No one has to like war, or any act of self-defense, but it may be seen as a necessary evil.
Jesus commanded to love your enemies. You say that killing them is a "necessary evil." Killing them goes against Jesus' command. Therefore you believe that it is "necessary" to break Jesus' command.
What did Jesus say about those that love Him will follow His commands?
"If ye love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15
Only those who really love Jesus will follow His commands.
Therefore, if it is "necessary" to break the commands of Jesus, then it is "necessary" that the people knowingly breaking the command of Jesus do not love Jesus.
Evil is never "necessary". That is why it will be eradicated forever. That is why "God is love." There is no evil that He deems "necessary" when it comes to the actions He takes, nor in the actions He commands us to take.
So in real life Beefy, what do you do when faced with an intruder in your house (for example.)?
I would serve as a human sheild for those I loved. They would not get to them without getting through me. Pehaps my sacrifice would give them the time they needed to escape. I would hope that I would put my trust in God, and in Him only.
As far as other real-life scenarious go, I would like to expound upon what arthra said:
Well Leo Tolstoy certainly had it right I think..
His ideas influenced Mahatma Gandhi and these influenced Martin Luther King in his nonviolent strategy to end racial segregation in the US..
Here is what Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi had to say about nonviolence and the misguided efforts of some American Christians to make war upon others:
Martin Luther King
“Several things can be said about nonviolence as a method in bringing about better racial conditions. First, this is not a method of cowardice or stagnant passivity; it does resist. The non-violent resister is just as opposed to the evil he is protesting as the person who used violence.
“A second basic fact about this method is that it does not seek to defeat or humiliate the opponent but to win his friendship and understanding.
“A third fact that characterizes the methods of nonviolence is that the attack is directed toward the forces of evil, rather than the persons caught in the forces. Those of us who struggle against racial injustice must come to see that the basic tension is not between races. The tension is at bottom between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness.
“A fourth point that must be brought out concerning the method of nonviolence is that this method not only avoids external physical violence, but also internal violence of the spirit. At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love. We have learned through the grim realities of life and history that hate and violence solve nothing. Violence begets violence; hate begets hate; and toughness begets toughness. It is all a descending spiral, and the end is destruction — for everybody.
“A fifth basic fact about the method of non-violent resistance is that it is based on the conviction that the universe is on the side of justice. It is this deep faith in the future that causes the non-violent resister to accept suffering without retaliation.”
While many blacks considered non-violence cowardly, King’s method of social protest was anything but. Non-violent resistance took enormous emotional discipline and quite a bit of training.
-Imagine marching arm in arm with others, singing “We Shall Overcome” as the police release vicious dogs trained to maim and kill. Imagine being hosed with streams of water forceful enough to break your ribs.
-Imagine sitting at a lunch counter and having a gang spit on you, hit you, and smear food all over you.
Imagine trying to register to vote and having your home bombed, or your wife and children beaten.
-Imagine being arrested, beaten to within an inch of your life, and being thrown into a prison cell built for four with 20 other people. No toilet, just a hole in the ground, rats, and no guarantee of emerging alive.
-Imagine.
No, non-violent resistance took supreme courage and it wasn’t always successful. But it did prick the nation’s conscience and provide graphic images of America’s hypocrisy. “The land of the free” was (and still is) home to some of the most virulent racists outside of Nazi Germany and South Africa. The fact that King was able to convince thousands of Negroes — whose survival depended on allowing their personhood to be stripped from them every day of their lives — to stand up and return love for hatred, is nothing short of miraculous. Especially when the natural human inclination is to fight fire with fire.
It is becuase most Christians believe in particpation in warfare that Gandhi said, "“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
“If all Christians acted like Christ, the whole world would be Christian.” - Mahatma Gandhi
"I consider Western Christianity in its practical working a negation of Christ’s Christianity."
MAHATMA GANDHI
"An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind."
MAHATMA GANDHI
