War Is Hell

By Rev. Scott Stiegemeyer

War is hell.

That has often been stated in view of the terror and suffering that takes place during armed conflicts between hostile nations. I think all of us have been upset and angered and frightened by the recent events in our world dealing with terrorist threats. It was very disturbing to me to hear that a Muslim American in the U.S. army tossed hand grenades into the tents of other sleeping American soldiers because he disapproved of the war. And then to hear the stories of American POWs possibly being tortured and executed. War is hell!

Of course, we know that it’s not true. Not really. There is something so much worse than even modern warfare. Jesus once said, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

This is not intended to minimize the tremendous pain and sacrifices that have recently been made in the Persian Gulf. Not at all. It is only meant to emphasize the even greater sorrow of being eternally alienated from God. A point that Jesus felt it was important to make.

There is deep anguish over the loss of life associated with our conflict with Iraq. The bombs. The fires. The blood that is spilled. Who can take it in? But truthfully, the most horrifying sufferings on earth are really only a sip of what it means to be eternally separated from our Creator in hell. It is a fact.

It’s also a fact that the most dizzying and blissful happiness of this world is only a sip of the joys of heaven. One of the good things that can come from our hellish experiences here and now is that they can remind us not to expect too much from life in this world. This world can never be made into a paradise. Our hope is firmly set on the world to come.

Not long ago, I saw a re-run of an old interview with a famous Hollywood actress in which she explained her view of the meaning of life. She said that she genuinely wants to make this world a better place so that when she lies on her deathbed, she can look back at her life and know that it all meant something.

It’s commendable to dedicate your lives to helping others, to combat injustice and toward alleviating the misery of your fellow human beings. But in truth, we can never truly make this world a “better place.” It is what it is. People are sinful and will always lie, murder, steal and abuse one another. Jesus said that there will always be poverty and war. And he said that one of the signs of the end of the world will be that men’s hearts will grow cold.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s beautiful epic, The Lord of the Rings, presents a view of the world that though fictional is still filled with moral truth. One cannot read his books without noticing the violence. They are all about war, a great war, the “war of the ring,” the war of good vs. evil. In The Lord of the Rings, Sauron is the enemy, the Necromancer. But even he was not always evil. He became corrupt. In a way, the heresy of Sauron was in trying to create heaven on earth, thus bypassing the true heaven.* Our problem is always that we reject God’s way and seek to find our own.

Because of man’s fall into sin, we can never create a heaven on earth. As Christians, we will definitely be motivated by God’s Spirit to serve our neighbors, doing whatever we can to help one another. But the greatest service we can perform is not to fill empty stomachs or clothe naked backs, as important as those tasks may be. It is to introduce the lost to their Savior, Jesus Christ, who has paid the penalty for their sins and is now preparing a place for us all – in heaven. A much better place than this.

War is not hell. Hell is hell. War is perhaps a glimpse of what life without God will always lead to. Life with God, life in Jesus Christ on the other hand, will always lead past the bombs and firefights, through the valley of the shadow of death to neverending paradise.

Rev. Scott Stiegemeyer is pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Brentwood, Pennsylvania.

* This point is made by John G. West in Celebrating Middle- Earth: The Lord of the Rings as a Defense of Western Civilization, p.19.