Greg Boyd is writing a series on violence in the Old Testament. Here's the first two posts.

Greg also recently read and reviewed Chuck Colson's God & Government, and later added a follow-up post to provide some additional clarification.

Steve Brown on war and peace:

When one gets into the specifics of which war to fight, how to go about obtaining justice, what kind of force should be used and how in particular one should protect the innocent, the way gets kind of muddy. (“The devil is in the details.”) Someone has said that simplicity on this side of complexity isn’t worth dink, but that simplicity on the other side of complexity is incredibly valuable. I sometimes fear that Christians (both pacifist Christians and “kill the enemy for Jesus” Christians) have never taken the time to go through the complexity. Jesus said that we were to be “as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

That’s not an easy thing to do and, if it seems to be, we haven’t understood.

I've liked that idea of post-complexity simplicity for a long time. Of course, getting there is another matter.

An excellent post from Ben Witherington, prompted by the Colorado shooting, about gun control and violence:

When you are afraid, it is 'shoot first, ask questions later', and behind all of this is the attitude that my life is more important than the life of the other person, especially the maniac with the gun. I disagree with this whole premise. Every person is a person of sacred worth, and every person is someone for whom Jesus died. Period.

Have a care and read the whole thing.


UPDATE: Greg Boyd weighs in.

A blogger poses the question - Who would Jesus bomb? - and pretty much gives the standard answer: the bad guys.

Christians through the centuries have avoided both pacifism and militarism: holding to a "just war" concept that killing is never good but is sometimes best.

"Never good, but sometimes best." Just think about that for awhile.

(HT: Kingdom People)