Getting a veteran to open up about their experience in war is often hard. I used to think this was because what they considered their experiences classified. They were not free to talk about it. If that wasn’t it, I supposed they simply did not want to revisit the horrors of war they witnessed.
But after having the honor of a few veterans breaking their silence in my presence, I am convinced there is another reason for their silence: guilt. They are convinced that things they did were not honorable at all. Sometimes, they question the morality of the orders they received. Other times, they know that in the heat of war, they did questionable things not even ordered specifically to do.
I fear that we actually sometime do them harm on a day like this when we proclaim their every deed heroic and laud worthy. They say internally, “If you only knew what I did.†Our praise can amplify the guilt they feel.
What do they need instead? They need two things:
- They need the assurance that using the sword in the punishing of evil as directed by the superiors is in fact not sinful but laudable. It is carrying out their role as soldier in a God-pleasing way. Even though Satan tries to argue otherwise, this killing is done with God’s approval. It is as holy as a mother changing a diaper or a pastor preaching a sermon.
- They need to know that when they ended up doing something that was not necessary for the punishing of evil whether at the command of a superior or simply in the heat of the moment, there is forgiveness in Jesus for such action. Those things should not remain hidden in the soul were they can rot said soul away each day. They should be confessed to God in order that the forgiveness of Christ might be loosed upon those sins. They need to be encouraged to confess those sins to the pastor God has given them in order that the word of absolution might be spoken.
Your thank you in surely appropriate today. But the veterans you know best might well need the assurance of Jesus’ forgiveness even more than your thank you. Give it to them.
Phil,
A couple of things. First, why do you assume that a veteran is carrying around guilt? Why do you assume that a veteran, because he was in a war, must have killed? Have you ever considered that they just don’t want to talk about it for any reason? Or maybe they lost friends on a battlefield hundreds of miles away and don’t like talking about that.
Second, give them the assurance of Jesus’ mercy? Do you want me to walk up to every vet and say “Deus te absolvit?” Do you really think that Christian vets don’t already know that God’s mercy is available to them? Who the hell are you to say what vets really need? Your post is just this side of insulting to veterans. Who made you an authority? Why must all your theology be predicated upon guilt?