Was Jesus naive? …

I GREATLY appreciated Gregory S. Clapper's "Wounds of war" (June 28), with compassion for the trials and tribulations of men and women in the armed services, Clapper captures the difficulties of moral decision making for Christian soldiers in the maxim: "Sometimes the world makes us choose whom to love."

Clapper's maxim raises questions for Christians. For if the maxim is true and if it provides (an admittedly tragic) justification for Christians to kill, it suggests that the Jesus who says, "Do not resist an evildoer" (Matt. 7:12), "Love your enemies" (Matt. 5:44) and "Be kind to the ungrateful and the wicked" (Luke 6:35) is either naive or wrong. Either way, our Lord loses moral authority and credibility.

Bryan Owen

Episcopal Church of the Incarnation,

West Point, Miss.

I take exception to how Gregory Clapper answered the soldier's observation that "you cannot kill and love at the same time." I agree with the soldier and do not believe that Clapper gave a good answer. I can state categorically that it would be psychologically impossible for me to both love and kill.

Clapper cited one extreme case--shooting a Nazi rather than letting him kill a concentration camp prisoner. But the soldier in his article had to face this choice on a daily basis. Show me the person who can continually both kill and love.

Joe McGarrity

Hammonton, N.J.

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