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Volume 4 · Honest HereticsLesson 41About 22 minutes

Violence, War and the Death Penalty

Is there any violence Jesus would bless?

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The center · Matthew 26:52
52Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword.

In this lesson

Many Christians grow up hearing that some killing has God's blessing. Wars are prayed over from pulpits, and soldiers are told they fight for God and country. Executions are defended with Bible verses, and in some states a chaplain stands in the room when the sentence is carried out. Few churches teach that he would bless violence in general, but many teach that he would bless this war, or this execution.

You're not imagining it. Christians have blessed armies, cannons and electric chairs in the name of a man who told his friend to put his sword away and was himself executed by the state. The gap is real, and the people who noticed it first were Christians.

Measured against the center

A contradiction
Blessing war and execution in his name contradicts the man who disarmed his defender, healed a man in the arresting party, and was himself executed by the state.

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