Holy Subversive Warfare

      

        I had a great post that I think would make a great journal article. Please read this Chatgpt summary of what I have thus far. 

        The central argument is that the Bible and Book of Mormon contain a recurring concept of “holy subversive warfare,” in which righteous actors sometimes use methods that would normally be considered dishonorable or immoral, including deception, infiltration, ambush, and assassination. Rather than judging these actions simply by whether they conform to conventional warfare, their morality depends on the actor, authority, purpose, target, circumstances, methods, and consequences.

        The central image is Jesus as the “Robber Messiah.” In Mark 3:27, Jesus describes his victory over Satan as entering the Strong Man's house, binding him, and taking his possessions. The unusual metaphor portrays Jesus not as a conventional soldier but as an infiltrating outlaw who invades Satan's domain and liberates those held by him. This connects with the temple being called a “den of thieves” and the Book of Mormon's portrayal of the Gadianton Robbers as agents of Satan.

        The biblical examples then develop this pattern. The story of John the Baptist's execution connects to Jesus' own death and victory over death, while Herodias is contrasted with Esther, Judith, and Jael. Judith and Jael use deception and stealth to kill powerful enemies, while Esther uses her influence to save her people. Together, these stories present subversive action as something that can serve either wicked or righteous purposes.

        The Book of Mormon provides another series of examples. Nephi kills the drunken Laban and obtains the brass plates through stealth; Gideon's secret passage involves drunken guards; Teancum infiltrates the tents of Amalickiah and Ammoron at night; Moroni uses ambushes, infiltration, and nighttime operations to liberate prisoners; and the unnamed servant of Helaman infiltrates the Gadianton Robbers and stops an assassin. These actions occur outside normal battlefield conventions, yet they are generally presented as serving righteous purposes rather than being inherently immoral.

        Augustine and Aquinas provide a Christian ethical framework for understanding these examples. Augustine argued that a just war could legitimately be conducted through ambush, while Aquinas argued that military plans could appropriately be concealed from an enemy. This creates a distinction between treachery and legitimate concealment or subterfuge.

        Classical Chinese thought provides a parallel tension. Confucian thinkers often associated virtue with openness and condemned treachery, while Sunzi treated deception as fundamental to warfare. Xunzi connected military strength to the moral and political order created by a righteous ruler. Deception could therefore be reconciled with morality when it served legitimate political purposes, particularly when it avoided the greater destruction of prolonged warfare. Mencius likewise emphasized that military strength alone could not preserve a state lacking moral order.

        The broader conclusion is that subversive warfare cannot be judged simply according to whether its methods are conventional or unconventional. Deception, ambush, or assassination is not automatically righteous because it is effective, but neither is it automatically unrighteous because it is deceptive or unconventional. The relevant questions concern intent, authority, target, method, circumstances, and likely consequences. This framework can also be applied to modern questions involving espionage, targeted attacks, and preemption.

        The final image returns to the distinction between the conventional warrior and the robber. The warrior wins on the battlefield, but the robber enters the house at night. The ultimate example is Christ, whose apparent surrender to death becomes the means by which death itself is defeated. The Robber Messiah therefore represents a broader conception of righteous power that does not always operate through conventional strength or conventional rules.

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