Who likes what is happening in the world today?
Everywhere we turn there is violence upon violence.
- American drones are bombing small fishing/sailing/smuggling vessels in the Caribbean while American bombers wait menacingly off the coast of Venezuela.
- Russia pounds civilian centers in Ukraine while Ukraine sends drones to attack Russian oil vessels.
- Israel continues to bomb whomever it pleases in Gasa, Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East.
- Cartels in Central America, gangs in Somalia, and thugs in Nigeria grab international headlines with their disregard for human life.
It is not just nation states and rogue pretenders around the world that practice violence; it is American authorities and American civilians that have no better recourse in their lust for power and wealth.
- Through nine months of this year, 11,197 people have died through gun violence in the United States. Among these are high profile business, government, and political leaders.
- Government employees (ICE, FBI, and others) have formed masked and armed gangs to raid homes, seize people, and distribute fear throughout cities in the United States.
- Wrecks on the highways, accidents at home and work, and even deaths on the playing fields of American schools bring unintended harm to thousands of people.
Looking past human nature, we see Mother Nature herself, beautiful and calm one week and violent and destructive the next. Ask the people of Sumatra, California, and Hawaii how their year has played out.
And can I mention the Bible? Is there a more violent book on our shelves? Cain killed Able to start the narrative and to tie it all up, consider this: “… before me was a white horse whose rider … judges and wages war… He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood…. The armies of heaven were following him…. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations…. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.”
In between, God strikes down the first born sons of the Egyptians, Israelite warriors “destroyed with the sword every living thing in Jericho—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” Jael drove a tent peg through the head of the sleeping Sisera, and Joab “took three javelins and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive and hanging by his hair in the oak tree.”
Christianity itself was born in violence. Herod killed the babies after Jesus was born and another Herod beheaded John the baptizing prophet. Jesus was executed by crucifixion, and the ceremony that celebrates this is at the center of Christian devotion everywhere. Even baptism, the apostle says, is an enacted sign of death, echoing the words of Jesus and Paul that we are to die to self.
This effort to sanctify violence does not begin to balance out the brutal history of Christian behavior. “In this sign conquer” the Roman emperor supposedly saw in a vision, giving himself and a million more divine permission to raise the sword for the glory of God. Years later, our own soldiers marched into battle, their ears and hearts freshly fortified with some version of the battle hymn of the republic: “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, God’s truth is marching on.”
No wonder that, in our day, the religiously motivated mob that stormed the Capital on January 6 carried Christian flags, leather-bound Bibles, and the conviction that they were returning America to the greatness of its Christian founding. They are preparing for more, and so should we.
Against this history and horror of violence, God sent Jesus to heal the sick, welcome the refugee, bless the peacemaker, and resist the temptation to take up the sword even in defense of his own life. Because of that, God exalted him, and so should we, by laying down our guns, forgiving one another, and lighting the candle of peace in this dark and violent world.
Who likes what is happening in the world today?
Everywhere we turn there is violence upon violence.
It is not just nation states and rogue pretenders around the world that practice violence; it is American authorities and American civilians that have no better recourse in their lust for power and wealth.
Looking past human nature, we see Mother Nature herself, beautiful and calm one week and violent and destructive the next. Ask the people of Sumatra, California, and Hawaii how their year has played out.
And can I mention the Bible? Is there a more violent book on our shelves? Cain killed Able to start the narrative and to tie it all up, consider this: “… before me was a white horse whose rider … judges and wages war… He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood…. The armies of heaven were following him…. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations…. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.”
In between, God strikes down the first born sons of the Egyptians, Israelite warriors “destroyed with the sword every living thing in Jericho—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” Jael drove a tent peg through the head of the sleeping Sisera, and Joab “took three javelins and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive and hanging by his hair in the oak tree.”
Christianity itself was born in violence. Herod killed the babies after Jesus was born and another Herod beheaded John the baptizing prophet. Jesus was executed by crucifixion, and the ceremony that celebrates this is at the center of Christian devotion everywhere. Even baptism, the apostle says, is an enacted sign of death, echoing the words of Jesus and Paul that we are to die to self.
This effort to sanctify violence does not begin to balance out the brutal history of Christian behavior. “In this sign conquer” the Roman emperor supposedly saw in a vision, giving himself and a million more divine permission to raise the sword for the glory of God. Years later, our own soldiers marched into battle, their ears and hearts freshly fortified with some version of the battle hymn of the republic: “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah, God’s truth is marching on.”
No wonder that, in our day, the religiously motivated mob that stormed the Capital on January 6 carried Christian flags, leather-bound Bibles, and the conviction that they were returning America to the greatness of its Christian founding. They are preparing for more, and so should we.
Against this history and horror of violence, God sent Jesus to heal the sick, welcome the refugee, bless the peacemaker, and resist the temptation to take up the sword even in defense of his own life. Because of that, God exalted him, and so should we, by laying down our guns, forgiving one another, and lighting the candle of peace in this dark and violent world.
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