Dennis Tuuri

Q1: Questioner:
Before 1965, one of the exemptions for military service during Vietnam was that you were married within the last year. Is that right? Was it around ’65 or ’67 when that changed?

Pastor Tuuri:
John said it was in ’65 or ’67 somewhere around that time that the draft exemption for men who have been married in the last year was done away with.

Q2: Questioner:
I wonder—we’re always looking for the application of Scripture for today and the time future is a very good possibility that there could be another war again. I’m wondering, do you have any thoughts or comments on what would be the application of that Scripture if a man was called to war for service? I know you related it a little differently today, but what would be the application if a man was called to war or some other form of service?

Pastor Tuuri:
Okay, so the question is: what if we get into another situation where there’s war and there’s a draft again, and if somebody gets married, should they still go to war? What would their position be?

Two things. One, you know, we’ve said repeatedly that you have to obey the civil government unless they would cause you to break a command of God. And if this Scripture is a command of God, which I believe it to be for men today, then you couldn’t go. If you were drafted in that first year, you’d have to say, “The word of God tells me I can’t go.” The church would of course interpose itself between you and the civil government.

The other side of that, though, is this: you know, it’s like we talked before about Sergeant York. When he was called up, he said, “Well, I don’t believe in fighting.” He’s a pacifist, and well, the church didn’t have a statement about it. His views weren’t all that well founded in Scripture. There are, of course, men who will use that exemption because they just don’t want to go—not because there’s anything biblical about it.

And that may well have been the reason why the exemption was done away with in Vietnam—because guys were getting married just to get out of the draft. I know counseling centers in Seattle that specifically would counsel men to get married to avoid the draft back in the ’60s.

So the point is: if a man has a sincere belief that this is a command of God and if he’s in the context of a church that teaches that, then he could legitimately go to that draft board and say, “I must obey the commands of God.”

Is that kind of the intent of the question?

Q3: Questioner:
I think I don’t fall under the category of conscientious objector, but my son—alternative service. Oh, good point.

Pastor Tuuri:
That’s a good point. But you have to have a conviction behind that. There are some good points behind that. You know, the point you make about conscientious objectors being administered some other form of service. Two things. First, of course, if you’re in that position, you couldn’t take that service because the exclusion isn’t just from war—it’s from public service as well.

Secondly, some commentators think that specific verse—that’s why that second thing is appended on—men who weren’t going to go out to battle could still provide provisions and stuff downstream for the men fighting. And so they think that’s specifically related, at least in the initial sense, to support personnel for the troops actually waging war.

Q4: Richard:
I was going to say that—do you think then somebody who maybe signs up for a four or six year term in the armed services would then be disqualified from being able to become married?

Pastor Tuuri:
Well, that’s a good question. If a man has a four or six year hitch in the army, signs up, and then he wants to get married, what’s his position? That’s a real good one. I don’t know. I suppose, you know, maybe what you can do—just thinking off the top of my head—you might want to look at the provisions for brides taken in war and other case laws, the captive bride laws, that may have been after the war was concluded. I’m not sure, but that might give us some clue in how to apply that in that particular case. And I wouldn’t really want to go much beyond that without studying it out a little bit. But we have various examples of captive brides taken in warfare to give us some direction there.