The Myth of Redemptive Violence

A few years ago, an angry neighbor came to my door, cursing and threatening to kill my dog.

What I remember most about the incident is that none of that same cursing fury boiled up in my own heart, to spew back in her face. I know I'm fully capable of it, especially when I'm attacked blind-side. The fact that rage didn't erupt from me in response made me aware how much God has worked, and is working, in my heart...even MY heart.

Thinking about it later, I tried to understand where that spirit of rage comes from. What stood out to me was that people kill (or threaten to) in the belief that killing will solve a problem. (People operating on that belief are dangerous to be near. I warned my kids to stay far away from her yard.)

It's an idea the theologian Walter Wink called "The Myth of Redemptive Violence: "...the pattern-of-belief [the strict meaning of the word myth] that wrong can be put right by violence. That myth, he wrote, "...enshrines the belief that violence saves, that war brings peace, that might makes right..."

Human beings have long experience with that thought-pattern. And we have abundant evidence to look back on, how that thought-pattern works in reality. If we believe wars bring peace, our world, today and through all our history, would surely be a place overflowing with the blessing of peace.

But we know that's not true, and never has been true. From pragmatic experience, it seems a good assumption it never will be true. In that regard, the idea of "redemptive violence" is also a "myth" in the everyday sense of that word: a story that's not true.

Scripture tells us to take our “…every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5). Even more than our passing thoughts, that must surely apply to the basic operative-ideas on which we act. “Redemptive (or ‘restorative’) violence” is one such idea, deeply ingrained in human hearts.

Jesus testified that He is Himself “…the Truth…” (John 14:6). Our human operative-belief in “redemptive violence" has shown itself every time, all the millions of times, it's acted on, to be a lie.

The test of “redemptive violence” is as simple as I John 2:21 puts it: “…no lie is of the truth.”

You Never Know...But You Should

We underestimate God's unpredictability.

He's always doing what we would never expect. Choosing a gang of slaves for His people. Making a peasant-nobody king. Letting good people suffer (ask Job). Changing EVERYTHING in the world, and life, by the execution of a third-world criminal.

But "unpredictable" is only saying He never does what we think He should, or expect He will. He is "predictable:" but only on His Own terms.

All His ways are always, and will always be, Good. Right. Perfect. Exactly what's needed.

We can expect His every word and deed to be Blessing...for all who will receive them. That's hard for anyone who expects Him to be "predictable," on their terms.

The only thing we can truly expect is that His every word and deed to us is Blessing...His entire unexpected Presence is in them, and He is the only Blessing.

Manipulators

I rail frequently against those I call "manipulators." The "spin-doctors" are constantly working to guide our thoughts in the ways that serve their purposes. I rail most frequently at the blatant political manipulation of Christians' thinking, making them embrace nationalism, hatred, contempt for the poor, for foreigners, for the sick...

But it's taken me a long time to grasp manipulation's deep sinfulness.

It's wrong to use other people for your purposes. It's just wrong.

I know there are people (and I know people) who think they're doing it for our own good. There are certainly those who know it's not; and they are the more culpable. But the purpose is the same: to make us think the way they want us to think, and do what they want us to do.

The manipulator's purpose is to make us his slave.

Bottom-line: manipulation is spiritual warfare. The character-profile of its author is most clearly visible when professional manipulators "spin" truth to their false advantage, in order to get us to do evil.

Bottom-line: resisting manipulation is spiritual warfare.

Amen !