Jehovah's Witnesses and the Just War Doctrine

by jschwehm 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  jschwehm

  Hi Guys:

  One of the things that the JWs claim is that there is no such thing as a just war today. They even say that their objection to war proves that only they are true Christians.

  Some people who are currently studying with the JWs have been asking me questions on how to answer JWs when they ask questions about war.

  So, I put up an article on the subject at Catholicxjw.com

  here is the link

  http://www.catholicxjw.com/doctrines.html

  Jeff S.
• 

  Big Dog

  I followed the link and read the article, very interesting. But I have actually another question, what made you leave the JW's and how did you end up deciding on Catholocism?
• 

  jschwehm

  Hi Big Dog:

  Thanks for visiting the website.

  I tell my story on why I became Catholic on the conversion page. Here is the link:

  http://www.catholicxjw.com/conversions.html

  To make a long story short, I started reading the early church fathers and discovered that the fullness of Christianity as handed down to us from Jesus and the Apostles is found in the Catholic Church.

  Jeff S.
• 

  jschwehm

  Hi Barney:

  I am glad you read the article.

  I hate war also. I think we probably could have dealt with Saddam without invading. But, that is water under the bridge now. We are in there so we better do the rebuilding right.

  My hope is that wars will become more and more rare. But as long as there is sin in the world, there will be people doing bad things and those bad things sometimes lead to wars.

  By the way, as a Catholic I also do not base my beliefs strictly on a book.

  Jeff S.

  www.catholicxjw.com
• 

  LittleToe

  Regarding the "Just War" theory, you can arrive at the position solely from logic.

  • Would you defend yourself, if someone attacked you?
  • How about your family?
  • How about your next door neighbour?
  • How about if you had the means, and someone was tearing up the neighbourhood?
  • How about if a local militia were formed to defend your small town against a vicious gang that was gonna hurt you and yours?

  Keep on scaling up, and you come to realise that in some circumstances war is just a matter of degree...

  I'm too old to get drafted, but I've changed my position 180* from when I was a JW. I have nothing but respect for the men and women of the armed forces, and regularly pray for them. In connection with that, I wish that folks would just let them get on and do the job they were trained to do, rather than holding them accountable for every stress-ridden step.