VIOLENCE UNLEASHED
Genesis 4:1-10; 23-24; 6:5-8; 11:1-9
Rev. Paul Wrightman 3/19/23
WE CONTINUE OUR SERMON SERIES
ON THE MOST IMPORTANT TEXTS IN SCRIPTURE
FROM GENESIS THROUGH REVELATION.
LAST WEEK WE CONSIDERED THE STORY OF THE FALL
AND DISCOVERED THAT HUMANKIND’S REBELLION AGAINST GOD
WAS ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS WANTING TO BECOME LIKE GOD
IN EVERY POSSIBLE WAY.
THAT STORY WAS TELLING US THAT AT SOME POINT
IN THE VERY DISTANT PAST OUR HUMAN FOREBEARS
MADE A CONSCIOUS CHOICE TO DISOBEY GOD.
WHY?
BECAUSE THEY WERE JEALOUS OF GOD’S KNOWLEDGE AND POWER
AND WANTED THIS KNOWLEDGE AND POWER FOR THEMSELVES.
I’D LIKE TO INTRODUCE TODAY’S SERMON WITH A STORY
THAT I HOPE WILL SERVE AS A METAPHOR
FOR TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READINGS.
BACK IN 1958 A SMALL COMMUNITY
IN NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA
BUILT A LITTLE RED BRICK BUILDING THAT WAS TO BE
THEIR POLICE DEPARTMENT, THEIR FIRE DEPARTMENT,
AND THEIR CITY HALL.
WHEN THE BUILDING WAS COMPLETED,
THEY HAD A RIBBON-CUTTING CEREMONY,
AND MORE THAN SIX THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE THERE –
NEARLY ALL THE TOWN’S RESIDENTS.
IT WAS THE BIGGEST EVENT OF THE YEAR!
WITHIN LESS THAN TWO MONTHS, HOWEVER,
THEY BEGAN TO NOTICE SOME OMINOUS CRACKS
ON THE SIDE OF THIS RED BRICK BUILDING.
SOMETIME LATER, IT WAS NOTICED THAT THE WINDOWS
WOULD NOT SHUT ALL THE WAY.
THEN IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE DOORS
WOULDN’T CLOSE CORRECTLY.
EVENTUALLY, THE FLOOR SHIFTED
AND LEFT UGLY GAPS IN THE FLOOR COVERING AND CORNERS.
THE ROOF BEGAN TO LEAK.
WITHIN A FEW MORE MONTHS,
THE BUILDING HAD TO BE EVACUATED,
TO THE EMBARRASSMENT OF THE BUILDER
AND THE DISGUST OF THE TAXPAYERS.
A FIRM DID AN ANALYSIS SHORTLY THEREAFTER
AND FOUND THAT THE BLASTS FROM A NEARBY MINING AREA
WERE SLOWLY BUT EFFECTIVELY DESTROYING THE BUILDING.
IMPERCEPTIBLY, DOWN BENEATH THE FOUNDATION,
THERE WERE SMALL SHIFTS AND CHANGES TAKING PLACE
THAT CAUSED THE WHOLE FOUNDATION TO CRACK.
YOU COULDN’T FEEL IT OR EVEN SEE IT FROM THE SURFACE,
BUT QUIETLY AND DOWN DEEP THERE WAS A WEAKENING.
A CITY OFFICIAL FINALLY HAD TO WRITE ACROSS THE DOOR,
“CONDEMNED. NOT FIT FOR PUBLIC USE.”
ULTIMATELY, THE BUILDING HAD TO BE DEMOLISHED.
I WANT TO SUGGEST THAT
THE STORY OF THIS BUILDING IS PARALLEL
TO THE STORY OF THE FALL.
JUST AS THE DESIGNERS OF THE BUILDING
HAD NO IDEA OF THE GRIEF THEY WERE LETTING THEMSELVES IN FOR
WHEN THEY DECIDED TO BUILD ON THIS PARTICULAR SITE,
SO TOO OUR HUMAN ANCESTORS
HAD NO IDEA OF THE GRIEF THEY WERE LETTING THEMSELVES IN FOR
WHEN THEY MADE THE CHOICE TO REBELL AGAINST GOD.
