I’ve heard Christians defend war a lot, since San Antonio, where I come from, is such a military city (six bases). They might say they’re motivated by love for country or family or justice, things they interpret as being equivalent to God’s love. But other Christians would question whether, for the sake of God’s love for a man, someone could put a bullet into his head . They would hold to be the real criteria of legitimate Christian force: can you do it in love? I suppose that’s applies to any kind of compulsion: when is it the love of God that compells us to coerce someone else? Maybe parents experience God’s love in that way, sometimes. I know that many American soldiers returned to Asia as missionaries after World War II. But I don’t know how many of them felt they were acting in love as soldiers before they returned as missionaries, or whether they felt their Christian testimony was lacking as soldiers and now wanted to make up for it.