Evil Violence

This past week I was indirectly affected by a dear co-worker/friend losing her husband and mother-in-law in a heinous act of violence.  My friend and her husband had recently celebrated their fortieth anniversary – and their marriage was blessed with a bond that exceeded love.  Their immediate and extended families were the vortex of their relationship.  Sundays were spent having dinner at the home of her mother-in-law.  My friend’s words were, “We had the most blessed life.  We always used to say that if we were to die today, we would die happy.”

This unfortunate loss was at the hands of a convicted criminal with a violent history.  While a gun was involved in these deaths, gun control is an important issue but is not the root of the violence. Our society seems to have acquiesced to the inevitability of violence.  We hope that law enforcement can do a better job, that more thorough background checks will keep dangerous weapons away from criminals, and that the next crazed shooter won’t be in our neighborhood.

These examples deal with violence at its tipping point, not at its source.  The biblical narrative of the first heinous act of violence happened in the second generation of humanity – Cain murdering his brother Abel – in an act of jealousy.  Unchecked jealousy, left to grow and deepen and intensify, leads to acting out in violence.  In other words, violence is often the tipping point after resentment turns to rage.  If we choose to NOT do what is right, then sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, but you MUST master it.    

Violence is the result of a pathology of the soul.  Violence does not begin with standing armies, generational ethnic hatred, long standing social inequities.  Violence is as close to us as our own hearts.  “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”  (Genesis 9:6)  This scripture links to the fundamental reality that violence against human beings is wrong.  There is a worth, a value, a dignity, to every human life that makes selfish or wanton violence a moral offense.

Violence – like all sin – comes out of the human heart.  External stimuli can certainly affect people and deep psychological wounding certainly conditions people, and a culture of violence gives permission to be violent.  But the instinct and choice to act out in violence comes out of the heart.

We are called to be peacemakers.  We need vigilance, not vigilantes.  We need to close the gap with people rejected by others; connect with the wounded before they lash out and wound others.  We need to bring down the level of tension and stress around us by living in shalom – peace.  Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with ME!!!