JUST AS THE DESTRUCTIVE CONSEQUENCES TO THE BUILDING
TOOK SOME TIME TO BECOME APPARENT
AND THEN QUICKLY MUSHROOMED OUT-OF-CONTROL,
SO TOO LIFE AT FIRST AFTER THE FALL SEEMED TO GO ON
IN MUCH THE SAME WAY AS IT HAD BEFORE,
BUT THEN GOT SWIFTLY OUT-OF-CONTROL.
THE BIBLICAL STORY TELLS US THAT OUR FIRST HUMAN ANCESTORS
HAD TWO SONS, WHOM THEY NAMED CAIN AND ABEL.
THINGS ON THE FAMILY FRONT SEEM TO BE GOING WELL ENOUGH.
BUT THEN, MUCH LIKE FINDING THE OMNIOUS CRACKS
IN THE FOUNDATION OF THAT BUILDING,
PROBLEMS BEGIN PILING ON FAST AND FURIOUSLY.
CAIN AND ABEL HAVE GROWN UP TO BE TEENAGERS.
CAIN IS A FARMER, ABEL A SHEPHERD.
SEEMINGLY ACKNOWLEDGING THE FACT THAT WORSHIP
OF SOMETHING OR SOMEONE BIGGER THAN ONESELF
IS HARD-WIRED INTO BEING HUMAN,
THE BIBLE TELLS US THE TWO BROTHERS BROUGHT OFFERINGS
TO GOD FROM THEIR RESPECTIVE LIVELIHOODS.
GOD ACCEPTS ABEL’S OFFERING, BUT REJECTS CAIN’S.
ALTHOUGH THE NARRATIVE DOES NOT TELL US GOD’S REASON
FOR REJECTING CAIN’S OFFERING DIRECTLY,
GIVEN GOD’S FATHERLY ADVICE TO CAIN,
WE CAN INFER THAT GOD’S REFUSAL OF CAIN’S OFFERING
WAS BASED ON ITS POOR MOTIVATION.
PERHAPS CAIN’S UNDERLYING ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD
WAS ONE OF MANIPULATION RATHER THAN WORSHIP.
CAIN’S RESENTMENT AT GOD’S REJECTION
SEEMS TO HINT AT HIS BEING “FOUND OUT” IN SOME WAY.
GOD ENCOURAGES CAIN TO OPPOSE EVIL,
AND ASSURES HIM THAT HE IS QUITE CAPABLE OF DOING THIS.
BUT CAIN, INSTEAD OF OPPOSING EVIL, GIVES IN TO IT.
ACCORDING TO THE BIBLICAL TEXT, CAIN KILLS HIS BROTHER ABEL,
NOT IN A SPONTANEOUS OUTBURST OF RAGE,
BUT IN A COLDLY PREMEDITATED WAY.
GOD, KNOWING WHAT HAS HAPPENED, CHALLENGES CAIN:
“WHERE IS YOUR BROTHER ABEL?”
IN RESPONSE, CAIN IS NOT ONLY EVASIVE, BUT INSOLENT:
“I DON’T KNOW; AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER?”
THE MALICIOUS COLD-BLOODEDNESS OF THIS RETORT
TAKES ONE’S BREATH AWAY.
NOT ONLY HAS CAIN REJECTED HIS BROTHER,
HE HAS DECISIVELY REJECTED GOD AS WELL.
AND THIS IS PRECISELY THE POINT THAT OUR BIBLICAL AUTHOR
WANTS TO MAKE: IN REJECTING GOD, OUR HUMAN FOREBEARS
OPENED THE DOOR TO A MULTITUDE OF ATTITUDES AND ACTIONS
THAT ARE NOT ONLY DESTRUCTIVE OF SELF AND OTHERS,
BUT ARE DESTRUCTIVE OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AS WELL.
IT IS OF CRUCIAL THEOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE
THAT THE BIBLE HAS BEEN PUT TOGETHER IN SUCH A WAY
THAT IT UNMISTAKABLY MAKES THE POINT
THAT THE FIRST AND GREATEST CONSEQUENCE
OF OUR HUMAN ANCESTOR’S REBELLION AGAINST GOD
WAS MURDER AND THE UNLEASHING
OF EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL VIOLENCE.
