US Foreign Policy in the Middle East – Is it Biblical? (Part 4) – The Principles of Non-intervention and Non-aggression

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1. Nonintervention is not isolationism.
   1. Isolationism – 1. The policy of seeking (political or national) isolation: with special reference to the S.A.
   2. Isolation – 1. a. The action of isolating; the fact or condition of being isolated or standing alone; separation from other things or persons; solitariness.
   3. Isolate – 1. trans. To place or set apart or alone; to cause to stand alone, detached, separate, or unconnected with other things or persons; to insulate.
2. Inter-national conduct should (at least sometimes) be governed by the same principles in the N.T. as inter-personal conduct.
   1. Biblical laws regulating the actions of a government toward its citizens are not always the same as the laws regulating the actions of an individual toward another individual.
      1. The government is in authority over the citizenry.
      2. This is distinctly different from the relationship two individuals have with each other.

• The civil authority has the power of the sword to execute vengeance on them that do evil (Rom 13:1-4).

1. An individual does not have the power to avenge themselves when they are wronged (Rom 12:17-19).

1. In the case of inter-national conduct, the nations are peers of each other, not authorities and subordinates.
   1. Nations are comprised of individuals.
   2. Nations are even referred to as individuals, such as the nations of Israel and Edom who were referred to as their “founding fathers”, Jacob and Esau (Gen 25:23 c/w Num 20:17-22).

• Jesus used an example of how a nation would count the cost when deciding to go to war with another nation to illustrate how an individual should count the cost when deciding to follow Him (Luk 14:31-33).

1. Therefore some of the same laws and principles in scripture should apply to inter-national conduct as apply to inter-personal conduct.

3. The principles of nonintervention.
   1. The following points apply to individuals, and also apply to nations as well (as will be shown based on what God said to Babylon).
   2. Mind your own business.
      1. Stay in your own lane; don’t meddle with strife not belonging to you (Pro 26:17).
      2. Don’t be a busybody in other men’s matters (1Pe 4:15).

• People resent you when you get in the middle of their fights (Exo 2:13-14).

1. Obey the Golden Rule.
   1. “As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luk 6:31).
   2. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mat 22:39).

• In other words, treat others as you would want them to treat you.

1. Don’t murder people who have not attacked you.
2. Ron Paul got booed in South Carolina (the “bible belt”) for saying that we ought to adopt a Golden Rule in foreign policy.

1. Act only in self-defense; don’t initiate violence.
   1. “Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm” (Pro 3:30).
   2. Peter had a right to self-defense (Luk 22:36-38).
      1. Jesus had told Peter that He would be killed by the Jewish leaders and even rebuked him for refusing to believe it (Mat 16:21-23).
      2. Jesus had prayed for God’s will to be done (Mat 26:42).
      3. Peter therefore stepped over the line when he initiated violence (Joh 18:10-11).
      4. Jesus rebuked him for it (Mat 26:51-52).

• Babylon was judged for her imperialism (Hab 2:5-13).  Notice the following:
  1. Babylon (the Chaldeans (Hab 1:6)) was referred to as a man (Hab 2:5).
  2. They didn’t keep at home (Hab 2:5 c/w Pro 27:8).
  3. They could not be satisfied and had to continue conquering nations and people (Hab 2:5 c/w Pro 27:20).
  4. They took what was not theirs (Hab 2:6 c/w Exo 20:15 c/w Eph 4:28).
  5. They did violence to others (Hab 2:8 c/w Luk 3:14).
  6. They coveted (Hab 2:9 c/w Col 3:5).
  7. They killed people which was a sin (Hab 2:10 c/w Mar 10:19).

1. No government has the right to make its citizens kill other people who didn’t attack them.
   1. We are supposed to obey our government (Rom 13:1-7; 1Pe 2:13-17).
   2. We only are obliged to obey as far as they are exercising their legal and legitimate authority.

• We must not obey when they have demanded that we do something that is forbidden by God (Act 4:19; Act 5:29).

1. A government therefore cannot compel a person to kill another person (Rom 13:9).
   1. No Christian would kill their next door neighbor who did nothing to him if government told him to do so.
   2. Therefore, a Christian can and should resist any order by a government to kill a person in a different country who has not first attacked him.
   3. If your government has put you in such a position either against your will, or by lying to you and convincing you by propaganda, then they have the greater sin (Joh 19:11).
   4. God has mercy on us when we do things in ignorance (Act 3:17).
   5. If you were put in that position by your government, you were acting in self-defense to preserve your own life.