Justifiable Christian Violence?

As I drained calories on the eliptical machine I got to see live coverage of the breaking news about how 21 Pakistanis (sp?) were arrested in England for attempting to carry liquid explosive material onto 6 to 11 airplanes all headed for the US. Bush comes on an explains about how we definitely are at war with Islamic Facists who want to "destroy freedom."

It got me to thinking. Obviously, there are Muslims out there who think that personal involvement in offensive action which involves hurting/killing people is legitimate. Is there ever a situation in which its ok for a Christian to fight and to kill? And I'm not talking about Just War, nor am I talking about joining the military. I'm talking about individual Christians, banding together for some cause, and illegally harming or killing other people?

I tend to think that a Christian can ethically justify killing in the case of self-defense. But I don't think this is illegal. Can a Christian kill for the sake of justice? Does being Christian entail being non-violent? Are Christians in every circumstance ethically obligated to remain within the limits of the law? Can Christians revolt?

Just food for thought.

My own answer: Except in cases where a Christian is persecuted for religious beleifs and prevented from performing the tasks that he/she beleives are essential to the practice of faith, there are few instances I can think of in which Christians are ethically permitted to break the law. It seems opposed to the Spirit of Christ to suggeset that there are situations in which individual Christians could ethically take up arms and harm anyone for any reason. The Bible commands individual Christians to love their enemies and to pray for persecutors. Jesus talked about turning the other cheek. the NT talks about submitting to "the authorities" in matters that do not violate conscience. All this would seem to suggeset that no matter how bad things get, it is not ever the responsibility of Christians to use violent means to accomplish their purposes.

For a bizarre article on this very topic, see:

Is There Such a Thing as Christian Justifiable Homicide?