Educating to Violence

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By The Rev. Dr. Joe Renfro

Do you ever wonder why our society is so stupid as to not see that we are engrossing ourselves so much in violence that we are actually educating ourselves to violence?   And violence brings destruction of something or somebody or a nation, maybe not only just in the short term, but it can as well prove to be in the long term.  The disrespect for authority is a pedagogical crime, and actually in this exploitation of violence in our land it becomes a pedagogical crime against God.

When violence is mentioned today, the media and certain elements in our political structure think of gun violence, but a gun is not violent in itself, since the violence spreads from the human heart, and this is manifest in all kinds of ways.  Our entertainment media explodes with violence, as masses just become absorbed in killing, beating, blood, gore, and destruction of all types in books, video games, the screen, and all other types of communication.  The news media from the newspapers to the TV give prime focus on the violence taking place. We fly like buzzards to the dead corpses of hatred, conflict, and then violence.  We are educating our society to violence!

The Bible speaks against violence. Yes, violence is a fact of life, and the Israelites were at times very violent, but when you look at the violence that took place, it was as the Israelites moved toward taking the promised land, and it was the result first of all of the enemies attacking them, so that they responded in violence.  There is a righteous indignation, but the violence taking place in our land, such as Black Lives Matter is not righteous indignation, but rather ungodly racism.

The Bible well says in James 1:20 that “The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”  But anger in our land is in the wind, maybe even so much as to be compared to a tornado or hurricane with the political right experiencing gusts of it from things such as– Anyone named Clinton, anyone who’s held political office, the political correctness, illegal immigration, gay marriage, massive unemployment, phony “official unemployment and inflation figures, welfare waste and fraud, people faking disabilities to go on the dole, VA waiting lists, Obama Care, the Federal Reserve’s money-printing schemes, the unreasonable obsession with global warming, cop killers, gun confiscation threats, stagnant wages, boys in girls’ bathrooms, and the Progressive criticism/hatred of the Christian values once basic to our land, to name a few.

The political left counters with their gusts of anger in respect to anyone named Bush, racial or sexual inequalities in public offices, what they esteem to be the outdatedness of state’s rights, the failure to open the door to all to come and be part of America, the lack of sufficient government benefits, the failure to support the Progressive ideas to take from the rich and share with the poor, the VA’s special status, private health insurance accommodating the rich and neglecting the poor with delays on Obama Care as it has sought to correct this, the rich not taxed enough, the astronomical environmental threats-even greater than movements such as ISIS or Islamic terrorism, the outdatedness of the right to bear arms, minority injustices, such as the Black Lives Matter, to name a few of the concerns from the left.

There is a fight going on, left and right!  The right and the left each try to educate our society in the media, in our schools, and in the churches to see things from their perspective. But underneath all of this is a seething caldron of violence steaming up. Anger is brewing!  Many see a generation gap very much evident in the young who have been educated in our public schools to espouse the values of the left, while most of us in the older generation tend to see it more from the right, although this is a generalization and not universally true. Anger when it is uncontrolled breeds conflict.  Anger is brewing and anger can easily explode into violence, but violence is not the reasonable way to solve our problems.

Marco Rubio, one of the presidential contenders in our current race, spoke about reaching peace in contrast to violence, saying:  “This view is especially informed by my faith.  The peace we talk about in Christianity isn’t just about say, the absence of violence or conflict.  It is also about knowing we have a higher purpose, that we’re made for eternity and have the gift of salvation” (CNN Presidential Debate). Ben Carson, another presidential contender, said: “Our Judeo-Christian values led this nation to the pinnacle of the world in record time.  If we embrace them they will keep us there.” And he also said that “Class warfare is an artificial division created for political advantage, and should be rejected outright by the American people” (America the Beautiful). These two presidential contenders touch very much on the position of reaching peace from the right.

Hillary Clinton, who is another presidential contender, was and maybe still is a great fan of the late Saul Alinsky who wrote “Rules for Radicals” and in fact she wrote her ninety-two page senior thesis on the radical community organizer.  The “Rules for Radicals” is the handbook of the radical left on how to take over America’s governing and educational institutions.

Alinsky dedicated his book to Lucifer with this inscription—“Lest we forget an over-the-shoulder acknowledgement to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins – or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did so that he at least won his own kingdom—Lucifer.”  And he wrote that, “The trick is to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties.”  Yes, this is the way to establish this peace governance from above, a peace established by progressive control.  Clinton along with Sanders, who is a Jewish atheist, touch very much on the position of reaching peace and prosperity from the left vantage point.

Hatred results often in violence, whereas love often leads to peace.  The commandments to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and to love “your neighbor as yourself” are imperative.  These provide the best way to overcome violence.

There are over 150 verses in the Old Testament that describe the love that God has for people. This love is not to be one-way, since the Old Testament tells the people to return this love by reciprocally loving God back. This is the discipline of grace at work! So, contrary to popular perception, love is emphasized in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament. The common perception that the God of the Old Testament is vastly different than the God of the New Testament is shown to be untrue. In both the Old and New Testaments, God is described as being loving, and love is emphasized as being the most important of God’s laws.   Proverbs 10:12 well says, “Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.”  Violence does not cover any transgressions!

The Bible speaks continually against violence with such scriptures as:  Psalm 11:5 – “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” Proverbs 3:31 – “Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways.”  Isaiah 60:18 – “Violence shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.” Matthew 5:38-39–“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Titus 3:2 – “To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” Hebrews 10:30—“For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people’.”

Carl Mumpower in a recent article, “The Other Side of the Fence” in the Asheville Citizen Times (February 5, 2016), wrote that: “Though it’s popular to abandon the value system that brought us to America’s incredible dance, that error is not mandatory. The ethics found in the Ten Commandments, a wondrously woven Bible, and the example and words of Jesus offer a time-tested moral compass. The importance of teaching our young to live as children of God is affirmed by the lost reality of so many who don’t.”  We are educating not just our youth, but society as a whole to violence, and the basic reason is that we have forsaken the faith of our forefathers.  Mumpower summed it up well, saying:  “Lifetime social skills – fairness, forgiveness, loyalty, honesty, generosity and love – require opportunities more likely developed from activities, engagement, and a good family life than a TV, computer or video game.”

There is the left in moral, religious, and political thinking, and there is the right in moral, religious, and political thinking.  We need to take up and see what has been happening. Recall what Alinsky’s plan was that “The trick is to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties” — which was for Alinsky the way to establish this peace governance from above, a peace established by progressive control.  But this peace is much like what the Bible foretold when it said, “They shall say ‘Peace, peace, when there is no peace.”

Socialism means the denial of private property to a great or even total degree. It means the use of State power—violence inherent in the power of the sword and gun—to redistribute property according to the dictates of some officer or committee of officers. Violence is therefore inherent in socialism. Dr. Joel McDurmon, in an article “The violence inherent in Christian Socialism,” (American Vision, February 16, 2016), wrote that Marx in an 1848 newspaper article said: “There is only one way in which the murderous death agonies of the old society and the bloody birth throes of the new society can be shortened, simplified and concentrated, and that way is revolutionary terror.”

Now, look back to question at the beginning of this article, which was: “Do you ever wonder why our society is so stupid, as to not see that we are engrossing ourselves so much in violence that we are actually educating ourselves to violence?”  But a more important question is “What are we going to do about it?”  The future of America hangs in the balance!