A Theology of Combat: Introduction

I need to make a small caveat at the beginning of this post. This has nothing to do with the recent incident in Ferguson, MO, or the police shooting in St. Louis. However, in light of these events, I think I need to explain why I am thinking and writing about a theology of combat. I am a police officer. I am also a Christian. As such, I love Jesus, I love the Bible, I love reading, and I love theology. My desire as a police officer is to perform my job to the best of my ability, to the glory of God. My thinking about a theology of combat was born out of this desire. I have been thinking about this for a few months now (before Ferguson took place), and most of the Christian commentary on the police lately has strengthened my conviction that Christian police officers and soldiers need a theology of combat. It has also shown me that Christian leaders need a theology of combat for police work and military work if they are going to accurately discuss such issues and minister to those who have these jobs. I learn best and my thoughts are organized best if I write down what I am thinking about, thus this blog.

I recently finished the book On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and Peace by retired Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman. To say the book is great is an understatement. Not only does Grossman provide important insights and wisdom for the modern day warrior (military and police officers), but the book is extremely inspirational. The book is full of stories from warriors who have fought overseas and here at home in America as peace officers. I found the experiences of those individuals both motivating and edifying. I would recommend the book to any military man or woman or to any police officer, and the book will most likely continue to be a treasured source of wisdom and truth for me throughout my career.

However, for those of us who have called on the name of Jesus and have been born again to a living hope, I think the book presents some problems. I do not know if Lt. Colonel Grossman is a Christian or not (reading between the lines in his book, I suspect that he is), but the book On Combat (and the warrior culture in general) contains a good deal of unbiblical thinking and humanistic philosophy. Intentional or not, the book seems to present the warrior life as a comprehensive worldview- a framework for interpreting all the realities of life. However much truth and wisdom a book contains, it has the potential to be harmful if it advocates any understanding of the world that does not correspond to ultimate reality, and the Scriptures present that ultimate reality. Given the popularity of the book and the genuine common grace wisdom it contains, this presents a problem, as there are many believing soldiers, Marines, and police officers who may pick up this book and read it. It's not the reading of the book that is the problem (as mentioned above, I heartily recommend the book), but the adoption of the unbiblical ideas contained therein that can cause spiritual harm to these Christian warriors. As John Piper says, "behind most wrong living is wrong thinking" (Future Grace, 2012, pg. 2).

My purpose here is not to criticize the book On Combat, but to the pose the question, how should we, as warriors in the modern age who believe in Christ, live a God centered, Christ exulting life in these professions? How should we think about our job, and specifically the combat portions of our job, in light of our larger biblical understanding of the world? Paul said that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." This is true of all believers, including those of us who serve as soldiers or police officers. However, those of us in these professions may have to literally wrestle with the flesh and blood and not just with the evil cosmic powers behind the actions of the flesh and blood. Paul says we are to do all things to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31), and for us, this may include (legally justified) fist fights and gun fights. How should we think biblically about these things?

What we need is a theology of combat. I am not talking about a just war theory. Just war theory is for helping one decide whether or not a conflict is righteous in the first place. But after we have agreed that a conflict is righteous and have decided to participate in that conflict, either from a military standpoint or a peace officer standpoint, how should we think and feel and act in and about that combat in light of the truths of Scripture?