THE BIBLE WASTES NO TIME IN NARRATING
HOW HUMANKIND’S EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL VIOLENCE
TOWARD OTHERS AND GOD RAPIDLY ESCALATES
INTO OUT-OF-CONTROL REVENGE.
THE “SONG OF LAMECH,” WHICH IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS
THE STORY OF CAIN MURDERING HIS BROTHER ABEL,
IS NOTHING BUT LAMECH’S DRUNKEN BOAST TO HIS WIVES
THAT INSTEAD OF GETTING EVEN IN KIND
WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS WRONGED HIM,
HE HAS PUSHED VIOLENCE TO NEW HEIGHTS
BY KILLING SOMEONE WHO HAS MERELY WOUNDED HIM.
LAMECH BRAGS THAT IF CAIN IS AVENGED SEVEN TIMES,
THAN HE CAN CLAIM TO EXACT REVENGE WITHOUT MEASURE,
WHICH IS WHAT “SEVENTY-SEVENFOLD” MEANS.
JESUS RIFFS OFF LAMECH IN THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW.
BUT HE DOES THIS TO MAKE PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE POINT
THAT LAMECH IS MAKING.
LAMECH CELEBRATES UNLIMITED VIOLENCE.
JESUS CELEBRATES UNLIMITED FORGIVENESS.
(See Matthew 18:21-22)
JUXTAPOSING THE VIOLENCE OF LAMECH
WITH THE FORGIVENESS OF JESUS
SUDDENLY ILLUMINATES THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE,
AND WE GET A STRONG SENSE OF GOD SENDING JESUS
PRECISELY AS THE ANTIDOTE TO HUMAN VIOLENCE.
MANY SCHOLARS CONSIDER LAMECH’S BOAST
TO BE AN EXTEMELY ANCIENT DRINKING SONG
CELEBRATING VIOLENCE.
IT WAS PROBABLY SCRIBBLED DOWN ON A PIECE OF POTTERY
AND CIRCULATED AROUND JERUSALEM IN THE 900’S BCE.
OUR BIBLICAL AUTHOR CONSIDERED THIS A “FIND,” PICKED IT UP,
AND PLACED IT STRATEGICALLY JUST BEFORE HIS ACCOUNT
OF THE GREAT FLOOD.
THUS, WHAT ORIGINALLY STARTED OUT,
IN LAMECH’S MIND AT LEAST, AS HIS MACHO SONG OF VICTORY
IS PICKED UP BY OUR BIBLICAL AUTHOR AND USED BY HIM
AS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE
OF THE UNLIMITED EVIL OF UNLIMITED REVENGE.
IN THIS CONTEXT, MOSES’ MUCH LATER LAW
OF “EYE FOR EYE, TOOTH FOR TOOTH” (Exodus 21:24)
IS AN INCREDIBLE ADVANCE OVER LAMECH’S CELEBRATION
OF LIMITLESS RETRIBUTION.
IT IS TELLING THAT ALL ANCIENT PEOPLES
DEVELOPED THEIR OWN CREATION MYTHS –
STORIES WHICH EXPLAIN IN AN IMAGINATIVE AND SYMBOLIC WAY
THE HOW AND THE WHY OF LIFE ON THIS PLANET.
THE UNIVERSALITY OF THESE STORIES, OR MYTHS,
POINTS TO THE FACT THAT HUMAN NATURE
HAS A BUILD-IN NEED TO RELATE ITSELF TO ITS ORIGIN.
LIKEWISE, PRIMITIVE PEOPLES THE WORLD OVER
TOLD STORIES OF A GREAT FLOOD
WHICH DEVASTATED THE EARTH IN PREHISTORIC TIMES.
JUST AS THE STORIES OF CREATION HAD SERVED
TO MEET A UNIVERSAL HUMAN NEED,
SO TOO THE FLOOD STORIES RESPONDED TO SOMETHING BASIC
IN HUMAN NATURE: THE NEED TO EXPLAIN THE “WHY”
OF NATURAL CATASTROPHES.
THE BIBLICAL STORY OF THE FLOOD IS NO DIFFERENT IN INTENT
FROM ALL THE OTHER FLOOD STORIES.
