War and Peace 2 - Origin of War? ...

Tuesday, March 23rd. What is the origin of war? Why do humans start war? Why do they carry out war? We can and should ask why war exists at all!

We can say that war arises when different groups of people have different opinions about who should own what, who should have power or influence, how others should behave or how things should be run or carried out. War is about power, about possessions, about lifestyle, about land, about ressources and survival.

War started with the separation from God

The bible tells the story of the separation from God. All human wars and many other evil things started with the mistrust of Adam and Eve. In the presence of God there was no war, there was trust and peace. But when the humans went away from God, they started to mistrust each other, they started to take away things from each other and wars entered the stage of world history.

Wars started with the separation from God. Do we understand this as the true origin of war? It is not a particular behaviour. War does not arise because some people are evil and others are not. War is not a mistake of some of our fellow humans. War is there because we as a human race are not one with the Lord. Creation was separated from the Lord and with this separation the fight was born. Now we look for our own ressources. We search for a good life, for appreciation and for power to control and to protect. In all of this we live with the seed of war in our hearts.

The heavenly war

We are not alone with our war. That is also a message the bible tells us. There are the spiritual powers which are part of the big heavenly war. Mankind with its wars is just a part of this. This doesn't diminish our responsibility. We are still responsible for how we act in the times of war and in times of peace. But we need to know that we alone cannot just stop all wars.

The bible also tells us, that there is a victory over war which is already achieved. It is the victory of Jesus, who died for our sins at the cross of Calvary. Even if we still live in war, he has already established the fundament for a deep and sustainable peace. He has opened a door back to the Lord, to God. He has opened a door back to a peace where no war can ever be. ... more texts