For part one, click here
It is important to note that at no point in ‘American Sniper’ do we see our protagonist salivating at the opportunity to gun people down or gleefully exulting in the elimination of his targets. On the contrary, it appears as if something in him dies with every shot. Even when he takes out the infamous “Mustafa” (Sammy Sheik), we can see sadness in his eyes…perhaps even a sort of regret; not necessarily regret for having done the deed as such, but rather as if to say: “I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”
As far as we can tell, the people against whom Chris and his comrades in uniform fight are quite definitely “wolves” (again, read part one if you haven’t already). We even see some of them performing outrageous, heartless acts that have the strange effect of both chilling and boiling our blood. So while part of us might ask how a Christian could bring himself to go to war, another part of us is more apt to ask, “How on earth could anyone feel any kind of sadness over taking the lives of such scum as these?”
“Saint Augustine by Philippe de Champaigne” by Philippe de Champaigne – [2]. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Augustine_by_Philippe_de_Champaigne.jpg#/media/File:Saint_Augustine_by_Philippe_de_Champaigne.jpg
I think we can find something approximating an answer in the words of St. Augustine of Hippo:
Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you hear “man” – this is what God has made; when you hear “sinner” – this is what man himself has made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made
(Quoted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1458)
Sin is something that separates us not only from God, but also (and for that reason) from our true selves, uniquely conceived and held in existence by our Creator. Yet somewhere deep beneath the “false self” that every sinner — no matter how foul — manages to forge is this precious creation, this jewel in the muck that God the Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to save.
I think we can safely assume that Chris Kyle has a sense of this, and that in the aforementioned scene, this intuition finds an outlet in his eyes.
Let us think of this as yet another challenge facing our men and women in uniform — in addition to putting their lives on the line, and likewise for the sake of our freedom. The former challenge demands no less bravery than the latter, and we must assume that those facing it are anything but “cowards,” contrary to what Michael Moore recently alleged.
And I think that’s a good place to stop. Thanks for reading.
Movie stills obtained through a Google image search; remaining image from Wikipedia
Both parts were interesting and diverting to read. It’s not a very specific examination of the film, but topics the film has brought up for people are hot right now.
I understand that Christians choose to participate in war, and apologists write justifications for it, but there’s really nothing Christian about war itself. If there was, Jesus would have been waging one. He was falsely charged, the Romans were every bit as bad as dictatorships of our era, he told his companions not to resist at his arrest, and he offered no defense at trial. Even being the most innocent of all didn’t justify killing others over that injustice.
To use the old Philosophy 101 hypothetical, if I had a time machine and could go back before 1939, would I kill Hitler? Sure! But I wouldn’t consider it a Christian act, just a kind of historical pragmatism.
Thank you for your input. War is indeed a very great evil in and of itself (C.S. Lewis says so in the essay referenced in part one), and I think any soldier who has ever fought in one would agree.
So you’re right: War, considered in itself, should not be thought of as a particularly Christian act. But it is what you might call a “necessary evil” — which is to say, a lesser evil that may be legitimately tolerated or used against a greater one — in certain instances.
The only kind of warfare that we could call *essentially* Christian is spiritual warfare, which I almost addressed in this post (before quickly realizing that this would have made it too long). First and foremost, spiritual warfare is to be waged against sin and the devil; and more than a little bit of the time, mercy and compassion are our greatest weapons in this fight.
I could go on and on, of course. Thanks again for visiting, and for your interest in this topic.
Thanks for the great read! I’m an Army “brat” and a Catholic and there have been times when it has been difficult to reconcile my military upbringing and my faith, but it’s also difficult to disassociate them, too. This quotation from St. Augustine is helpful!
Ashlee,
Thank you for stopping by to read, and for your comment. I’m glad I could offer a helpful perspective on this very sensitive issue.
God Bless,
-Dan