Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Pangea Blog

Home

Home
Progressive Christian
Disarming Scripture from Cherry-Picking Liberals & Violence-Loving Conservatives

Disarming Scripture from Cherry-Picking Liberals & Violence-Loving Conservatives

Last updated on: December 1, 2014 at 6:00 am by Kurt Willems

Disarming Scripture from Cherry-Picking Liberals & Violence-Loving Conservatives 2014-11-22T13:23:08-08:00 Kurt Willems

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Derek Flood’s new book Disarming Scripture has just been released this week, and has already received endorsements and accolades from some pretty big names: Walter Brueggemann, Jim Wallis, Peter Enns, and Steve Chalke to name a few.

Disarming Scripture deals with the problem of violence in Scripture, tackling a wide range of troubling passages–from commands to commit genocide and infanticide in the Old Testament to passages in the New Testament that have been used to justify slavery, child abuse, and state violence.

Moving beyond typical conservative and liberal approaches, which seek to either defend or whitewash over violence in the Bible, Disarming Scripture takes a surprising yet compelling approach: Learning to read the Bible like Jesus did.

The following is an excerpt from the book:

Excerpt from chapter 8

If you’ve ever been part of a discussion on nonviolence, you’ll know that, more often than not, the conversation finds its way to the infamous “what if?” question, where an extreme no-win scenario is presented that goes something like this:

Hitler has broken into your house and is holding your wife at gun point, you happen to have a gun in your hand, too, and are good enough of a shot that you can take out Adolf without harming your wife, but not good enough of a shot that you could shoot the gun out of his hand. So do you stand by and do nothing, or do you shoot to kill?

Such questions are really more of an accusation, asserting that it would be immoral not to protect our loved ones if they were in danger. It’s a question asked in exasperation, “Of course you should shoot the bad guy and save your loved one!” they scream inwardly. To neglect this would be a scandal, it would be foolishness.

On the other side of the argument we have those who are seeking to be faithful to follow Jesus’ command to love our enemies. Their desire is to end the vicious spirals of violence, but this what-if question backs them into the corner, portraying them as negligent in caring for their loved ones if they do not pull the trigger.

On both sides of this debate are people who deeply care about the welfare of others. On one side we see a desire to protect and defend, and on the other a concern to renounce the dead-end way of retribution and violence. What’s so painfully frustrating is that framing the debate in this way polarizes both sides, effectively bringing constructive discussion to a standstill. It’s a classic example of an “us vs. them” dynamic where each side regards the other as the bad guy.

Like a Chinese finger trap, the more you struggle, the more stuck you get—each side reacts, and the polarization just gets deeper and deeper. So how can we both break out? How can we respect the concerns of people on both sides of the debate, bringing us out of the deadlock and into a productive conversation? This is the essential question of nonviolence: How can we break out of the trap where each side sees the other as the “bad guy”?

For those of us on the side of nonviolence, we need to begin by acknowledging the legitimate concerns of those who argue in favor of violence. Their concern is to protect loved ones, and violence is the only means they can see to do this. When life is on the line this naturally triggers deep emotional reactions, it evokes our survival instincts, and consequently people may express themselves in rash ways at times, but at heart we need to recognize the legitimate and healthy concern for self-care behind people’s objections to enemy love. Such people don’t object because they love violence or refuse to obey Jesus, but because of a valid concern for protecting their own welfare, and the welfare of their loved ones.

In response to this, some of my fellow pacifists have argued that Christians should simply follow Jesus’ way of nonviolence regardless of the consequences or whether it makes sense to them. After all, they might protest, “Isn’t the way of the cross foolishness? Doesn’t Jesus tell us to die to ourselves? We need to follow Jesus regardless of the cost! The way of Jesus goes against our thinking, but we still need to obey even if we don’t understand!” they argue.

While this obedience to Jesus is certainly well meant, it is unfortunately reflective of the very same authoritarian religion that Jesus, as we have seen, was so opposed to. Again, the reason Jesus is opposed to this unquestioning obedience—even when done in the name of pacifism and a commitment to enemy love—is because it leads to harm.

The simple reality is that we cannot follow something if we don’t understand how. This inevitably results in hurtful application because we have no means by which to evaluate what is a correct application, and what is not. That’s not the kind of faithfulness Jesus calls us to. Jesus calls us to read the Bible like he does, and that means having a thinking and questioning faith.

Excerpt from the book Disarming Scripture by Derek Flood

Books

Nonviolence

Theology

Previous Post

November 26, 2014

Christian Quotes that “Destroy” a Homeschool Mom’s Museum Demolition of Evolutionary Science

Next Post

December 2, 2014 FREE: Missio Alliance Anabaptism Conference Talks

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category (Series) All Out War-Spiritual Warfare (Series) Church Plant Journal (Series) Dear Reader... (Series) Earthquakes...Signs of the Times? (Series) Entering the... Conversation (Series) Evangelical Culture Myths (Series) Everything is Meaningless [Pete Enns] (Series) Evolving Evangelicalism (Series) Hell Yes. Hell No! Who Cares? (Series) Hidden Worldviews (Series) If Evolution is Right, what about Adam? (Series) in less than 300 words (Series) Jesus and Nationalism (Series) Liberating Women for Ministry? (Series) Life-Changing Books (Series) Markers of Church Plant Movement (Series) Nonviolence 101 (Series) Philemon - Reconciliation (Series) Quote to Ponder (Series) Red Letter Dialogues (Series) Resource of the Week (SERIES) Revelation Sermons (Series) Share Something Sundays (Series) Simplicity in the Burbs: $2 a day (Series) The Binding of God [Open Theism] (Series) The Creed: Anabaptist Reflections (Series) Values for Church Leadership (Series) Video to Ponder Anabaptism Animal Advocacy Books Church Ministry Church Planting Community Culture Eschatology Eucharist Evangelical Reject Evolution Fundamentalism Greek Greg Boyd Guest Contributors Hell Holy Spirit Israel/Palestine Kingdom of God Lent Missional N. T. Wright Nationalism New Creation Nonviolence Open Mic Open Theism Parenting Passover Paul Philemon Podcast Politics Restorative Justice Revelation (the book of) Rob Bell Ron Martoia Sermon Shane Claiborne Social Justice Speaking Engagement Spiritual Warfare Spirituality Temple Theology Tim Geddert Tribulation Uncategorized universalism Video Blog Women in Ministry Worship Music Youth Ministry

Select a Month August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 December 2016 October 2016 August 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the Christian response to being wronged?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Hold a grudge Revenge Gossip Forgive

Support this
Column