” I have therefore always held it as a matter of faith that the Just Judge will forgive those soldiers, sailors, and other fighting men who have (without ill intent) taken innocent lives in their effort to defens the innocent from an aggressor.
I agree.”
Just war theory? Do really believe that? By the way, of course God will forgive those who truly repent but it would seem that in your construct and that of the West, there is nothing to repent for.
See what I mean, P?
Of course, you know Just War theory has its origin in St. Augustine. It is the application of the right to self-defense to a societal scale.
I'm not sure what you mean. Do I believe "just war theory"? I guess I do, although it confuses me - IF it's a matter of Catholic Faith and Morals that I signed on to when I became a Catholic. Not everything in Aquinas is. I get confused easily. I don't strive after things too high for me. I have bathrooms to clean and diapers to change and a new low-water-usage washer coming on Monday.
Do I believe that my brothers (uncles, great uncles, great-great grandfathers, whatever those guys were) who fought, killed, or died, in WW2, WW1, the Civil War, the Indian Wars, and so on, "... laid down their lives for the sake of their friends ..." have a place in God's infinite mercy? You bet I do. God is more loving and merciful than I am. (I know myself, and that's an inarguable Truth.) He sees everything about all of us, and is the Only Just Judge.
I saw them; I heard them, when I lived in Southern Tennesee. I saw the Confederate dead at Lookout Mountain, and in my own yard on the Duck River in Manchester, and at Franklin. I saw them. Those simple, good Christians who died for their friends and neighbors are with God. I'm pinging some of my Southern friends because I'm not subtle enough to explain to the Greeks.
Did they "repent"? I think everyone who has to kill to survive repents. If a person isn't sorry it came to that, that he had to kill another man, then he isn't human.
I do believe in Just War. I also believe in capital-E Evil.
As for forgiveness, I truly believe that God is perfect and cannot render imperfect justice. In that hope, I hold that He will not allow those who love Him to roast forever in Hell for the crime of doing their duty to defend their homelands against the aggressor, even if in so doing they killed innocent people.
I’m not sure what you are driving at here, friend Kolokotronis. If your goal is to pick at the wound that lies between the Eastern and Western halves of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, mission accomplished. I fail to see the benefit it will produce.