The Faith of Desmond Doss

3 min readJan 6, 2017

I was completely blown away the other night, when we went to see the movie Hacksaw Ridge. It’s based on the incredible true story of Desmond Doss, a pacifist who enlisted in World War II but refused to carry a weapon or kill, because of God’s Law in the Ten Commandments, “thou shall not kill”.

The movie is as graphic and gratuitous as any war movie can get, with strong language and gritty realism, like only Mel Gibson can do.

But throughout the entire movie, I was deeply convicted by Doss’ unwavering belief that what God says is to do or not to do, that is to be obeyed. It is a faith like no other.

As a Christian, I do believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and carries with it an authority unmatched by anything else ever written. But the faith and belief Desmond Doss had in the inerrancy and authority of God’s Word, is lifetimes ahead of my head knowledge of it.

The problem with me, and with many Christians, is that we BELIEVE that God’s Word is the highest authority we’ve subscribed our lives to, just enough to not LIVE it out completely. We mostly believe that if something make sense in my heart and head, it doesn’t NEED to make sense in my walk.

But Desmond showed me that my faith has to cost me something, in order for it to be real. Real faith-in God- ALWAYS manifests itself in an uncompromising walk that aligns with it. Everyone profess they love God- which I don’t doubt for a second. But the biblical writer, John, calls everyone a liar, who loves God- whom they can’t see- but struggles to love a fellow human being- whom they see every day (1 John 4:20). My faith in God is worth nothing if it don’t move me to action, is how James puts it in his writings.

Real faith-in God- ALWAYS manifests itself in an uncompromising walk that aligns with it.

I came from a conversation today, with a friend who’ve just spent 5 weeks in the slums in India, who told me that only in India she understood what it means to say to God, “I’ll do anything for you”. Because it’s true for all of us, right? It’s one thing to say, “I’m all in”, from the comfort of a warm bed, with your iPad in hand. But it’s a total different thing to stay true when you have every justifiable reason to quit.

During training in the army, Desmond Doss was ridiculed, beaten up, slandered, hated even, for his uncompromising position that God’s Word says not to kill, and therefore refused to even touch a weapon. He paid a dear price, for taking a stand none of his peers or superiors understood. But he ended up saving 75 soldiers during the battle, without having to fire one single shot. All he prayed the entire time was, “Please Lord, help me get one more.”