Need guidance in my decision

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ello all

I have looked at this forum a few times and everyone on here seems to offer some really good and insightful advice. I have an extremely important and burning question that I could use other’s opinions on.

I am currently looking very closely into a career as a military officer, many members of my family have been service members and we are all catholic. I really feel like this is my purpose in this world- its all I ever really wanted to do for a very long time. More specifically I am pursuing becoming an air force pilot.
I guess I’ll just ask my big question flat out:
What about having to use lethal force if the situation arose? I am not joining because I want to kill people- I am joining because I want to serve my nation and preserve our way of life. I have heard different views on this- the real commandment is don’t murder and not dont kill, but is there a difference? People have also argued that Jesus would not kill anyone and that as christians we are called to live as he did, so killing is not to be a part of our lives.
I have looked up the mentioning of soldiers in the bible and there is never a really clear answer as to wether or not God and Jesus approve of them, and wether or not christians can be one. I have also done a huge amount of internet research on the topic- some places say yes and others say no.

any advice is very much appreciated!
 
There are lots of avenues of military service that don’t require you to shoot at people. What area are you intending to enter?

When Jesus meets the Centurion, he doesn’t condemn him for his job. If what he was doing was fundamentally wrong, wouldn’t you expect him to be admonished by our Lord?

You might like to have a look at this useful summary of what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say on the matter:

ewtn.com/expert/answers/just_war.htm
 
I am looking into flying helicopters or heavier aircraft. Thank you for your response.
 
Hello seeking help and welcome to CAF.

Try this link from right here at CAF www.catholic.com/library/Just_War_Doctrine_1.asp

“Just War Doctrine”

[As the Second Vatican Council noted, “insofar as men are sinful, the threat of war hangs over them, and hang over them it will until the return of Christ” (Gaudium et Spes 78). The danger of war will never be completely removed prior to the Second Coming.

Christ’s followers must be willing to meet this challenge. They must be willing to wage war when it is just and they must be willing to wage it in a just manner.

Simultaneously, they must work to establish a just and peaceful order among the nations. In so doing they seek to fulfill the words of the prophet, according to which the nations “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Is. 2:4).]

It is a long article but have a read through and see if this answers your questions

God bless
 
The Catholic Church’s teaching on just war developed very early. St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) was the first Christian writer to describe the four conditions that must be met in order for a war to be just.
The Catholic Church distinguishes between two types of justice concerning war: jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Most of the time, when people discuss just-war theory, they mean jus ad bellum (justice before the war)—the four conditions by which we determine whether a war is just before we go to war. Jus in bello (justice during the war) refers to how the war is conducted once it has started. It is possible for a country to fight a war that is just, and yet to fight it unjustly—by, for example, targeting innocent people in the enemy’s country.

The Four Conditions for Jus Ad Bellum:
The current Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2309) defines the four conditions for determining the justice of a war as:

1.the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

2.all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;

3.there must be serious prospects of success;

4.the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated.
These are hard conditions to fulfill; the Church teaches that war should always be the last resort

When the Catechism states that the decision to go to war is ultimately a prudential judgment, that means that the civil authorities bear the responsibility for making sure that a war is just before they fight it.

The Role of Modern Weaponry:
While the Catechism mentions that “the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated,” it also states that “The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.” Here, the Church is concerned about the possible use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, the effects of which, by their very nature, cannot easily be confined to combatants in a war.

The injury or killing of the innocent during war is always forbidden; however, if a bullet goes astray, or an innocent person is killed by a bomb dropped on a military installation, the Church recognizes that these deaths are not intended. With modern weaponry, however, the calculation changes, because governments know that the use of nuclear bombs, for instance, will always kill or injure some who are innocent.

Because of that, the Church warns that the possibility of the use of such weapons must be considered when deciding whether a war is just. In fact, Pope John Paul II suggested that the threshold for a just war has been raised very high by the existence of these weapons of mass destruction, and he is the source of the teaching in the Catechism.

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, went even further, telling the Italian Catholic magazine 30 Days in April 2003 that “we must begin asking ourselves whether as things stand, with new weapons that cause destruction that goes well beyond the groups involved in the fight, it is still licit to allow that a ‘just war’ might exist.”

Furthermore, once a war has begun, the use of such weapons may violate jus in bello, meaning that the war is not being fought justly. The temptation for a country that is fighting a just war to use such weapons (and, thus, to act unjustly) is just one reason why the Church teaches that “The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating” the justice of a war.
 
In 1991, Pope John Paul II opposed the Gulf War and publicly appealed to U.S. President George H.W. Bush not to wage it. In 2003, he once again opposed a war in Iraq and appealed to U.S. President George W. Bush to refrain from going to war.

In an Address to the Diplomatic Corps at the Vatican on January 13, 2003, the Pope declared that “War is never just another means that one can choose to employ for settling differences between nations” and reiterated that “war cannot be decided upon . . . except as the very last option and in accordance with very strict conditions.”

Two months later, on March 16, 2003, in his Angelus Message, Pope John Paul spoke of the need “to work with responsibility for peace” and declared that all options had not been exhausted: “There is still time to negotiate; there is still room for peace, it is never too late to come to an understanding and to continue discussions.” The war began two days later, on March 18, 2003.

Pope John Paul did not drop his opposition to the war once it had started. On June 4, 2004, in an Address to President Bush (who was visiting him at the Vatican), the Pope reminded the President that:

“You are very familiar with the unequivocal position of the Holy See in this regard, expressed in numerous documents, through direct and indirect contacts, and in the many diplomatic efforts which have been made since you visited me, first at Castelgandolfo on 23 July 2001, and again in this Apostolic Palace on 28 May 2002.”
 
Dear Seeking Help

Thank you for your desire to want to serve your country in the military. You must be very bright if you are interested in helicopters. It’s a very challenging career. So many things to think about and fast decisions to make.

The church has always supported military service. As one of the posters mentioned, Jesus healed the Centurion’s daughter.

If you must kill in the line of duty, you are not breaking the commandments. Many police officers and military persons have killed the enemy.

The Ark of the Covenant was actually used to bring down the walls of the city of Jericho with brimstone, fire, and earthquakes. The Ark contained the tablets of the 10 commandments.

God Bless You during your vocation discernment.
 
When I was young, fifty years ago, I was a conscientious objector, and registered as one with the draft board. Men were still being drafted then. My family certainly didn’t like my decision. But when I became a Catholic I dropped that position because the traditional Catholic teaching is that there is a just war.
There have been questions raised as to whether the commandment God gave to Moses was not to kill, on the one hand, or not to murder, on the other. However, I don’t think it could have been a commandment simply against killing, because the Mosaic law, which is detailed in the same Old Testament book providing the commandments, ordered that people be executed for a variety of offenses. And Israel repeatedly went to war in the Old Testment, from the first books of the Old Testament, the books of Moses, right on up to the Books of Maccabees, and God never spoke against their going to war, through the prophets or otherwise. And I also see that soldiers went to John the Baptist and asked him, what shall we do? John the Baptist told them only to “rob no one by violence or false accusation, and be content with your wages”(Luke 3:14). He did not tell them to leave military service, when he told them what to do. Furthermore, this is not only what John the Bastist said, but his words are passed on to us by one of the Gospels.
 
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