The reason that God appears so violent in Scripture (and in nature) is not because He is violent, but because He allows human and natural violence to be attributed to His name for our own sake. There are numerous reasons God allows violence to be attributed to His name, but we must begin by understanding the origin of violence itself.
The Origin of Violence
Throughout history and around the world, people have noticed that violence permeates everything. From birth to death, from galaxies down to sub-atomic particles, violence is omnipresent. Whenever people recognize this, they are left with only two basic options for the existence and origin of violence.
First, as I discuss in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) The Atonement of God, some people decided that violence and evil were eternal and that God was constantly at war against this violence and evil, but would never overcome it. This view has come to be known as dualism, and while dualism is prevalent in many Eastern religions and has attached itself in various ways to most Western religions (including Christianity), most Christians would not say that evil is eternally co-existent with God.
The second option for the origin of violence is that somehow or another, violence and evil originated with God (or the gods). Though many in the ancient world had no problems with such an idea (just look at how the gods of Egyptian, Persian, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian mythology behave) such a suggestion is not acceptable to most people today. Ever since the time of Plato (and as a result of his ideas), the gods are supposed to behave in morally superior manner, and not simply be extreme manifestations of humanity’s deepest emotions and desires.
God and the Origin of Violence
Since neither option for the origin of evil and violence appeals to most Christians, numerous theories have been proposed for how violence and evil can exist in God’s good creation while not being eternally existent with God nor having its origin in God.
Some say the violence came directly from God, while others said its origin was in evil spiritual beings who rebelled against God, or even in mankind ourselves, but such options beg the question about why God would create beings who were capable of such evil.
Others argue that violence and evil are not always identical, so that what is violent may not always be evil. Though this is true, the origin of violence and evil must still be considered.
Regardless of which view people today hold regarding the origin of evil and violence, it cannot be denied that civilizations of earlier eras believed that since all creation was violent, and since all creation came from God, that therefore, God also was violent. How else, they thought, could violence exist? If God did not will it, want it, or command it, violence would have no place in the world.
Such a view is not surprising, for many people today believe the exact same thing.
The Origin of our OWN Violence
But more than the origin of violence, people needed an object on which to blame their own violence. For while everybody hates violence in others, we always seek to justify the violence that we ourselves exhibit.
Whenever we ourselves commit violence, we almost always find some way to blame it as a necessary response to the actions of others against us. Sometimes, when our violence has no one else to blame, we place blame upon God.
If we deny that God is the source of our violence, then we are left with only two options: either we must call our violence “good” or we must accept that we ourselves are terribly and inherently violent.
Though some theologians take the first option and some warriors take the second, the vast majority of mankind prefers to blame their violence on God. The violent God of a violent creation is the perfect target for our own violence. The word “target” is used intentionally. When we blame God for the violence we ourselves commit, God becomes both the justification for our violence, and the victim of it.
So why does God appear violent in Scripture? Because we have blamed God for our own violence. (See my book, (#AmazonAdLink) The Atonement of God, for a longer explanation.)
God appears violent in the Bible because humans would rather blame God for our violence than admit that we ourselves are violent. And as we have seen in previous posts, and will see in future posts, God willingly accepts the blame (or responsibility) for our violence because He is seeking to rescue and deliver us from it.
How can a God who says "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?
These are the sorts of questions we discuss and (try to) answer in my online discipleship group. Members of the group can also take ALL of my online courses (Valued at over $1000) at no charge. Learn more here: Join the RedeemingGod.com Discipleship Group I can't wait to hear what you have to say, and how we can help you better understand God and learn to live like Him in this world!
I love this series. I anxiously wait for each post on this topic.
Thanks. I should start digging into difficult texts in the next couple weeks. Then eventually, to the Book of Revelation and the topic of hell.
You make it so clear. It is human violence, such as the human caused tsunami that killed about a quarter of a million people a few years ago, the human caused tornados, hurricanes, hail storms, and earthquakes, not to mention the human caused volcanos and mud slides. God is innocent for causing these things or allowing them to happen because humans cause them. There are two letters that describe your premise – BS.
And still you keep reading, lol.
I read because much of what Jeremy says is valid. This particular topic and his approach is not. Every ship needs a rudder and a navigator – to know when it is off course and to steer back to the correct course. If Jermemy’s only readers are those who always agree with him, how does that help?
I agree with you. It does not help if everybody agree’s.
That is why I like your piont and felt the need to respond, espacialy with the, lol at the end.
I saw the NOAH movie and one of the things that stayed with me where the screaming of all the people that are drowning. I just don’t know what to think of that in the light of violence and God.
