8.12.24
This week we move into chapter 3 of Jonah, where we will be looking at the subject of violence. In particular, how does God call us to overcome violence - not only in the world, but in our own hearts?
Because there are two surprising sources of violence that we see here in our passage. The first comes from the pagan society of Assyria. And the cause of that violence is both shocking and telling for our current world situation.
The Assyrians were among the most violent people in the history of the world. Their entertainment consisted of gladiators killing each other for sport. Tuesdays were watch prisoners get eaten by lions night in the arena. It was a society where it was common for female babies to be thrown out and left to die, because they were not seen as valuable. It was a society that offered no care for the poor - no help for the broken. It was a cold, brutal world of survival - the strong eating the weak.
But where did all this brutality come from? Ironically, it came from their polytheism. Like our modern day world, they assumed that if they were open minded to every god that people invented, it would make them a stronger nation. But once again, it was Augustine in his work, The City of God, that gave a devastating critique to this way of thinking. It was Augustine who said that if people believe that there is a single God who created the world, then everything was originally designed with a purpose. The world was designed with an order that made the world a peaceable place. And though mankind destroyed its original purpose, God is at work to redeem that world from all its rebellion and evil and violence, and set everything right again.
However, if there are many gods - if there is no single supreme power or authority - and if those gods are continually at war with one another as they vie for power, that means that the world is inherently violent. And it’s supposed to be! It means that the world is essentially chaotic and violent in its nature. And Augustine pointed out that in a polytheistic world view, you cannot have a just society. There’s no basis for justice, since the very nature of our world is the strong eating the weak.
This is the foundational philosophy being taught in our universities today. And our 21st century enlightened way of dealing with this brutality and injustice, is to create a new version of morality, where the oppressed and marginalized are inherently better and morally superior to those in power.
But the inevitable conclusion of this way of thinking only breeds more violence, as the weak are now empowered to brutally fight against the strong. And that’s why our world is increasingly violent. It’s the foundational philosophy of groups like Antifa and Hezbollah. But it’s also the philosophy behind our own hearts when we feel stepped on or abused in some way. We feel justified in any form of violence or retribution against our oppressor.
Because this philosophy is so rampant in our society today, we all must be on guard to repent of any assumptions of defensive superiority. We all live under the authority of God, and we must participate in his plan of renewal and not in our own mini-plans of self-preservation.