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“The emotional twist to the question If the situation of attacker and person being attacked stayed on the rational level, it would be much easier to debate and answer logically. But the way the question is put does not allow us to do that. It appeals to family connections and bonds of love so...

“5. Righteousness The logic of this approach assumes my righteousness. Not only am I able to calculate what would bring about the best outcome. I also assume that I am morally qualified to be judge, jury, and executioner - and to perform all those roles in one second. It is taken for granted...

“4. Individualism The question as usually posed assumes that the decision and what happens are individual matters. Not only does that make the ‘What if …?’ question quite unrepresentative of the social and institutional dimensions of war; it even makes it untrue for any particular concrete...

“3. Knowledge The ‘what if …?’ question presupposes, if not omniscience, at least full and reliable information. Not only does it assume on my part that events will unfold in an inevitable way; it also presumes that I am reliably informed about what that unfolding will be like. I know that if I...

“2. Control The challenge at least assumes my substantial control of the situation, if not my omnipotence. It assumes that if I seek to stop the attacker, I can. Now in some cases this may be true, but in many it is by no means certain. The more serious the threat which an attacker represents...

“The assumptions behind the question … 1. Determinism The questioner usually assumes that I alone have a decision to make. My relationship with the other persons in the situation is supposed to be one which unfolds mechanically. The attacker, for example, is preprogrammed to do the worst evil...

One of the best books that I’ve ever read is titled What Would You Do?: A serious answer to a standard question, written by John Howard Yoder. I highly recommend it to my readers. What is the “standard question”? “Sooner or later, in almost any serious discussion about peace and war, someone...

Critically thinking is what set me on the path that leads to the life of the age to come.

OMG. We just discovered that what we thought was an innocent kid wasn’t innocent after all. He was a murderer who moments before stabbed and robbed a little old lady around the block, out of our sight, and an off duty police officer in civilian clothes was trying to stop him. Neither of us were...

So no action is required of me other than to get out of the way and allow the situation to unfold between them. What if I hadn’t noticed that the first man had a concealed weapon? What if the man didn’t have a concealed weapon but I mistakenly thought that he did? It all happened so fast. He’s...

I tell you that God could have ended the threat with a word from his mouth. Setting that aside, who said anything about doing nothing? Not me. Can you guarantee that whatever you or I decide to do in that vague scenario that the innocent child would not die?

What are the details in your hypothetical? What are my options? I’ll give you one. A man with a gun concealed under his coat is walking down the street. I’m observing him as I walk toward him. Another man approaches the first man from behind and words are exchanged between them. Suddenly the...

If it involves a third party, does God get to make the choice for their life? If we would blame a person who is following Jesus for what happens to someone else by a person set on harming them, then why would we not blame God?

@Chihuahua if I were to adopt @Wranger’s conviction, I would have no alternative but to insist that you are not following Jesus. Let’s say, for the sake of discussion, that I just now decided Wrangler is a dadgum genius and I’m now on board with him. Forget Wrangler. Now it’s just you and me...

The alternative to not resist and submit to being killed is always an alternative answer. A police officer is an authorized agent of the government. PTSD is real.

“Peace and Violence. Jesus promised his followers the blessing of being in God’s family if they would be ‘peacemakers’ (Mt 5:9), respond non-violently to aggressors (5:38-42) and even love their enemies (5:43-48). Luke’s Gospel has been the center of pacifistic interpretations of the Gospels...

Government is given the power, the authority, even the responsibility - by God - to use the sword. Neither Jesus nor the apostles offered the Roman Emperors advice on what they should or should not do about the threats they faced from other nations. I wouldn’t offer the US President any advice...

“Caesar wants Wrangler killed.“ I won’t do it. Somewhere in the world, a Christian is willing to do it.

“Ludicrous” was an understatement.