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Do Military Heroes go to Heaven?

The Apostle Matthew said:
Matthew 8:5-13 NIV
5 When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6 “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

7 Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

8 The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

10 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that moment.
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Christ did not call the soldier a hypocrite or address any of the many, many, many atrocities committed by the Roman army with this soldier. If Christ did not then neither should we.

Not only that, Christ offered to immediately go and heal the soldier's servant. When we compare that to the response given to the Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21-28), who got called a dog for wanting Him to heal her daughter, or with the response that the sisters of Lazarus got (He delayed two days before going to heal Lazarus; John 11:6), we find that Christ was responding MORE quickly to the Centurion than to others.

So all in all I don't see any condemnation for soldiers in the words or actions of Christ.
 
Would anyone else like to discuss the content of the article, the theme of the pictures, or the haunting imagery of the painting?
 
Yes, I have read the article and looked at the pictures. All of which connect to some internal spirit battles I am recently fighting. I mostly agree with the article, only God sees into the heart of each man and decides who might be a hero. If even the word hero has a Godly definition. Even among men that term is applied to many different situations, based on what might be important in their current culture or priorities.

Was the "American Sniper" a hero. I cannot say, I didn't know him, I didn't even see the movie. If a pastor or priest called him that then I hope he would preface it with "in my personal opinion" just as he might making a political comment or judgement about a law.

In my opinion my own father was a military hero and paid a great price for it. He was a medic in WW2, and didn't carry a gun. What he carried saved lives, and that was a light pack because he often needed to carry the wounded out of harms way. His price, what we have labeled today as PTSD. Then he was just messed up by what he lived through. Not to mention the additional burden that when he finally reached a port and called home to learn of his impending child's birth, he was informed his beloved wife had died a few days after the baby's birth. About three weeks before his call so all he had left to visit was her grave. He lost his faith, and turned to alcohol for his comfort. Five years later he remarried and when that didn't work, he divorced. But he remained a loving and devoted father to me. He died at 45 from a massive heart attach. The Catholic priest refused to do a mass for him, after all he was divorced, but offered to sell me a few candles that could help his way into heaven. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or spit at the man. I was too sad to do either. I don't believe my military hero needed their candles to get to their "heaven" because I believe that God held him in His arms before he even hit the floor. He didn't need what often passes for religion, or any people that claimed to represent it, to help him get there.

Easter should be a celebration of life for Christians. Most military heroes gave theirs for what they believed in, their faith, their country or political beliefs, or most important to protect those they loved. I think this this mostly holds true for all sides of a military conflict. No matter what your faith, this weekend prayers should be about all life, and a future where preachers will not need to proclaim about the destination of dead military heroes because they will become unnecessary in a peaceful world. IMHO
 
Wow Tndreamergal, that is an amazing story and thank you for sharing. Behind the bold proclamations of politicians is a deep personal cost for those involved. Yes Easter is about new life, new hope, new beginnings. I just read all 4 gospel accounts of the resurrection with my children. We take turns doing the different parts, eg Jesus, Pilate, Simon Peter etc. One of my daughters now has a new understanding of the book of John because she took the part of Jesus and there is a lot of red letter text from John 13 on.
 
Ylop,

I read thru the article and looked at the pictures. Do i believe military heroes go to Heaven? Of course. As do lawyers, politicians, my neighbors next door that are having pre marital relations, cancer patients that lose the fight and felons in prison. And hopefully me. We were all spared a spiritual death with the atonement of Jesus Christ. I have heard on many occasions in church people offer prayers for the protection and safety of servicemen everywhere and it warms my heart. I am not offended by it. My father was blessed with missing the Vietnam War by a few years before he got out of the Army as a medic. But my mom's brother was a mortician in the Vietnam and Korean War and died a very long and painful death from complications of Agent Orange. My grandfather was in the calvary in WWI. And many other uncles, brothers, cousins served in the Navy and Army too. Should church leaders be calling servicemen and women heroes? It doesn't bother me. I think the word hero is used alot more loosely now than it was in previous generations. I consider the many doctors, policemen/women, nurses, teachers, direct care providers for the disabled, social workers, etc the unsung heros. Regardless of what your doing in your life or have done everyone has the opportunity to go to Heaven, God is no respector of persons.
 
starlit said:
Ylop,

I read thru the article and looked at the pictures. Do i believe military heroes go to Heaven? Of course. As do lawyers, politicians, my neighbors next door that are having pre marital relations, cancer patients that lose the fight and felons in prison. And hopefully me. We were all spared a spiritual death with the atonement of Jesus Christ. I have heard on many occasions in church people offer prayers for the protection and safety of servicemen everywhere and it warms my heart. I am not offended by it. My father was blessed with missing the Vietnam War by a few years before he got out of the Army as a medic. But my mom's brother was a mortician in the Vietnam and Korean War and died a very long and painful death from complications of Agent Orange. My grandfather was in the calvary in WWI. And many other uncles, brothers, cousins served in the Navy and Army too. Should church leaders be calling servicemen and women heroes? It doesn't bother me. I think the word hero is used alot more loosely now than it was in previous generations. I consider the many doctors, policemen/women, nurses, teachers, direct care providers for the disabled, social workers, etc the unsung heros. Regardless of what your doing in your life or have done everyone has the opportunity to go to Heaven, God is no respector of persons.
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BFneeds a like button.
 
I think Starlit and the article are basically saying the same thing, or at least similar, but from completely different viewpoints.

To me the point of the article is there is a nationally increasing tendency to create heroes of those in military (and similar) service to the point of idolizing them and that everything they do for king and country is for the good of all. And it's coming from the pulpits of many churches.

They are supposedly defending our freedoms waaaaaay over there while our own government (USA) continually chips away at our freedom a piece at a time here.

The term Hero <u>is</u> used much more loosely than it once was and that is part of the problem. But we also, as Christians, need to be careful of getting pulled into this hero-worship as it seems many of our church leaders are tending in that direction.

I used to pray for our military's success in everything and wish them a hardy Quapla'. Now, I just pray for their Faith and safe return.
 
About a year ago here the word hero was used in a way that really angered me.
A house caught on fire during the night with a family inside. The dog was locked in the garage and barked, waking up the parents and allowing them to get everyone to safety. The dog was called a hero because it alerted the family and saved them. All the papers were saying what an amazing dog it was and how dogs were smarter than we think. There was a fundraising campaign to pay for vet bills for the 'hero' dog in which heaps of people gave money to make sure it lived. People were idolising this dog.
It had vets bills because it was covered in burns. The dog was locked in the garage and the garage and dog were on fire, so it barked. It barked because it was in pain, not because it thought to raise attention to the family and get them to safety.
There are true heroes in this world and to call that dog a hero makes the word seem useless.
 
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