Is War Ever a "Good" Thing?

The question one might pose to the postmodern skeptic who wonders whether war can ever be a good thing is “Would it be a demonstration of goodness to show no opposition to evil?”  Can we approve of a government that offers no resistance to the criminal, whether burglar, rapist, murderer, or child abuser?  This is an important question because both the Old and New Testaments present a portrait of a moral God who judges evil.  One of the means of God’s judgment in the pages of the Old Testament is war.  It is extremely important to note at this point that God’s chosen people, the Israelites, are not always the ones who bring about God’s will on the battlefield.  In fact, they are often on the receiving end of his judgment, finding themselves massacred and enslaved just as at other times they are militarily victorious over other powers. . . .

If God allows and orders war in the Old Testament, then the nature of God as just determines that there must be such a thing as a just war, since God cannot order what is immoral.

Amy Orr-Ewing, “Postmodern Challenges to the Bible,”  in Beyond Opinion, by Ravi Zacharias, author and general editor, p.14, 20