Killing while fighting at war

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johnyct9760

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This is a really touchy question but I’m a catholic and while at war I definitely killed other people while fighting. Am I hell bound? If you get past all the rhetoric a kill, is a kill is a kill, so I don’t see how murdering someone in cold blood is any different then being in fire fight as a solider.

Now I want to make this clear I’m a peaceful man, I have a family and I didn’t enjoy my service and what I had to do to get to the end of it. BUT I don’t feel bad about living through life and death situation where its me or the other person that is going to be KIA.

Thx for the help and guidence
 
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People are created for Heaven. Nobody is created for hell.

Schedule an appointment to talk with a priest about your past and he will guide you.
 
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OP, are you Catholic or are you whatever that says on your profile? 🥴
 
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Definitely one to talk to with your priest. Try and schedule a meeting with him rather than during confession I had a worry like yours not so long ago and that chat helped me massively.
 
Irishmom2 said:
OP, are you Catholic or are you whatever that says on your profile? 🥴
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I am hoping that @johnyct9760 did not inadvertently enter his password in that field…OP: please check and edit your profile to make sure you didn’t do this.
 
@Tolle_Lege, good catch. I flagged it for the mods to perhaps change it for him.
 
johnyct9760 said:
a kill, is a kill is a kill
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It really isn’t true. For a minute, take out of the context of war. Killing someone who breaks into my house, and is threatening my family or myself is totally different from choosing to attack, kill, and perhaps rob another person. It is never good to kill, but one is acceptable and the other is gravely sinful.

You ask if you are Hell bound. Not from the situation you stated. The Catholic Church has addressed this since the earliest of times. Here is one article.

bulldogcatholic.org

Can a Christian Fight in War?

Can a Christian fight in war? If a Catholic soldier killed someone in battle, would they have to go to Confession?
bulldogcatholic.org bulldogcatholic.org

There are a lot of feelings and emotions that accompany this, so I too suggest a conversation with a pastor.
 
The bible is full of times when God commanded His people to go to war; to annihilate the enemy. I was thinking of all the references and figured there would already be a lot of info ‘out there’ that others had already done for me… and there is.

Here was one quick 2 paragraphs with a lot of links; Basically, NO a kill is not a kill is not a kill. Basically, you are not going to hell because you were called to fight in a war.
God often ordered the Israelites to go to war with other nations (1 Samuel 15:3; Joshua 4:13). God ordered the death penalty for numerous crimes (Exodus 21:12, 15; 22:19; Leviticus 20:11). So, God is not against killing in all circumstances, but only murder. War is never a good thing, but sometimes it is a necessary thing. In a world filled with sinful people (Romans 3:10-18), war is inevitable. Sometimes the only way to keep sinful people from doing great harm to the innocent is by going to war.
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In the Old Testament, God ordered the Israelites to “take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites” (Numbers 31:2). Deuteronomy 20:16-17 declares, “However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them…as the LORD your God has commanded you.” Also, 1 Samuel 15:18 says, “Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.” Obviously God is not against all war. Jesus is always in perfect agreement with the Father (John 10:30), so we cannot argue that war was only God’s will in the Old Testament. God does not change (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17).
 
johnyct9760 said:
If you get past all the rhetoric a kill, is a kill is a kill, so I don’t see how murdering someone in cold blood is any different then being in fire fight as a solider.
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People who haven’t killed, including myself, have a hard time getting this, but from what I’ve read, this is the understanding which many war fighters come to through the experience of close kills. When you are close enough to see the humanity of the other person – another self, just like you, someone’s son, brother, husband, or father – you comprehend the human tragedy of killing at a level that the rest of us can’t. God bless you.

To answer your question, no, you are not hell bound. I would suggest that you talk to a priest about your concerns, and maybe you can find a priest who knows about war and its effects. Go to confession if you are aware that you held any hatred or contempt for your adversaries in war.

Another suggestion is to pray for those you killed. Jesus told us to love our enemies, to pray for them, and to forgive. Pray that God will grant them eternal rest in his glorious presence.

You could even pray to them, on the chance that they’ve already made it to heaven. If they are up there, they have nothing but love for you, because heaven is all about love… and they’ll pray for you as well.
 
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