IT, TOO, DEALS WITH A GREAT NATURAL DISASTER
AND TRIES TO MAKE SENSE OUT OF IT.
BECAUSE OF ITS MANY SPECIFIC SIMILARITIES
WITH THE BABYLONIAN FLOOD STORY
AS TOLD IN THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH,
SCHOLARS THINK THAT THE BIBLICAL AND BABYLONIAN ACCOUNTS
SHARE COMMON ROOTS.
THIS IS NOT SURPRISING, SINCE ABRAHAM,
THE EARLIEST AND GREATEST OF THE PATRIARCHS, IS DESCRIBED
AS HAVING MIGRATED FROM MESOPOTAMIA. (Genesis 11:27-12:9)
WE CAN EASILY IMAGINE HIM AND HIS PEOPLE
BRINGING THIS STORY WITH THEM FROM BABYLONIA TO ISRAEL,
WHERE IT TOOK ON A LIFE OF ITS OWN.
THE BIGGEST POINT OF DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THE ACCOUNT OF THE FLOOD
GIVEN IN THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH
AND THE ACCOUNT OF THE FLOOD WE FIND IN GENESIS IS THIS:
IN THE BABYLONIAN EPIC, NO REASON IS GIVEN
AS TO WHY THE GODS RESOLVE TO SEND A FLOOD.
IT SEEMS LIKE A PURELY ARBITRARY DECISION ON THEIR PART.
THE BIBLE, ON THE OTHER HAND, TAKES GREAT CARE
TO ESTABLISH THE REASON FOR THIS EVENT
AS HUMANKIND’S PRESUMPTION AND IMMORALITY.
REMEMBER THAT THE BIBLE,
JUST LIKE ITS BABYLONIAN COUNTERPOINT,
IS TELLING THIS STORY TO TRY TO MAKE SENSE
OUT OF NATURAL CATASTROPHE.
THE BEST THAT THE BABYLONIAN AUTHOR COULD DO
WAS TO ASCIBE THIS KIND OF DISASTER TO THE WHIM OF THE GODS.
THE BIBLE, ON THE CONTRARY, INTERPRETS THE FLOOD
AS HUMANKIND’S RICHLY-DESERVED PUNISHMENT
AT THE HANDS OF A RIGHTEOUS GOD.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE BIBLE INCLUDES A MORAL DIMENSION
TO THE FLOOD STORY WHICH THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH DOES NOT.
THIS, IN ITSELF, IS A PROFOUND THEOLOGICAL AND MORAL ADVANCE
OVER THE BABYLONIAN ACCOUNT.
THE HEBREW NOTION OF A MORAL GOD
WHO REALLY CARES ABOUT THE QUALITY OF LIFE
IS A FAR CRY FROM A COLLECTION OF GODS
WHO ARE EQUALLY IF NOT MORE IMMORAL
THAN THE HUMAN BEINGS OVER WHOM THEY ARE IN CHARGE.
EVEN WITH THIS MORAL AND THEOLOGICAL ADVANCE, HOWEVER,
THE QUESTION STILL NEEDS TO BE ASKED
IF THIS PORTRAIT OF AN ANGRY GOD
WHO LASHES OUT IN PUNISHMENT
IS THE LAST WORD THAT THE BIBLE HAS TO SAY ON THIS MATTER.
TAKING THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF SALVATION INTO ACCOUNT –
THE WAY GOD’S NATURE UNFOLDS IN THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE –
CULMINATING IN THE COMPASSION, FORGIVENESS,
AND NONVIOLENCE OF JESUS,
WE HAVE TO ADMIT THAT THE BIBLE’S DESCRIPTION OF GOD
AT THIS VERY EARLY POINT IS SIMPLY INADEQUATE.
IN TRYING TO GIVE EVERYTHING A REASON,
IN ATTEMPTING TO EXPLAIN THE UNEXPLAINABLE,
OUR BIBLICAL AUTHOR WINDS UP IMPLICATING GOD
IN AN ACTION WHICH – ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE –
GOD WOULD NEVER HAVE ENTERTAINED TO BEGIN WITH.
ONE OF THE BIBLE’S MOST IMPORTANT TEACHINGS –
IF WE LOOK AT THE BIBLE AS A WHOLE –
IS THAT GOD’S NATURE DOES NOT CHANGE.
