Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life. Violence and committee meetings.
--George F. Will
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
--Isaac Asimov
It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.
--Mahatma Gandhi
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
--Mahatma Gandhi
The right things to do are those that keep our violence in abeyance; the wrong things are those that bring it to the fore.
--Robert J. Sawyer
Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
ON VIOLENCE
(Adapted from Holman's Bible Dictionary)
Use of force to injure or wrong. The Hebrew Scriptures affirms that God hates violence (Mal. 2:16). The flood was God’s response to a world filled and corrupted by violence (Gen. 6:11, 13). The Exile was likewise God’s response to a Jerusalem filled with violence (Ezek. 7:23). The Wisdom Literature often warns that those who live lives of violence will meet violent ends (Ps. 7:16; Prov. 1:18-19; 21:7; compare Matt. 26:52). Through the prophets God demanded an end to violence
(Jer. 22:3; Ezek. 45:9). Such violence was especially evidenced in the oppression of the poor by the rich (Ps. 55:9, 11; 73:6; Jer. 22:17; Mic. 6:12; Jas. 5:1-6). The servant of the Lord models a nonviolent response to violence (Isa. 53:9; compare 1 Pet. 2:23; Jas. 5:6). Isaiah anticipated the end of violence in the Messianic age (60:18).
Interesting Passage about Violence in the New Testament
Matthew 11:12 is one of the most difficult texts in the New Testament. Does the kingdom of heaven suffer violence (KJV, NASB, REB, NRSV), or does the kingdom come “forcefully” (New International Version -NIV)? The violence which John the Baptist (Matt. 14:3-10) and believers (Matt. 5:10-11; 10:17; 23:34) suffer argues for the former. Other “violent” images of the kingdom’s coming (Matt. 10:34-36; Luke 14:26-27) support the latter. Likewise, do violent men
lay siege to the kingdom, or do “forceful men lay hold of it” (NIV)? Though the NIV interpretation fits well with Luke’s parallel (16:16), it appears too much like an effort to tone down the real harshness of Matthew’s language. Candidates for church leadership should be nonviolent persons (1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 1:7).
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