{"id":5425,"date":"2009-07-27T06:05:27","date_gmt":"2009-07-27T06:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/is-police-a-christian-calling.html"},"modified":"2009-07-27T06:05:27","modified_gmt":"2009-07-27T06:05:27","slug":"is-police-a-christian-calling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/07\/is-police-a-christian-calling.html","title":{"rendered":"Is “Police” a Christian Calling?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Police.jpg\"<\/span>Here is a letter from a reader and I’m wondering what you think? As an Anabaptist, I’m aware of this issue from a variety of angles, not the least of which is that violence and God’s kingdom are at odds. There are a lot of issues involved here, and one of them is that many Christians don’t even think about this sort of question. But what do you think?<\/p>\n

<\/i>Dr. McKnight,<\/p>\n

I wanted to know your opinion on something. For many years I have felt
\ncalled to be a police officer. At one point I was planning on becoming
\na pastor but I gave that up to pursue a career with the local City Police.
\nI know that God created government and police officers because we live
\nin a fallen world. <\/p>\n

But my question is, “Should Christians be police
\nofficers?<\/b>” <\/p>\n

Christians are called to live a life  marked by non-violence but does this necessarily mean that they cannot be apart
\nof the institutions created by God to keep order in our society? Can
\nyou help me at all?<\/p>\n

In Christ,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a letter from a reader and I’m wondering what you think? As an Anabaptist, I’m aware of this issue from a variety of angles, not the least of which is that violence and God’s kingdom are at odds. 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