I have recently finished reading War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges and am currently reading The Powers that Be by Walter Wink. Both books discuss the myth of war and redemptive violence.
In Wink’s book he talks about the creation stories of various major ancient civilizations, and in particular, Babylon. These creation stories usually involve a male god and a female god who war with each other. The male god is good and the female god represents evil and chaos. Of course, the female god stirs things up and creates chaos in the godly realm, so the intrinsically good, male god must conquer his chaotic counterpart in order to restore order. And from the destruction of the evil, female god, humanity is thus created. So the precedent is set; cosmic order requires the use of violence to set things right. Wink states that this ancient framework is the very foundation that the powers of yesterday and today, whether corporate, governmental, religious, or economic, are built upon and work within.
He then talks about the complete difference of the Jewish creation story. He states, “The Bible portrays a good God who creates a good creation. Chaos does not resist order. Good is prior to evil. Neither evil nor violence is a part of the creation, but enter later, as a result of the first couple’s sin and the connivance of the serpent. A basically good reality is thus corrupted by free decisions reached by creatures. In this far more complex and subtle explanation of the origins of things, violence emerges for the first time as a problem requiring solution.” Violence is not the means by which the cosmos is created. Rather, it is problem needing a solution, not a cure for chaos.
And it’s interesting how our God chooses to solve the problem of chaos compared to the version of the male god in the other ancient systems. These male gods maintain order through violence and domination. Thus, they empower the powerful and honor the mighty. Redemption comes on the edge of sword and at the end of a spear. Kingdoms must also subdue those neighboring civilizations in order that this bordering chaos will not corrupt and unbalance the level of order established. This sounds so familiar, and is so similar to what we see happening with our own country today. Our leaders tell us to be afraid of the chaos of extremists abroad. In order to vanquish this chaos they make us believe the myth that violence is redemption; that through violent acts of war and retaliation, preemptive war and covert operations we will be saved. Just like the ancients, our kings and presidents offer salvation on the edge of a sword and at the end of the spear. In direct opposition to this image, we see our ancient system’s solution to evil of chaos. This solution was executed on the cross of another ancient belief system. It was proved dead by the end of a spear. This solution would stand in front of true evil and chaos, and with ultimate power in his hands to violently destroy that evil, he would walk like a lamb before his shearers, silently, in peace, and allow himself to be overcome by evil. In doing so he proved that violence is never redemption, for in its pursuit of order it ignores justice, the oppressed, the widow, the poor, the orphan, the needy, and the helpless. And from his resurrection he proved that in his system evil does not have the final word, and that evil will never be overcome by violence.
Jesus was labeled as “chaos” by the Romans and Jewish leaders. But the Jews forgot their own tradition and the Romans would soon learn of it. So the Romans and the Jewish leaders used violence against Jesus to put down the “chaos”. And at first that violence seemed to have won. It seemed to have brought redemption. But three days later true redemption rose from a conquered grave proving that violence never vanquishes “chaos”. It only perpetuates it.
In the ancient traditions man was created from the image of a god; and this god’s image was that of violence and murder. In our ancient tradition, man was created in the image of a God. But this God’s image was that of love and a goodness. On page 10 of War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning Hedges states, “But war is a god, as the ancient Greeks and Romans knew, and its worship demands human sacrifice.” On that same note, whose image are we being molded in? Is it the image of America and the war (god) that it is propagating or is it the image of the Almighty? We must remember that patriotism, nationalism, and symbols such as pledges, flags and buildings are all manmade and can easily become idols. And we are creatures created to worship; it’s just a matter of what we will worship. Will it be something manmade or will it be something uncreated, something holy, something divine? Wink says, “The survival and welfare of the nation becomes the highest earthly and heavenly good. Here, a Power is made absolute. There can be no other gods before the nation.” The gods of war and nationalism, the Powers that Be, demand our allegiance. Our God also demands that we have no other gods before him. Who will we chose to serve?
There are many gods all calling for us to allow their hands to mold us into their image. I hope that I listen to Truth and Love and let him mold me rather than the gods of redemptive violence and war, rather than the idols that we have created.
