Gospel.com Blog

Veteran’s Day (commemorated elsewhere in the world as Armistice Day or Remembrance Day) is tomorrow. Every year in early November, it reminds us of the countless men and women who have served in the military. American soldiers—and their brothers in arms from other countries—have marched, fought, and sometimes died in places all over the globe.

While the ethical questions raised are unique to each conflict, on Veteran’s Day we generally set aside such questions and simply salute those who have served their country. Nevertheless, the question of military service is one that has challenged Christians since the first days of the Church. Here are a few articles to get you thinking as you commemorate Veteran’s Day this year; all are from the Officers’ Christian Fellowship:

Can a Christian serve in combat? The age-old question of Christian ethics and the soldier’s calling.

A Conversation with a Chaplain: What’s it really like to serve as a military chaplain? An open talk about the challenges and realities of chaplaincy.

For more conversation, you might also see a recent post by Jonalyn Fincher about women and weapons. The post, and the ensuing conversation, touch on a lot of the questions that swirl around the issue of guns, self-defense, and violence.

These are weighty essays, but amidst all the moral discussion, let’s not forget to thank and honor those who have served their countries on the frontlines. Let’s thank those who have served in the past, and pray for those who are serving right now in hotspots around the world.

What’s the worst thing Christians have ever done?

If you said “the Crusades,” it’s hard to argue with you. What could be more disturbing than the followers of Jesus Christ—whose most famous sermon specifically praised peacemakers and encouraged his followers to “love your enemies”—taking up the sword to slaughter their foes? The Crusades’ bloody legacy continues to plague Christian-Muslim relations even today, 900 years after the fact!

Church historians have struggled for centuries to figure out exactly what went wrong—how the church of Jesus Christ came to champion violent “holy war.” As uncomfortable as it is to think about such an ugly period of church history, Christians need to grapple with the Crusades if they’re going to understand the story of the Church.

We’ve tracked down several resources from around the Gospel.com community that should help you better understand what the Crusades were, how they happened, and why they’re still so important to us today. If you know the Crusades were a stain on church history but don’t know exactly how and why, explore these links and see what you learn:

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Is there room for the Gospel in a world marked by war, genocide, and terrorism? The latest issue of the Lausanne World Pulse focuses on the challenge of proclaiming the Gospel in the face of war in the Middle East and genocide in Africa.

Lon Allison’s opening essay talks about the Gospel as a source of hope in a broken world. Another article provides a case study of relief work and evangelism in Uganda, where “a 19-year war… initiated by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) against the government of Uganda has subjected its people to brutality and violence beyond imagination.” Despite the horror that many in Uganda have suffered, the Gospel is providing hope to traumatized survivors at a care center for child mothers.

Other essays talk about the plight of Christians in Iraq today, ministry in the red light districts of Kolkata, India, and media evangelism in the Middle East. Lots of good material on the theme of missions and evangelism in some of the most battered and wartorn areas in the world—give it a read and get a glimpse at the state of global mission work today.