Defining violence
- Deuteronomy 19:16-20
- Exodus 20:16 – Do not bear false witness. Bearing false witness is an attempt to do violence to another.
- Exodus 23:1-2
- I Kings 21:9-10 – Ahab and Jezebel did violence in taking Naboth’s vineyard.
- Psalm 97:12
- Psalms 35:11-15
- Psalms 55:9-11
- Isaiah 59:3-8
God’s attitude toward violence
- Violence is punished!
- Genesis 6:11-13
- Psalms 7:14
- Psalms 11:5-7
- John 18:36
How do we prevent violence in our lives?
- On earth, we will be faced with violence.
- Proverbs 1:10-14 – We can be enticed to violence by others.
- Psalms 73:3 – Envy can lure us to violence.
- We may have a strong emotional desire to right wrongs. This tests the righteous man (Psalms 11:5). The righteous man fails the test when he is violent himself (James 1:12-15).
Examples of violence
- Religious Violence and Abortion: The Gideon Project
- Men blew up an abortion clinic and were convicted for it.
- They saw an evil and decided to correct it through violent means, which was not right.
- The men belonged to a denominational church that practiced tongue-speaking. This might have contributed somewhat in that false, modern-day tongue-speaking can lead people to believe God said things He did not say.
- “Hatchet Granny” tearing up bars to fight against alcohol.
- Dinah was violated, so Simeon and Levi committed violence to avenge her (Genesis 34; 49:4-7).
- Current events may cause otherwise good people to be tempted to violence.
With so many wrongs surrounding us, what can we do?
- Jesus was cruelly treated with great violence, but responding with violence was not the answer. Acts 2:38