Just Wars, PTSD, and God's Grace: Spiritual Healing for Military Members

Last Sunday I was preaching on the theme "Do no Harm" from Bishop Ruebin Job's book Three Simple Rules.  I spoke about how when I was a military chaplain I realized that when I lead worship overseas we needed to be intentional about praying for our enemies.  I spoke about the spiritual tension I felt in that setting.  And afterward I was asked a difficult question.  One of my church members lived through Nazi occupation in Europe.  She asked me wasn't it justified to want to do harm to Hitler given the injustices of the Nazi regime.  This lead me to reflection on my own experience of military service in wartime and the counseling I did with folks affected with PTSD.

War is never a good thing.  The classic doctrine of a Just War affirms that war is only tolerable as the lesser of two evils -- when the evil of going to war is less than evil of letting an injustice continue.  Too often we try to explain away the spiritual torment those in combat feel by saying they did the right thing or they were only doing their duty.  But that does not take away the tension we feel.  In some ways I think trying to explain away the anxiety only exacerbates the stress.

I think a better approach is to be honest about the evil of any war -- even a just war.  It may be the lesser of two evils but still an evil.  The hell of life is that sometimes we find ourselves in situations where we can make no choice but a choice to sin.  Then we try our best to find the least wrong path.  War is one of those situations.  I think the doctrine of original sin has less to do with the garden of Eden and more to do with the inevitability of sin while living in a world in which God permits evil.

I have found in counseling with folks affected by PTSD in the war on terror that being honest about our sin is the first step toward finding health.  We  must first admit we found ourselves in a difficult situation and chose what we believed at the time was the least wrong path.   It may have been less sinful, but was sinful nevertheless.  It is only after we admit the sin that we can be open to the healing grace of God and find the redemption we need.

We forget that in war, our military not only puts their lives at risk, but also their souls.  I could not overcome the trauma of my own experience in war, until I realized the reality of my sin in participating in it.  It was then I could accept the abundance of God's grace and mercy.