Judges, Chapter 8,
Verse 19-20
19“They were my
brothers, my mother’s sons,” he said. “As the LORD lives, if you had spared
their lives, I would not kill you.” 20Then he said to his
firstborn, Jether, “Go, kill them.” But the boy did not draw his sword, for he
was afraid, for he was still a boy.
Jether was still a boy
when asked by his father to continue the cycle of violence. Sometimes children
are wiser than parents. Children instinctively know that being fair starts with
understanding your own shortcomings and listening to that small voice of
conscience.
Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness
begets a greater toughness. We must meet the forces of hate with the power of
love... Our aim must never be to defeat or humiliate the white man, but to win
his friendship and understanding.
“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a
descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of
diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you
may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely
increases hate.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot
drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only
love can do that.”[1]
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Then Jesus said
to him, “Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will
perish by the sword. (Mt. 26:52)
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