Caligula, Death Is Dead Poem by Daniel Partlow

O'Neil mused 'When threatened by the pagan armies, Lazarus laughed and said
Ha Ha! Haven’t you heard Caligula, Death is Dead, Death is Dead! '

In the earliest days of the church wrote Justin the Apologist and Martyr
“We refrain from making war on our enemies” in his Christian charter

“We cannot bear to see a man killed, even if killed justly.”
How can the nature of war be explained more robustly?

Clement of Alexandria wrote less than two centuries from the cross
“He who holds the sword must cast it away (and not mourn the loss)

“If one of the (Christian) faithful enlists as a soldier.
He must be rejected, for he has scorned God.” (This violence indulger) .

Not long after Tertullian explained that when by Christ, Peter was disarmed
Every other man-at-arms was prohibited from causing carnal harm.

How can we kill another human being for whom Jesus died?
‘I’m told Jesus loves you, but you are on the other side.’

‘You may have been made in the image of God, but I have my orders’
Who is the drummer who marches you out to defend his beloved borders?

The old covenant proscribed murder, and adultery, yet permitted divorce
But Christ raised the bar to ban any unfaithful, angry, or lustful course.

The old covenant calls for Judgement, yet Mercy is Christ’s transcendent standard.
So let not our Prince of Peace’s “Love Your Enemy” be blasphemed or slandered.

Augustine and Aquinas were wrong to justify war for the laity,
While only the “holy” were to behave with peaceful amity.

For all true Christians are holy; and we don’t just worship at a temple.
For the true temple is carried within every Christian heart and temple.

Death is Dead Caligula, Death is Dead!