Artist: Guido ReniImage from Wikimedia Commons
I offer you something very short, very to the point:
A king like Herod had soldiers to help keep the peace, to help stop criminals from making victims of the law-abiding citizens. But Herod also used those same soldiers to murder the babies of Bethlehem. On the cross, Jesus would reveal the flaw to our entire social order: you simply cannot use violent means to stop violence, if we ever want the violence to ultimately come to an end. So, instead, Jesus suffered the violence to make an example of it, that we might one day see the light.-- from a sermon by Paul J. Nuechterlein
But will we? That is the question, isn't it?
It does not appear that we have "seen the light".
ReplyDeleteannie c
Yes, I know, Annie.
ReplyDeleteHumanity is tragic. That's the best I can say here.
Hello, Philip.
ReplyDeleteMost scholars do not consider the story of the slaughter of the innocents to be historical. It's a parable, really.
The Hebrew and Christian scriptures are a collection of books from various sources and is a record of how humans have grappled with their understanding of the nature of God and the relationship between humans and God. Yes, there were times that humans truly believed that God ordered "wanton butchery". Sadly, there still are.
Hi Ellie
ReplyDeleteI left my comment before I realised it was you who had commented on my blog about Banana Man'. Small world isn't it?
I don't get all the interpretation of ... Surely a god is capable of communicating His word to the people he wants to save from the fires of hell? Or it is the word od man perhaps?
The whole principle of a god just seems so absurd from the outside looking in.
Regards
Phil.