Can't put God in nonviolent box

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I agree with J. Denny Weaver ("The Peace Church as Worship of God,' July) that themes of nonviolence and violence are in dynamic engagement within the Old Testament; I would add that the messianic hope proclaimed by the prophets is generally but not always expressed in nonviolent images.

However, I do not believe it possible to put God as revealed in the Old and New Testament into an exclusively nonviolent box. He doesn’t fit those confines. It is not only the Old Testament where we meet God ready to exercise violent retribution; a number of the parables of Jesus likewise warn of the judgment of God in sometimes violent images. Jesus is crisp in his warnings against those who persist in their unjust and sinful ways, rejecting the gift of forgiveness and reconciliation. Even in Revelation, where the triumph of the nonviolent, suffering Lamb is the central theme, the wrath of the Lamb who exercises just judgement is also described. In at least one passage the wrath of the Lamb is expressed in violent images (14:9-12).

As I see it, the descriptions of God exercising violence, both in the Old and New testaments, are not centered in God's omnipotence, but rather in the demands of justice. God is just. Therefore, the general thrust of the Scriptures, especially in the New Testament, is that we must entrust vengeance to God. Only God knows the heart; only God can effectuate just retribution and bring full restoration.

The peace of the gospel is centered in the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The paradox of the cross is that both the just wrath of God against sin and the rebellion of humanity against God collide upon Jesus, and in the impasse Jesus cries out in forgivness. His wounded, outstretched arms are the inviting, redemptive, reconciling embrace of God for the whole world. That cross-centered reconciliation is the essence of New Testament peace.

Associated Issue: Love, sex and marriage - July 2010

Associated Article: The peace church as worship of God

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