There is great joy in heaven over the fall of the powerful nation of Babylon.
In the car this morning, I caught the first 10 minutes of "Talk of the Nation" on NPR - which focused its first hour on a discussion of the shift in the US military to rely increasingly on drones, or UAVs. The United States is currently using drones to drop bombs in 6 countries (Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Yemen, and Somalia). And though this makes life safer and easier for us, I have spent the rest of the day thinking about the morality of warfare by unmanned robotics. From our safe computer terminals in South Dakota, we are killing people in these countries.
We are safer - but without the risks of war, we are unlikely to seek peace. How would Augustine's Just War Theory be applied to this? When the two sides are so vastly unequal, can it be called "war"?
I do not mean to villify America - but to raise the concern. 19:10 states: At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.”
We are to worship God, not country. And while modern America may not be the same as Babylon - there are parallels. We must be on guard - to act justly and love mercy.
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You bring up a great point. Drone warfare seems to remove some of our responsibility out of "the war." If we can kill without risking our own lives, over time, will we continue to take the lives of others as seriously as we take our own?
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