{"id":37147,"date":"2024-04-03T03:20:20","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T10:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=37147"},"modified":"2024-04-03T03:20:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T10:20:20","slug":"ponderings-of-a-dual-citizen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/ponderings-of-a-dual-citizen\/","title":{"rendered":"Ponderings of a Dual Citizen"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have never served our country as a Veteran.\u00a0 My dad was a Chaplain in the Vietnam War and my son-in-law served seven years in the military.\u00a0 My oldest son-in-law comes from a family of Army Generals (his dad and grandfather both served; frequently moving from base to base).\u00a0 Several of my close friends have served in the military too.\u00a0 I honor them for their service, courage, and loyalty to protecting the innocent. In the words of author Marc LiVecche, \u201cThe terms of these responsibilities make plain that military personnel live in a unique world\u2026Their contract has an \u2018unlimited liability\u2019 clause, they accept, the obligation to put their lives at grave risk when ordered to do so.\u201d [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

In the book that I read this week, <\/span>The Good Kill <\/span><\/i>by author Marc LiVecche expresses that the main objective is to challenge the notion, that killing, even in a justified war, is inherently morally incorrect, even when it’s legally authorized and practically essential to prevent a greater moral harm. The author approaches this issue from the perspective of Christian ethics, aligning with a distinctively Augustinian strand of Christian realism. The book seeks to apply ethical values to national interests and emphasizes the pursuit of justice, order, and peace on a global scale. LiVecche\u2019s framework focuses on the moral principles of just war, a facet of political theological thought that examines the moral and ethical considerations, as well as the boundaries, of warfare within the context of conscientious governance and human well-being. [2] <\/span>Just war theory addresses the moral reasoning behind the methods and reasons for engaging in warfare. [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

When I think about war, fighting, battle, use of force, weapons. . .\u00a0 I hate it.\u00a0 It is almost like my mind, once it considers the hurting of human life in any way, shape or form, it wants to quickly refuse to entertain the thought of it.\u00a0 But then I think, what if someone were hurting the life of an innocent child, would I just stand back and let it happen? Or if someone was hurting a friend or loved one?\u00a0 What would my response be?\u00a0 How can I obediently follow my first Love, Jesus, and stand up for the poor, broken, hurting, and abused?<\/span><\/p>\n

All too familiar is the memory of when our church staff and leadership held an Alice Training on our campus.\u00a0 It was a training that I was all too familiar with in the public school setting, practicing lockdowns four times a year to be ready and preparing our staff and students to be safe in the event of another school shooting.\u00a0 During the Alice Training at the church I wasn\u2019t anticipating the scenario involving an active shooting pursuing my second love, my husband.\u00a0 The officers presenting the training reenacted a scenario that was all too real.\u00a0 Actors broke into the lobby, shouting for the pastor, shooting blanks at the ceiling, as they made their way to the sanctuary going after my husband, the pastor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While I mentally knew it was just a reenactment, it was all too real. \u00a0 I ducked under a row of seats and was crying.\u00a0 The scenario was too incredibly lifelike. I regained my composure, jumped up and started throwing things at the actors.\u00a0 In LiVecche\u2019s words, \u201cWhen the stakes are high enough, the resulting ethical befuddlement might lead to crisis: there seems to be no way to determine the right decision, yet a decision must be made, under extreme pressure and time compression, and one sure to result in some or another tragic consequence.\u201d [4]\u00a0 The officers were not hurt by my meager attempts to disarm them with paper snowballs made out of connect cards and sermon notes, but the extreme pressure of \u201cYou are messing with my husband\u201d resulted in an ethical befuddlement at the time.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>As I tried to regain composure and dry my silent tears, the scenario ended, as an officer came over to me, giving me a big hug. Never hugged an officer before. . . and just for the record I haven\u2019t, yet, been in the back seat of an officer\u2019s car either. The officer had realized that I was the wife of the pastor.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a Christian, I am first and foremost a citizen of the kingdom of God and secondarily a citizen of this world. [5]\u00a0 My dual citizenship carries both privilege and responsibility.\u00a0 Although my ultimate allegiance is to God, I respectfully submit to governmental authority as an expression of obedience to my Lord Jesus and His saving plans for the world. God has authorized human governments to reward right and punish evil. [6] Those who serve in law enforcement perform worthy and honorable service for the sake of their neighbors at local, state and national levels. [7] The Constitution is not my ultimate guide for morality and faith. God\u2019s Word is.\u00a0 My dual citizenship may be exhibited in the form of defense, rescue or correction.<\/span><\/p>\n

In LiVecche\u2019s words spoken on the campus of Liberty University, \u201cWhile it is a Christian duty to love both the victim and the victimizer, we obviously cannot love both in precisely the same way in the same instant.\u00a0 Love and mercy for one neighbor may manifest in its defense and its rescue, while love and mercy for the other neighbor might manifest in its correction.\u201d [8]<\/span><\/p>\n

[1] LiVecche, Marc, <\/span>The Good Kill: Just War and Moral Injury<\/span><\/i>. New York: Oxford Academic, 2021,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/doi-org.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/10.1093\/oso\/9780197515808.003.0001<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span> accessed April 2, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ibid.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] <\/span>https:\/\/iep.utm.edu\/justwar\/<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

[4] LiVecche, Marc, <\/span>The Good Kill: Just War and Moral Injury<\/span><\/i>. New York: Oxford Academic, 2021,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/doi-org.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/10.1093\/oso\/9780197515808.003.0001<\/span><\/a>, accessed April 2, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Philippians 3:20<\/span><\/p>\n

[6] Romans 13:3-5; 1 Peter 2:14<\/span><\/p>\n

[7] Romans 13:3-5; 1 Peter 2:14<\/span><\/p>\n

[8] Smith, Kristen, <\/span>Liberty Champion News.<\/span><\/i> November 5, 2023, <\/span>https:\/\/www.liberty.edu\/champion\/2023\/11\/students-hear-from-distinguished-scholar-marc-livecche\/<\/span><\/a><\/span>,<\/span> accessed April 2, 2024.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have never served our country as a Veteran.\u00a0 My dad was a Chaplain in the Vietnam War and my son-in-law served seven years in the military.\u00a0 My oldest son-in-law comes from a family of Army Generals (his dad and grandfather both served; frequently moving from base to base).\u00a0 Several of my close friends have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,3098],"class_list":["post-37147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-livecche","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37147"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37148,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37147\/revisions\/37148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}