The Conscientious Objector

Bullets are flying everywhere. You can hear the “… phht …” as they whiz past your ears! At least if you hear it you know it hasn’t hit you, right?
Mortar shells and grenades are going off all around. The noise is deafening! Chaos. Screams from those around you as they are hit, and groans as they lie injured. Or worse.
You know that if you dared look, you could see the enemy with their guns aimed right at you. You don’t have a gun. What do you do?

The people around you, the ones on “your side,” who are being ripped apart by enemy bullets in front of you, are the same ones who have given you a hard time for years during your training. After all the time you’ve spent together none are really your friends. They don’t want to be.
According to them you’re a bit of a freak! What kind of person would join the army and then refuse to even touch a gun? And what makes you think you’re so special that you can get an extra holiday every week on Saturdays?

You can remember more than once having your evening prayer time interrupted by a high-speed army boot hitting the back of your head. You can remember the many Sundays spent scrubbing filthy toilet blocks on your own. You’ve been continually intimidated, told to get out of the army, and threatened with court martial by the officer over there for refusing his order to pick up a gun.

What are you doing here? What are you going to do now?
The Conscientious Objector is the story of Desmond Doss, an Adventist young man from Georgia who joins the US Army in World War II. He feels compelled to serve his country, but an even greater conviction to serve God the best he can in any situation he finds himself.

His mother’s influence during his childhood instilled a strong faith in Desmond, including the importance of Sabbath. Another commandment, “Thou shalt not kill” was forcefully impressed on him when his father was arrested for threatening his brother-in-law with a gun. He resolved that he would never touch a gun himself.
While Adventists might find these aspects of Desmond’s faith admirable, in the army they where the reason for his continual persecution. But while some parts of his faith may have caused him to be ridiculed and alienated, it is eventually Desmond’s faith that leads him to be honoured by his fellow soldiers.

As an army medic he worked tirelessly to save life in the midst of all who were taking life as he imagined Christ would do, while his division became known as “The Butchers of Guam.” His greatest feat sees him single-handedly treating and lowering on ropes down a cliff, 75 injured men during a 12-hour period. So great became the admiration of the men of his company that they nominated him for the highest possible military award in the US, the Medal of Honour.

This documentary of Desmond Doss is a great tribute to the man and his faith. The interviews with those who fought beside Doss are insightful. The pace of the film is possibly a little slow, but allows for contemplation of the challenging and inspiring life of the man and his deep faith, his care for his fellow man, his courage and bravery and his humility.

We tend to have the impression of the preceeding generations of Adventists being conservative, strict and unexciting. It is through the telling of stories such as Doss’s we see that an important part of a strong and meaningful faith is a compassionate care for others that can lead us to achieve incredible things and make a deep impression on those around us, to the glory of God.