The First and Second World Wars brought the horrors of war so vividly to consciousness that many Christian people were inclined to narrow the scope of those just wars
which the Church ought condone.
I should think that many wars that took place earlier than this brought the horror home--literally in too many cases.
Though certainly nothing ever matched the destructive power of the atom bombs we dropped on Japan.
There were wars in which brothers fought on opposite sides.
I believe our Civil War had more casualties than any other
(in which the U.S. was involved). Battles have to take place somewhere, and any unfortunate residents of that 'somewhere' most definitely were made aware of the horror.
I haven't any authority to decide what the Church "ought"
to condone, but that is of no consequence, since it is governments who make the decision to participate in wars.
I keep in mind that Jesus lived at a time when that area had been forced into submission to the Romans, and that a great deal of the Old Testament was written by people whose homelands were either overtaken or were under threat. All those writers were fallible, and therefore I believe quite likely to have let these situations color what they wrote (understandably).
This is not the case with a great deal of the civilized world today, and this should be taken into account when trying to make Biblical teachings fit our lives. I do think the concept of "the glory of going off to war" has been greatly reduced in civilized countries that are mostly
Christian. (I am thinking of the Middle East conflicts, and frankly I wonder how many of those people are fighting for territory as much as for religious beliefs.)
There are still tribal wars going on in many places. I
hope that missionaries aren't teaching that war is good.
