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War. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” Those words flowed from the vocal cords of Bruce Springsteen to speakers the size of three-story buildings. From there, they reverberated through the skulls of 100,000 people packed into the Los Angeles Coliseum.

It was 1985, and I thought I simply was experiencing another rock concert. I had recently graduated from college and was not a Christian. I was unaware of the ideological battles that are fought on cultural playgrounds.

In terms of sheer audience size and media impact, that concert now reminds me of large, artificial political rallies once held in Berlin and Moscow’s Red Square. The slogans were different, but the responses were equally dutiful and mindless, filled with “Absolutely nothing!”

When we look back at Hitler’s shadow moving across the map of Europe, and the even greater darkness of the Holocaust, do we really have to ask what war is good for? “Make love, not war” is a cute phrase, but it lacks substance when soldiers are pounding on your door.

That is not to say that all Christians have agreed with the idea of just war. But we are united against spiritual forces of wickedness (Eph. 6:10–20). And because Scripture attests to that idea, most Christians take the next step and affirm that we may make war to stop great evil.

This would explain why war is common throughout the Bible. Since the Garden of Eden, man has been at enmity with his fellow man and with God. Resolving these two battles is a central theme of the Bible, and nowhere in the Bible is this more clear than in the book of Joshua. The first 12 chapters deal with the conquest of Canaan. Along the way, there are many bloody battles, and the descriptions and tallies of the dead leave us uncomfortable with God’s means.

It is not wrong to ask why God ordered the annihilation of the Canaanites. But it is dangerous to think that we have more compassion than God. God is love, but He is not only love—He is also a God of wrath. He carefully measures His wrath and pours it out on sinful, unrepentant people—in this case, the Canaanites, who partook of incest, adultery, temple prostitution, child sacrifice, idolatry, and bestiality.

The penalty for cosmic treason against our Commander is death. Justice was served in the destruction of the Canaanites. Perhaps what makes us uncomfortable is not the blood, but that it is by the grace of God (not our own works) that we are spared God’s wrath.

Months after attending that concert, I became a Christian. I was drafted into God’s army and now battle for hearts, minds, and bodies. War. What is it good for? Absolutely everything.

Reducing the Giants

A Promise of Victory

Keep Reading Marked for Life: Unconditional Election

From the March 2001 Issue
Mar 2001 Issue