THUS, IF JESUS TEACHES US THAT “GOD IS LOVE,”
THIS MEANS THAT GOD’S NATURE HAS ALWAYS BEEN
AND WILL ALWAYS BE LOVE, NO EXCEPTIONS WHATSOEVER.
ACCORDING TO JESUS, NOT JUST HE HIMSELF,
BUT HIS HEAVENLY FATHER AS WELL, IS THE EMBODIMENT
OF COMPASSION, FORGIVESS, NONVIOLENCE, AND LOVE.
IF CERTAIN PARTS OF THE BIBLE DON’T MATCH UP
WITH THE GOD REVEALED TO US BY JESUS,
WE TAKE THOSE PARTS AS HUMAN PROJECTIONS
OF OUR OWN VIOLENT TENDENCIES ONTO GOD.
ADD TO THIS THE FACT THAT UNTIL THE TIME OF JESUS
EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED – BOTH IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS
AND ON THE NATIONAL AND PLANETARY SCALES AS WELL –
WAS UNDERSTOOD AS BEING DIRECTLY CAUSED BY GOD,
WE CAN SEE WHY GOD GETS “CREDIT” FOR “CAUSING” THE FLOOD.
AFTER ALL, IF GOD IS THE DIRECT CAUSE OF EVERYTHING,
GOD MUST BE THE CAUSE OF THE FLOOD AS WELL.
JESUS CORRECTS THIS FAULTY THINKING
IN SEVERAL PLACES IN THE GOSPELS.
UNFORTUNATELY, MANY OF JESUS’ OWN FOLLOWERS
HAVE YET TO REALIZE THAT HE HAS LIBERATED THEM
FROM HAVING TO AFFIRM THE BLATANT CONTRADICTION
THAT A LOVING, COMPASSIONATE, NONVIOLENT GOD
WAS BEHIND THE NATURAL CATASTROPHE OF THE FLOOD.
THE FINAL STORY IN THIS QUARTET OF ANCIENT STORIES
ABOUT THE OUT-OF-CONTROL ESCALATION OF VIOLENCE
PROVOKED BY HUMANKIND
IS THE STORY OF THE TOWER OF BABEL
AND HUMANKIND’S ATTEMPT TO “STORM” HEAVEN ITSELF.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS HAVE RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN THE RUINS OF UR,
THE CITY OF ABRAHAM’S ORIGIN, A FRAGMENT OF A CLAY TABLET
CONTAINING A STORY ABOUT HUMANKIND’S MULTIPLICITY
OF LANGUAGES.
IN THIS STORY, THE GODS ARE FIGHTING AMONG THEMSELVES,
CERTAIN HUMAN TRIBES CHOOSE TO FOLLOW ONE GOD
OVER ANOTHER, AND EVENTUALLY THE WHOLE BRAWL
DEVOLVES INTO DIFFERENT TRIBES FOLLOWING DIFFERENT GODS
AND SPEAKING DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.
SIMILAR TO THE WAY IN WHICH THE BABYLONIAN
ACCOUNT OF THE FLOOD WAS PICKED UP AND TRANSFORMED
BY THE BIBLE,
THIS STORY ABOUT THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES
HAS BEEN ADOPTED AND ADAPTED BY OUR BIBLICAL AUTHOR.
FOR HIM, THE “TOWER OF BABEL”
CORRESPONDS TO THE BABYLONIAN ZIGGURAT,
A TEMPLE BUILT IN STEPLIKE STAGES,
WHOSE TOPMOST LEVEL WAS CONSIDERED
A MEETING PLACE BETWEEN THE GODS AND HUMANKIND.
ONCE AGAIN THE BIBLICAL AUTHOR TELLS THE STORY
FROM A SPECIFICALLY MORAL POINT OF VIEW:
THE DIVISION OF LANGUAGE IS DESCRIBED
AS GOD’S PUNISHMENT OF HUMANITY’S COLLECTIVE PRIDE,
JUST AS HE DESCRIBED THE FLOOD AS GOD’S VIOLENT RESPONSE
TO HUMANKIND’S COLLECTIVE VIOLENCE.
