What War (and Life) Can Do to Your Soul

On my way home from work, I listened to a thought-provoking podcast by Dr. Russell Moore on The Russell Moore Show. In the podcast, Dr. Moore discussed what war can do to our souls. So, instead of discussing the legality of the current war against Iran or its morality (Luther thoughts on the morality of war are summarized here) or its political or strategic impacts, he honed in on what war does inside of us--not as soldiers in the field but as, for lack of a better term, spectators from afar.

In this podcast, Dr. Moore articulated three main temptations a war, any war poses for all of us: Bloodlust, sloth, and doublemindedness. What stuck with me was the first temptation he talked about, bloodlust. What he meant was something he and many others felt in response to the attacks on 9/11, a sense of vengeance, some kind of righteous indignation: We're going to eradicate those guys on the other side, and it's going to make us feel good!

Reflecting on this feeling 25 years later, Dr. Moore reminded himself and us that war may be necessary but it's always awful. As he noted, this is easy to forget when we watch it from a great distance and when war is presented like a video game.

As someone who served in a theater of war right next to Iran, Dr. Moore's comments reminded me of two things. First, the 1930 movie All Quiet on the Western Front, which I had just rewatched a few weeks ago. The type of bloodlust Dr. Moore seems to be referring to is present in this movie, e.g., when--in the opening scenes set at the beginning of World War One--a high school teacher gives a fiery speech about patriotism and all the rest that motivates his entire class to sign up for military service on the Western Front, i.e., in France and Belgium. As it tends to happen with young men stirred to patriotic fervor in wartime on the home front, that fervor vanishes rather quickly once you are in the actual trenches on the actual front and the artillery shells and snipers take out one of your comrades after another. So it also happened to the movie's protagonist, Paul Bäumer. When Paul returns home on furlough, he is shocked by the gaslighting and patronizing he has to put up with from all the "real patriots" in the taverns on the home front. They tell him all about what "war is really like" and how the war should be prosecuted. They also denounce him as a coward for telling them a different story about what "war is really like." In disgust, he cuts his furlough short to return to his comrades in the trenches who, like him, know the real, ugly face of war. In the end, Paul--unlike the "real patriots" who are safe in their favorite tavern--is killed by a sniper when he reaches for a butterfly. It's no surprise that the Nazis mobilized against this movie, as well as the underlying novel by veteran infantryman Erich Maria Remarque. They wanted to instill their own bloodlust in the German people, and the movie got in their way.

The second thing Dr. Moore's first temptation reminded me of was Luther's distinction between what Luther called "Christ person" and "world person." He uses this precise terminology in his sermons on the Sermon on the Mount. But the underlying substance is present throughout his body of work, including in his seminal 1523 treatise on worldly government, which you can find here in a free, accessible translation.

What is Luther getting at with these unusual terms? He uses them to explain how Christians obey Christ's commandments to turn the other cheek, not to resist evil, not to judge--even as they discipline their children or serve as judges and soldiers. As Luther explained, Christians can and must do both: Not resist evil as "Christ persons" (as far as their personal advantage is concerned), while resisting evil as "world persons" (as far as their neighbors' advantage is concerned).

Simply put, then, Luther uses the terms of "Christ person" and "world person" to express how the heart of Christians should be disposed when they do their jobs of serving their neighbors in this world. This applies perhaps especially when carrying out governmental functions such as judging and serving as a soldier, but it is not at all limited to these functions.

For themselves, in their hearts, Christians should be prepared to suffer all, let go of all their possessions, and live in peace with all, just as Christ taught it in the Sermon on the Mount. With their hearts disposed in this way, they will carry out their duties in this world--where they might even have to wage war--in a way that seeks what helps the neighbor, not themselves. As soldiers, judges, and government leaders, they carry out their duties to protect the community and serve their neighbors, not to satisfy some personal vendetta or run some self-enrichment scheme. So, even as business leaders, they work to enrich their employees, not themselves--while as employees, they work to enrich their employers, not themselves.

All this is a fancy way of saying that living with others and leading others in your job, in the family, in government office is not about you. It's not about satisfying your selfish, sinful needs for power, money, and attention. It's all about what your neighbor needs in a concrete situation. It's all about love.

Love does what helps the neighbor. Love does not hurt the neighbor. BTW, that's also in Romans 13. You just have to keep reading.

According to Luther, this mindset turned into concrete actions of selfless service applies not only in war (although the absence of this humble mindset of a servant takes is most ugly and most devastating forms in times of war). This mindset applies when we raise our children. When we manage our employees. We when govern our community or nation. Wherever we find ourself in some type of relationship with our neighbors--that's when it applies. It's never about us. It's always about them.

As we know from personal experience, maintaining this selfless attitude in the heart at all times is not easy. We do have the innate urge to "have it our way," no matter what the neighbor needs. Properly considered, the heart's true selflessness is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to all those who believe in Christ.

You can read more about this important concept in my book God's Masks which you can find here.