VIOLENCE IS WHAT?

A recent article by Darrin Belousek in the Mennonite Quarterly Review prompted the following.  Darrin challenges the notion, popular with pacifists, that claims God is a nonviolent God. Instead Darrin suggests that God has a right to, well, be violent. God has a right to give life and to take it. We, on the other hand do not. Divine being and Divine prerogatives are not the same thing. In the incarnation Jesus gave up his Divine prerogatives, but not the Divine being. When he returns in power, he will exercise all his Divine prerogatives, saving what is worth saving and removing  whatever is debilitating and harmful.

What bugs me is the lack of clear definition in most of our discussion as to what we are actually taking about. I think Darrin has helped me along the way. Here is my definition of violence.

Violence is the violation of the integrity of being. It damages or destroys what a person or object is, reducing its  value, whether that value is inherent, derived, or bestowed.

Murder destroys life, the essential quality for persons to exist.
Insulting words diminish the essential worth of persons, and can destroy them as well. (e.g. internet bullying).
Adultery destroys marriage, as faithfulness is essential for the institution to function with integrity.
Violence against an object destroys the integrity of the painting, the vase, the building, etc. so that it cannot function effectively in terms of what it was made to be.

Not all violence is evil.

By contrast, nonviolence shows respect for being, and recognizes the  value of persons, institutions, and things, as well as the relationships between persons, institutions, and things.

Hopefully this definition will help us think a little more clearly about the topic.