THESE FOUR STORIES OF HUMANITY’S OUT-OF-CONTROL VIOLENCE,
FROM A SINGLE MURDER TO MANY MURDERS
TO HUMAN VIOLENCE DESECRATING THE PLANET AS A WHOLE,
TO HUMANKIND’S ATTEMPT TO “STORM” HEAVEN ITSELF
AND PROCLAIM ITSELF GOD IN THE TRUE GOD’S PLACE
LEAVE US IN A DEAD-END.
IN RESPONSE TO THIS DEAD-END, GOD CALLS A SPECIFIC INDIVIDUAL,
ABRAHAM, WHOM GOD WILL FASHION AS THE FATHER OF
A WHOLE NEW LINE OF HUMANITY,
A LINE WHICH EVENTUALLY WILL GIVE BIRTH
TO THE “HUMAN FACE OF GOD,” JESUS HIMSELF.
IT IS VERY MUCH AS IF GOD –
IF GOD REALLY WANTS TO SAVE US FROM OURSELVES --
WILL HAVE TO SET IN MOTION A PROCESS THROUGH WHICH
GOD WILL EVENTUALLY MANIFEST GOD’S VERY SELF
IN THE FORM OF A HUMAN BEING WHO SHOWS US HOW TO LIVE.
THESE FOUR STORIES OF ESCALATING HUMAN VIOLENCE
IN THE EARLY CHAPTERS OF GENESIS
MAKE THE UNMISTAKABLE POINT THAT LEFT TO ITS OWN DEVICES,
HUMANKIND WILL SELF-DESTRUCT.
JUST AS I BEGAN THIS SERMON WITH A METAPHOR,
I’D LIKE TO END IT WITH ONE.
IN HIS BOOK, DETOURS: SOMETIMES ROUGH ROADS
LEAD TO RIGHT PLACES, CLARK COTHERN TELLS OF A CHRISTMAS
WHEN HIS FAMILY ENCOUNTERED AN UNEXPECTED HOUSE GUEST.
A SQUIRREL HAD FALLEN DOWN THEIR CHIMNEY
INTO THE WOOD BURNER STOVE OF THEIR MICHIGAN HOME.
COTHERN WRITES:
“I THOUGHT IF IT KNEW WE WERE THERE TO HELP,
I COULD JUST REACH IN AND GENTLY LIFT IT OUT.
NOTHING DOING.
AS I REACHED IN…IT BEGAN SCRATCHING ABOUT
LIKE A SQUIRREL OVERDOSED ON ESPRESSO.
WE FINALLY MANAGED TO CONSTRUCT A CARDBOARD BOX “CAGE”
COMPLETE WITH A LARGE HOLE CUT INTO ONE SIDE,
INTO WHICH THE SQUIRREL WALTZED WHEN WE PLACE THE BOX
AGAINST THE WOOD BURNER’S DOOR.
WE LET IT OUT INTO THE SAFETY OF OUR BACKYARD.
LATER, I THOUGHT, ISN’T IT FUNNY HOW, BEFORE ITS REDEMPTION,
OUR LITTLE VISITOR HAD FRANTICALLY TRIED TO BASH ITS WAY
OUT OF ITS DARK PRISON?
IT SEEMED THAT THE HARDER IT STRUGGLED
IN ITS OWN STRENGTH TO GET FREE,
THE MORE PAIN IT CAUSED ITSELF.
IN THE END, HE SIMPLY HAD TO WAIT PATIENTLY
UNTIL ONE WHO WAS MUCH BIGGER –
ONE WHO COULD PEER INTO HIS WORLD –
COULD CARRY HIM SAFELY TO THAT LARGER WORLD
WHERE HE REALLY BELONGED.”
(End Quote)
WE ARE LIKE THAT SQUIRREL –
THRASHING AROUND DESTRUCTIVELY
IN OUR CONFUSION AND VIOLENCE.
WE WILL SELF-DESTRUCT UNLESS AN OUTSIDE FORCE OF GOOD
STEPS IN AND SHOWS US HOW TO LIVE.
ACCORDING TO THE BIG PICTURE OF THE BIBLE,
GOD HAS DONE JUST THAT IN SENDING US JESUS.
AMEN.