War: The ultimate consequence of human crisis

• Main Author: Castaneda, Jonathan E.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2002
• Subjects: Good and evil > Philosophy; Good and evil > Religious aspects; War > Moral and ethical aspects; Theodicy
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/4393
• Institution: De La Salle University

This research entitled War : the ultimate consequence of human crisis is an inquiry that deals with the nature of human crisis, how it is brought about, how this crisis can be humanized, and how it paves the way for the emergence of war. The researchers initial presentation deals with Noahs Ark as the archeological evidence of Gods wrath against the wicked ancient civilization that was destroyed through the deluge. Further this research seeks to resolve beyond reasonable doubt that Dog has been involved in the formation of world history and destiny through perennial wars consonant with the scriptural prophesies, the historical occurrence of the two World Wars in the 20th century were the biblical sample of an all-time track record of God in the punitive usage of wars of diversified magnitudes. In theoretical framework, the researchers focuses on Thomas Hobbes work entitled Leviathan, which advocates the great benefit of the histories, the prophesies, and the doctrines of the Holy Bible to mankind in terms of moral development. Seen in the line of Benedict de Spinozas religious philosophy, the teachings of Moses and Jesus Christ recorded in the Old Testament and the New Testament, respectively, are valid or based on truth and supported by correct reasoning. In review of related literature, the researchers discusses the well-respected viewpoints about the justifiability of war by some of the worlds greatest religious philosophers, namely, Saint Augustine, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Saint Irenaeus, and Gratian. In the process of justification of war, the term just war is credited to Aristotle and its significance to all nations will depend on the declaration of war by a legitimate authority to Aristotle and its significance to all nations, and the proper manner. Moreover, Mahatma Gandhis approach of nonviolence as an alternative to mans armed conflict has not been an unworkable scheme particularly on a worldwide basis, for history attests that wars recur in spite of the noble efforts of many nations to resolve contradictions through peaceful means. As expounded by Thomas R. Malthus, a periodic wars is indispensable for the curtailment of human populations in regard to the availability of known resources to feed all human life and for the restraint of the threats of overpopulation. Opinions of great personalities about war were selectively quoted for the purpose of strengthening the researchers stand on the justifiability of war. This research in conjunction with the warlike episodes in world history may help readers find more meaning in war and comprehend the phenomenal effects of the antagonism between good and evil. The warlike episodes in world history are the following: the indispensability of defensive wars in the biblical times; the modern Israeli-palestinian conflict in the Middle East with ancient roots; the bloodthirsty religious wars in the Dark Ages; the unprecedented destructiveness of the two 20th-century world wars. As man also has a tendency to view a warlike episode as a purely man-made crisis rather than a disguised theistic intervention of world affairs, it is very interesting to find out the reported involvement of a church with state leaders in aggressive wars. Man is endowed with rationality, free will, and the freedom of choice between good and evil. Human crisis occurs as man is caught in the tug of war between the good and evil forces that push or pull him to be good or bad according to his conscience and beliefs. Wars are the definitive signs of the prevalence of evil in this world, which necessitates the religious struggle of the incarnate forces of good to uproot it in the light of divine revelation. As man cannot consider himself as the master of his own destiny, he ought to be wholly centered on God Who is the real source of life. Seeing the difference between the outside world and the Platonic image of the case in which man has been imprisoned by his illusions, God has been trying to convince man to unfetter himself voluntary from the chains of evil, see his world as it truly is and emerge from darkness into the light of biblical reality. Mans choice is between deceptive hell-bound philosophy unreflectively imbued from the culture around him and the prejudices against religion, or ultimate salvific philosophy based on divine revelation.