Adventists and Military Service

The Seventh-day Adventist Church has a long and rich history of being a Church that affirms peace, seeks reconciliation and has encouraged a noncombatant stance. In a time when wars and war-like conflicts are on the global rise, there is an urgent need to reflect more fully on the role of Christ’s followers as conscientious agents of peace and as conscientious objectors to all forms of violence. By candidly looking at the biblical evidence in the Old and New Testament and by learning from Church history and our own history, the authors of this book address various challenges of military service and try to recover the spirit of the early Christian Church and of Jesus Christ on this issue.   The book has grown out of an initiative of the Biblical Research Committee (BRC) of what is now the Inter-European Division (EUD) of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA). The authors, who come from Europe, Africa and North America, reflect the international composition of the SDA Church. The need was felt to address this pressing question to give guidance and orientation, especially to our young people who are increasingly faced with issues about military service and who seek to know what the Bible has to say with regards to war and the bearing of arms.     It contains the most complete list of all official Church documents on war and military service that were published by the SDA Church from its beginning to the present, as well as a comprehensive list of major publications and resources that were written by Seventh-day Adventists. It will be the definite reference work on this subject for years to come.