Why a Christian cannot be a pacifist

Why a Christian Must Be a Pacifist -- and Therefore an Anarchist
  The blog post in the left-hand column contains a number of vague, un-thought-through dogmas, fallacies and myths about Romans 13 and "the State." We analyze them in this column.

I would argue that the Christian cannot only not be a pacifist, but that it is immoral for a Christian to do anything than other actively support the state that he is in/under, in all of its legitimate aims, in all of its authorized stately functions,

What does it mean to "actively support the State?" Is this support qualified by the line "in all of its legitimate aims?" Does the State really have any legitimate aims? Is it a "legitimate aim" for me to donate to an orphanage -- if my plan is to rob banks to raise the funds to donate? By definition, "the State" (as distinguished from the Rotary Club or other voluntary associations) raises money by theft (extortion). The formation and maintenance of "the State" is contrary to Biblical Law. The State was invented by rebels like Cain and Nimrod, and its importation into Israel was expressly declared to be a rejection of God. The State is symbolized by the sword, and is an instrument of conquest and violence. It is the antithesis of the plowshare, which is a symbol of production and service. Political scientist Franz Oppenheimer, in his book The State, made the distinction between "Political Man," who conquers and rules others, putting them under tribute to pad his own wallet, and "Economic Man," who pads his wallet by serving consumers through innovation and production.

"Authorized stately functions."
Authorized by whom? By voters? By delegates to a secret conspiratorial convention? By God? God nowhere in Scripture or in human history" authorizes" anyone to invade, conquer and tax anyone else. By "authorize" I mean "grant moral impunity." All states, all conquerors, all plunderers are morally guilty before "the Supreme Judge of the World."

The only way any State or Empire has been "authorized" or "ordained" by God to steal or kill is as a judgment against some other empire, and God's "authorization" or "ordination" did not prevent God from doing the same thing to the invading empire, and God has in fact judged (destroyed) those invading empires. The classic example is Assyria in Isaiah 10. God "ordained" Assyria to use the sword against Israel as a judgment of God against Israel's wickedness. Assyria did not bear the sword in vain. Israel was destroyed. Then God destroyed Assyria for doing the very thing God ordained it to do: violate God's prohibitions against murder and plunder. See also Babylon in Isaiah 13.

God "ordains" sin and evil as a punishment of sin and evil. The State is still sinful and morally unauthorized.

The primary role the state has been given is the role of administering justice. 

"Administering justice" is a cliché. God "administered justice" when He ordained Assyria to apply savage, barbaric violence to Israel.

“I sent Assyria to attack a godless nation, people who have made Me angry. I sent them to loot and steal and trample the people like dirt in the streets.”
Isaiah 10:6 (GNT)

“The Assyrian program was the essence of simplicity. A powerful and a military people, they believed firmly that the world should be a one world order. They were ready to be friendly and gracious to any people or nation that would accept their sovereignty and their rule that would cooperate with this ideal. But if any nation resisted them and this program, Assyria dealt with them with utter and absolute ruthlessness. And the Assyrian rulers boasted of leaving mountains of skulls among peoples who resisted them. Of the utter savagery with which they dealt with any rulers, skinning them alive for example, who dared act as an impediment of this idea. When they conquered a country that resisted them, after killing off the rulers they then systematically re-located the entire population, moving them throughout the Assyrian empire. Scattering them here, there and everywhere in order to break up their national loyalties and to destroy their language; so that scattered among many people, finding it necessary to speak the language of the area, and too few of their own in their particular community to make it worthwhile to maintain their language and their tradition, these people speedily became a part of the Assyrian empire, this one world order that Assyria dreams of.”
R.J. Rushdoony, Bethlehem vs Assyria

     “You can go through the inscriptions that these Assyrian monarchs left, and also the records of other people, and you find why they were a terror to the world of their day. If a people would not submit immediately when they would tell them: “Submit to our power and become a tributary people or else,” they would go in and raze their cities to the ground, they would behead the men one after another, and leave a mountain of skulls. A mountain of skulls, thousands and tens of thousands of skulls. And they would take the leaders, the king and his councilors and others, and skin them alive before they executed them. It is no wonder that they became a by-word for terror. This was their way. It was an aspect of their national character. 
     “Now, there still are some Assyrians, 50-100 thousand at most, that is all. They have been for now for centuries a Christian people, and they are a very mild, kindly people. Their previous faith made them a particularly warlike and ugly people. Now they are a particularly kindly and superior people.”
R.J. Rushdoony, Ancient History and Christianity

The core function of that role is the wielding of the sword (Romans 13:3-5) and so the obedience to the state (Romans 13:1-8, Titus 3:1) that we are required to exercise must naturally be in support primary focus of the state on the administration of justice, The ultimate administration of justice, as we see clearly detailed in the OT is capital punishment. Capital punishment was commanded, (not, as some nowadays expressed it, ‘allowed’) for all cases of murder and rape; it was also commanded for witchcraft and for blasphemy and sundry other crimes, basically all crimes against ‘life’ as scripture defines it. And the only legitimate reflection in justice against life in Scripture is capital punishment. Now the administration for justice written small is the punishment of an individual guilty criminal. Criminal justice written large is the exercise of war by a sovereign state. Or in the pre-state stage, of a patriarch, such as Abraham. "The sword" in the Bible is primarily a reference to war, not "capital punishment."

The verses in the Old Testament which are used to support "capital punishment" in our day are verses which require the shedding of blood to make atonement for polluting the land with innocent blood. The verses do not describe a "secular" or "civil" "administration of justice." They are "ceremonial" laws overseen by the priests.

It is correct to see an analogy between "capital punishment" for individuals and "war" for entire societies. This is the way the Bible views things: war is "capital punishment" on a national scale. The sword of vengeance, which belongs to God (Romans 12:17-21; #81), is the warfare whereby God slaughters a disobedient people in a fiery sacrifice (Deuteronomy 32:43 [NIV]; Judges 20:40; Isaiah 34:5-8; Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 39:17-20; Zephaniah 1:7-8; Matthew 23:35 + Revelation 19:3), relegating these idolatrous self-sacrifices and their dreams of Empire to the “dung-heaps” of history (Exodus 29:14; Leviticus 16:27; Zephaniah 1:17-18).

No modern "state" is morally or ethically authorized by God to slaughter an entire nation as a dedicated ("hormah") burnt offering.

Abraham was not "pre-state." The State is apostate, renegade "post-patriarchy."

And so, since we are told to support the states in their legitimate functioning, and since the core of the functioning of the state is the administration of justice, and the core of that is capitol punishment both in small and in large, then the core of a Christians support for the state, should be capitol punishment written small and written large.

A repetition. See above. War and "capital punishment" are, in our day, sinful. In the days before the Cross, they were liturgical.

If a Christian ops out, or plays possum, when it comes to the core functioning of the state, then they have in effect denied the injunction to obey the authorities over them. They have, in effect, denied the justice that God requires (Prov 17:15).

"We must obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). No Christian should actively support -- much less actively participate in -- acts of murder and theft by the State. God will judge this sin.

Of course God requires "justice." If I steal your car, what is "justice?" For you to pay for my color TV, hot meals, and weightlifting equipment in prison for the next few years? That's not justice. Justice is restitution. Restitution comes out of repentance. God has given us a process to pursue justice, and it does not include "the State."
  The "pacifist" opposes violence, such as murder, theft, and government invasion and enslavement.

The "archist" believes he has a right to use violence to accomplish his purposes.

A Christian cannot be an "archist."

I Am Not An ARCHIST.

How to Become a Christian Anarchist.