Hooray for violence
20 January 2008 Jeff Gill
I can’t get away from violence. The universe is full of it. It is hardwired into everything. That’s a bad thing, right?
I’ve been reading and listening to a lot of Christians recently who believe that Christians should eschew all violence. The covenant that a follower of Jesus Christ has with God is not one of violence. Jesus’s blood sealed our covenant in a once-for-all act. Our assignment is one of reconciliation, not one of purification.
Yes. But what about the violence? What about our sense that right must prevail, that evil must be defeated, that the bully deserves a good pounding, that sacrificing yourself for a just cause or vulnerable person in a heroic act of violence is a good thing? Are we supposed to let the Hitlers and bin Ladens kill the helpless innocents while we non-violent people make sure that we ‘do not resist an evil person’? (Matthew 5:39)
There are non-violent answers for all those questions, some quite good. I’m still left questioning. Is this Jesus we are all intent on following just for people with naturally peaceable personalities and those desperate enough for something that they will shove themselves into any mold? Are the Gung Ho left to choose between a nationalistic, culture-war-fighting, power-hungry, often misogynistic version of western Christianity or No Jesus?
It can’t be that. Strip away culture and nurture and gender roles. Discard religion and ideology. Make all wars cease. The violence is still there. We live in a universe born from a violent explosion of infinite heat on a planet that was smashed together in the gravity of a massive nuclear fusion power plant. Jump a long way ahead: I’ve got a quarter-of-a-million years of violent hunting-and-gathering, fighting-or-fleeing history behind me. It’s just there.
Not in a John Eldredge, hang out in the woods and watch manly movies kind of way (although I enjoy both). I’ve read the book. I’ve looked deep inside for the wound. It’s not there.
This is something different, and it just won’t fit neatly with all the peace stuff, not the way my brain works anyway.
And then God saves the day.
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has a place for violence in his imagination! I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. Sending a herd of pigs into the sea to their death. Cursing a fig tree. Trashing the unholy market in the temple.
Paul is more explicit. Our struggle… The weapons of our warfare… Put on the full armour…
This is violent imagery! How does it fit with all the love and peace?
The scripture that I think puts violence and peace together the best is Romans 12:21: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. The word overcome is another violent one. It means to triumph, to defeat an enemy. It comes from the Greek word Nike – you know, the goddess of victory.
So there is this idea in scripture that every time we do good, especially in the face of mistreatment, we are committing powerful acts of violence against evil. By choosing love, forgiveness and non-violence toward people we are committing effective, violent acts of war against evil.
When Jesus’s seventy disciples returned from healing the sick and announcing the Kingdom of God, Jesus said, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.
I know that some people are averse to any violent imagining of Christianity. Some say that there should be no martial talk at all. I think that is an overreaction to Christian craziness in the 80s and 90s. Yes, I think it is crazy to tell our kids that their schools are a battle ground. Yes, fighting a culture war guarantees defeat (and the loss of the church’s soul too). Yes, too many Christians spent too much time hidden in church basements shouting at demons when they should have been loving their neighbors. (Not that I have a problem with bossing demons around, when appropriate.)
BUT
Just because half the time we forget who the enemy is, doesn’t mean we don’t have one. Just because we confuse waving banners with fighting battles doesn’t mean we don’t need to fight.
Kind and gentle people may be content with loving their enemies for the sake of loving their enemies. I, on the other hand, with my typically male tendencies am grateful that Jesus and Paul had a place in their imaginations for violence. I like to know that when I’m being kind to ‘ungrateful and evil people’ I’m fighting back, violently and purposefully, against evil.
And I think that my class on 10, 11 and 12 year-old boys steeped in a culture that fills them with violent movies, music and video games yet expects them to behave like little women like to know that too.
I’ll finish with a benediction from Paul: The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
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tags: non-violence
Things being said about Hooray for violence
On 20 January 2008 M. Simon wrote:
The US Marines understand Jesus.
No better friend. No worse enemy.
On 21 February 2008 Jonathan Benz wrote:
Brilliant piece, Jeff. You really demonstrate the both/and aspects of peace and violence in the way that Jesus presented us. We don’t have to opt for one or the other but can effectively live in the Kingdom realm of turning the other cheek and rejecting injustice. The violence in His Kingdom perhaps could be seen as our intense zeal and efforts of good triumping over evil.
(BTW, I love the fact that you love Greg Boyd too.)
On 21 February 2008 Jeff Gill wrote:
Jonathan, Greg Boyd has given me an amazing biblical foundation for a whole bunch of stuff that I came to believe sort of instinctively – from science to politics to vegetarianism to living as citizen in the kingdom of God.
I stumbled across him at a time when I REALLY needed the answers he had. Also, he is a genuinely nice guy – at least when it comes to email. He has answered all my emails very thoughtfully.