia to an Adventist family. They moved to Los Angeles where Kaspars attended Adventist elementary and high schools in Glendale, California, and his father was an Adventist pastor. He met Ieva, his wife, while studying in Latvia before pursuing a doctorate at UCLA in historical linguistics. After Kaspars completed an M. Div. at The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, California, he served as a research associate at Tyndale House in Old Testament and the Ancient Near East. He is now on the faculty at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary as Assistant Professor of Old Testament Interpretation.

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