10th May 2006

A War Hero without a Gun by John Fischer

He didn’t carry a gun, but he received the Medal of Honor for his action in World War II. He never pulled a trigger or threw a grenade, but he received the Bronze Star for his valor in the midst of heavy enemy fire. He personally objected to killing, but he was willing to serve the greater war effort, and he did so by saving lives instead of taking them. His name is Desmond T. Doss and he was recently celebrated, in his passing, by stories about his unique service in the United States Army.

Desmond was a devout believer who refused to carry a gun because of his personal conviction not to kill anyone for any reason. (The closest he got to a gun was an M-1 rifle stock he used to splint his own shattered arm while he tended to the wounded.) He served as a medic and once rescued 75 men in one operation amidst heavy enemy fire. He endured ridicule from fellow soldiers until, in the heat of battle, they saw what he was made of. And when his entire company fought in extraordinarily close quarters with the enemy and not one of them was killed, they, to a man, credited their success and safety to Desmond’s prayers. Here was a man who found a way to serve a war effort dedicated to killing while serving his own convictions not to kill at the same time.

Often we find ourselves in situations that are less than morally pristine. And yet we are called to serve the Kingdom of God. How do we do that? Desmond T. Doss found a way to do both. He even made up a term for himself: conscientious cooperator.

Believers serving in political office have to deal with the slippery slope of compromise all the time. Believers in the entertainment industry have to use their talents for less than ideal stories, or portray moral ambiguity in their acting. And believers often work for employers with questionable ethics. The lines are not always drawn in the sand. There are times when the right thing is to conscientiously object. But there are also times when the right thing is to conscientiously cooperate by finding that which we can accomplish for the Kingdom of God in the midst of lesser things.

This is not a perfect world. Everything you do, buy, or earn has been touched with impure hands somewhere along the line of getting to you. Like Desmond, we have to find out what we can do to serve God here.

One picture that should work for all of us is to see ourselves ducking under enemy fire to rescue the wounded and bring them to Christ for healing. Whatever else we are doing, that’s our real job.

[Thanks to John Beisner for sending me the story of Desmond Doss.]