Apologist Clinton Wilcox explores whether the Bible mandates pacifism or if acts of violence can ever be justified 

Violence has a complicated history in the Christian Church. Christ was prophesied as the coming prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6) and he certainly brought a message of love. He wanted us to love our neighbour as ourselves (Mark 12:31) and, in fact, John wrote that if anyone does not love he does not even know God, for God is love (1 John 4:8). 

Christians since the Church first began have opposed violent acts, such as infanticide (several early Christian documents attest to this, such as The Didache, The Epistle of Barnabas and ‘A Plea for Christians’ by Athenagoras, which was written as a response to charges that Christians were violent murderers). It also seems to be common knowledge that Christians for at least the first 200 years of the Church refused to engage… (Register to read the rest of the article)