Article February 11, 2008 Issue

GLOBAL VIOLENCE OR GLOBAL PEACE?

BY RUTH ELIZABETH JENKS

RECENTLY I READ accounts of a man who was murdered by his jealous brother, of threatening acts of terrorism, escalation of a war, and of a ruler in his region who hired a hit man to get rid of the husband of the woman he wanted for himself.

Oh, and in case you didn't see the same reports, I was reading the Bible! Sounds uncannily familiar to today's world scene, doesn't it? Then again, what is new when it comes to global violence?

In my Bible reading, I also found this reminder that global violence hasn't exactly just recently burst out: "And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler" (Jer. 51:46). Violence and rumors of violence seem to be a part of the history of mortal man from the beginning. But is that a solid enough basis for people to accept them as inevitable?

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