Harold,
Thanks for the kind words …
Did I say anywhere that humans cause tornadoes, hurricanes, hail storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, and mud slides? I must have missed that point I made somewhere. If you can find it, point it out to me, and I will retract it.
I guess I misinterpreted what you said: “Because we have blamed God for our own violence. God appears violent in the Bible because humans would rather blame God for our violence than admit that we ourselves are violent.” I thought you were including the violence actually committed by God in the HT (the flood, the 10 plagues, and so on) and thus those same kinds of events in our times would be attributed to God. If, in fact, you do not attribute modern violent events to God, and attributing them to Satan is just using a proxy for God, as God must be ALLOWING Satan to cause those events, upon whom do you place the blame. Looking around the room, I see only God, Satan, humans, and Mother Nature.
and please add the obvious truth that the blood, pain, and fear inherent in a natural system where everything seems to stalk, claw to death, and eat everything is caused by humans too. si.ple minded.
Hi Jeremy,
could you please give me example or explain more about violent may not always be evil ?
and by the way.. I agree with your thought 🙂
thank you..:)
I suppose a lot of it depends on how “violence” and “evil” are defined.
Some people view Jesus cleansing the temple as violent, but not evil. I can see that. He didn’t harm anyone though, as far as I can tell.
Then there are natural disasters. These are violent and cause great harm, but are they evil? Well, they are “evil” in that they kill people, but they are not evil in that they are simply things that happen in a broken world like ours, and there is no “evil” intent behind them. So they are violent, but not exactly evil.
Ah yes… now I understand…. thank you so much for the explanation 🙂
its so cool… I feel like I am doing bible study with you 🙂
Is this just a modern question? We, in the mollycoddled west, don’t seem to like anything bad happening, and so we try to find explanations that we are comfortable with. Do Christians in other cultures ask the same question? Are they as concerned with either blaming God (as per the tsunami guy in the second comment) or letting Him off the hook completely?
Hi, this is tsunami guy. (I may keep that for my twitter handle – thanks.) Consider the choices for what is called a NATURAL disaster. 1. God did it. 2. God allowed Satan to do it. 3. Jeremy’s idea that it is a response to human’s evil ways. 4. It was, gasp, a NATURAL phenomena.
1. God claims credit for evil in the HT. 2. Satan was invented about 200 BCE as a way putting the blame on someone other than God. 3. This seems to be a modern interpretation for those who down play Satan, but don’t want God to have dirty hands. 4. The simpliest and most logical explanation.
I think my question goes beyond what you are saying. You have four options: maybe there are more. Don’t ask me what those options are. I am asking questions here, not giving answers!
We travel a fair bit, and we’ve found that our western (Australian, in my case) mindset leads us to ask the wrong questions in different cultures if we aren’t careful. We are all products of our cultures, and stepping outside one’s own cultural context is close to impossible, but worth a try.
On many grounds, you are right. We do need to move outside the confines of questions asked over and over and look with new eyes on the problem. I did not intend to make an exhaustive list, but I do think my list covers the main options. I would love to hear of others.
There are other options, which I laid out in my “Chaos Theory.” Check the link at the bottom of this post to go see all the posts in this series so far, and then read the posts in the “Chaos Theory” section.
Okay, I re-read the Chaos Theory post. It seems to say that God created a world/universe that is chaotic and that violence/evil/bad things can happen by chance. Although this takes the blame off God for CAUSING v/e/bt, it does not take the blame off him for ALLOWING people to suffer as a result of v/e/bt. If we are going to go to the extent of saying that NATURAL DISASTERS are actually, well, NATURAL, why do we need God in the picture at all? If one insists on having a creator, well, there he is, but he isn’t doing much since creation, since everything can be explained by NATURAL PROCESSES. And, of course, many (if not most) scientists feel that even the creation can be explained by a NATURAL PROCESS. If God is no longer needed to explain what is going on and there is NO evidence for the existence of a supernatural sky-god, why continue to believe in him, worship him, and sacrifce to him?
Harold,
Well, now you are getting into the whole debate about the existence of God, and His involvement in the world. Please forgive me if I decide not to enter this debate in the comments section of the blog. For myself, I just feel that the evidence for the existence of God outweighs the evidence for there being no God.
Maybe it is a modern question. Or maybe it is the question Jesus wants us to ask so that we see that we are the source of human violence, and not God Himself.
Isaiah 45-7 I bring the good and the bad ] I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.Jesus Saves Trust only in himxx