Pastor's Corner

Is the Bible full of violence? Yes, but not for the reasons that most think. The Bible is full of violence so that it will not be swept under the rug. The violence in history must not be discarded or explained away with a “pat” answer. It must not continue to be hidden or continue unnoticed. It must not be ignored. Otherwise the violence of the past ages will continue unchallenged through the violence of this age.

If we were talking about other writings, such as those by Homer or Dickens, then we would know that the good people do good things and the bad people do bad things—very predictable. However, in almost every story that the Bible puts before us, the heroes act like boneheads and the villains seem like innocents. The Bible almost insists that we deal with a world that is full of violence–that this is the world we actually live in.

Is the Bible filled with an account of the violence in ages past? Yes, and many would improperly say that it and its God condone such violence, citing references to an eye for an eye as proof. Where they misinterpret is that an eye for an eye was a limit upon revenge. It did not condone such, but limited the over-response of violence–capping unlimited revenge or its escalation.

Instead of sweeping such cultural violence under the rug, insisting that there are truly good people, or condoning violence, the scriptures might actually say that there are no lines between “good” and “bad” people.

There are only people who live on Earth–and often by circumstance find themselves doing good or bad.

It is because stories of violence and boneheads such as Abner, Joab, Jezebel, and Peter are included in the Bible that we know God takes such cultural conditions seriously.

It is in just such a moral climate that God is working out the history and completion of salvation through Jesus Christ.

It is because God was at work in this type of violent past that we know He can still work in our violent or morally decadent present.

It is just because God was at work in the lives of those boneheads that we can expect Him to work in ours.

Is the Bible full of violent and difficult texts? Yes, and this is truly Good News for you and me. It is entirely because of their inclusion that we know God did not ignore the wrongs of the past and won’t ignore them now. It is because the shoddy morals of the past are exposed that we know those who oppress us with their shoddy morals will truly be exposed as well. It is truly Good News for us that God worked through such tough, evil, and difficult situations and paid the penalty for them in the sacrifice of Jesus that we can know our situations are not beyond God’s reach nor the forgiveness of Jesus.

Instead of being appalled and turning away from such texts, I hope we can see that in them the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ makes not only good sense, but also paves the way for that same Good News to make good sense in our difficult cultural milieu to be proclaimed, believed, and trusted. A stick snatched from the fire.

Pastor Dave McCue,

United Methodist Churches,

Colfax and St. John