Violence within the Christian Community

I have heard it said that John 3:16 is the most well-known verse of the Christian Scriptures. While leaving for another day the question of what this says about our evangelistic aims and successes, maybe there is another verse that deserves to be brought to the forefront. In all of the Synoptics, there is a verse that Jesus offered up as the greatest commandment – love the Lord your God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:36-39, Mark 12:28-31 and Luke 10:27). Eugene Peterson in The Message presents a rather explicit foretaste and the promise, “Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love, And don't take yourself too seriously— take God seriously,” Micah 6:8 and “Because a loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. If anyone loves me, he will carefully keep my word and my Father will love him—we'll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving me means not keeping my words,” John 14:23.

Yet even within the Christian community, we engage in violence toward each other. Of course I am not suggesting physical violence, the most common understanding of violence. Rather, we practice violence in our speech. Violence includes unjust exercise of power. How many of us have heard that little ditty in our youth, sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me? Despite the well-meaning intent of our parents, to the contrary words have the power to outlast physical injury often times and may inflict deep mental, emotional and spiritual violence on the receiver of those harsh words.

Within the public square, we as a culture seem to have adopted this posture. While we may decry the violence of political smearing, the fact of political smear tactics seems more and more embedded in our world – possibly because while we may abhor its use it must be seen as having an effectiveness we don’t really care to consider. Otherwise why does it still exist, and exist so prominently?

In traveling through the blogosphere I have seen instances of violence, within this specific context, among the brothers and sisters. We are all familiar with the Brian McLaren bit about fundamentalists when he was putting out some notice to get some attention for his new book, and his later admission that the effort was designed to gain some space – but as one blogger noted, after using such a nuclear device, not much room left afterwards for any dialogue. In another controversial post, Professor Rah suggested the emergent movement was for whites only. Several responses, not in the main but there were some, sought to question his journalistic integrity rather than address the issues being raised (and in that post attacking Rah, no effort was made, in my view, to consider that even if the alleged facts being presented within the context of the smear were true that such facts did not detract from the story or its validity). Lest it be seen as pointing a finger at emergents, those on the right have no claim to innocence either (I don’t need to catalogue the Limbaugh rants and others along similar lines.) To maybe a lesser degree, recently on the Scot McKnight blog on the controversial issue of mega-churches, in response to one posting about mega-spending by a mega-church (a bowling alley within the confines of the church!), Mr. McKnight himself apparently a little irked fired back asking whether it was wrong for God to ask Israel to spend lavishly on the temple. Of course, I suspect after firing the shot off, some cooler reflection would have brought to mind that the 2 are simply and vastly different, one for God’s glory and one a mall. Rather than cause some reflection on the validity of the criticism, the shot seemed more designed to shut down that line of the topic.

I suspect many of us would have to admit the cultural insensitivity may be expected – not excusable but rightly or wrongly such is proving to be the case in the mundane of the everyday. On the other hand, I have a sense that when it seems to carry over to those who are more well-known and respected as leading voices, voices that whether we agree or disagree are voices that demand reflection, violence which shuts down dialogue, falls short of the life of Jesus who eschewed violence, as well as falling short of the great commandment. To be critical without grace seems to be simply violent and a abusive act of power, to speak with grace seems to be what just and compassionate are all about and an act that opens the eyes and opens the neighborhood of discussion to Jesus.