When Evil Is Over There

Sadly, the history of violence and the history of religion are almost the same history. When religion remains at an immature level, it tends to create very violent people who ensconce themselves on the side of the good, the worthy, the pure, the saved. They project all their evil somewhere else and attack it over there.

- Richard Rohr

Jesus has a lot to say about violence. The first big piece of it comes down to: “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:43). It strikes me that if we could somehow pull this off that it would eliminate 75% of all violence in the world.

The other big piece of it is all about owning the violence in your own heart so that you can start working towards justice. That would probably take care of the rest of the violence in our world. He teaches,

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. - Matthew 7:3-5

Which is harder for you, to love enemies or to face the violence in your own heart? Take some time to talk with Jesus about these things.