For Lisa: Example of New Testament Violence

Submitted by Bader S (Saudi Arabia), Feb 19, 2006 at 08:00

An example from the New Testament was requested that shows words of violence were spoken by Jesus, so I would consider the following an appropriate example:

Matthew 10: 34-36
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword.

For I have come to set a man 'against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

and one's enemies will be those of his household."

If as you say that Jesus can only be compared with God then which God do you mean? Is this the same God that was written about in the Old Testament, a.k.a Yahweh, that asks his Chosen People to murder innocent civilians?

For example, "Deuteronomy 20 contains Yahweh's instructions about war. If a city does not accept Israel's offer of peace and open its gates, then 'when the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it"(verse13). With regard to other cities, the command is (verse 16), "Do not leave anything that breathes.' "
And
"Joshua 11:20, 'For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.' "

Or is it the God whose Chosen people the Israelites "destroyed with the sword every living thing in it [Jerico] - men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys"(Joshua 6:21)?

(the above quotes come from http://www.ibs.org/bibles/about/9.php)

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