VIOLENCE: THE Bible's VIEWPOINT

Violence is widespread and has many faces aside from war, there is sport related, drug related, school related and work related violence as well as violence in entertainment, even domestic violence seems to be commonplace in many families.

But how does God feel about violence?
Here is a long history of violence.... Violence has a long history, the first act of physical violence by a human that is recorded in the Bible is described at Genesis 4:2-5

later she again gave birth,to his brother Abel,Abel became a Shepherd of the flock,but Cain became a cultivator of the ground,after some time Cain brought some fruits of the land as an offering to Jehovah, but Abel brought some firstlings of his flock,while Jehovah looked with favour on Abel and his offering,he did not look with any favour on Cain and on his offering, so Cain grew hot with anger and was dejected.

So Cain the first son of Adam and eve,grew jealous of his brother Abel and murdered him in cold blood. How did God react? The Bible explains that Jehovah punished Cain severely for taking the life of his brother.At Genesis 6:11 we read that more than 1,500 years after that incident,the earth was filled with violence. Again what was God's reaction? He commanded righteous Noah to build an ark that will keep him and his family safe,while Jehovah brought a deluge on the earth,thus bringing to ruin that violence society.Genesis 6:12

yes God looked upon upon the earth,and it was ruined,all flesh has ruined it's way on the earth

But what has caused the populace to be so bent on violence? The influence of the demons, the Genesis account reveals that sons of God, disobedient angels,materialized as humans, married women and produced offspring, the offspring were known as nephillim,were men of extraordinary size and fame.under the influence of their demon fathers,they became violent bullies,the Bible makes clear that since then these rebel angels have exerted a strong influence on humans.their leader satan is called the original manslayer hence,the violence that takes place on earth could properly be referred to as satanic or demonic.

God hates violence, how should Christians conduct themselves in a violent world?the Bible account of Levi and Simeon Jacob's sons provides us with sound guidance. Their sister Dinah placed herself in the company of the immoral people of Shechem, this resulted in her being sexually violated by a shechemite ,in retaliation,Simeon and Levi slaughtered all the men of Shechem, later under divine inspiration Jacob cursed his sons uncontrolled anger with words.

Will violence ever end?
The prophetic book of Isaiah provides hope, there God promises: No more will violence be heard in your land,Isaiah 60:18

No more will violence be heard in your land,or destruction and ruin within your boundaries, and you will call your salvation and your gates praise....

So with this reassuring words from our heavenly father we can be sure that violence won't last forever, it will surely come to an end soon.....