I. INTRODUCTION
A. Hate is a strong word, but this is exactly the word used in Scripture to describe God's attitude toward those who love violence.
1. In Psalm 11:5, David wrote, "The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates.”
2. Likewise, Proverbs 6:16-17 describe "six things which the LORD hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him,” which include "hands that shed innocent blood.”
B. This should concern us greatly, for we live in an increasingly violent society. Is violence increasing because people love it? This is a topic we need to consider.
II. DOES OUR SOCIETY LOVE VIOLENCE?
A. Violence is a plague on our society, and it has been increasing for some time.
1. The twentieth century was the bloodiest on record because of large-scale wars, powerful modern weapons, and the political and ethnic "cleansing” that occurred in many nations. Moreover, the abortion of unborn children became prevalent around the world during this period.
2. In recent history, individual acts of violence in America have become so frequent and atrocious that they are no longer surprising. Consider a few examples:
a. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. It killed 168 people, including nineteen children under the age of six, and injured more than 680 people.
b. On April 20, 1999, two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed twelve students and one teacher at their high school in Columbine, Colorado. They also caused injuries to twenty-four other students and committed suicide.
c. On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists from the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets and committed a series of four suicide attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks.
d. On April 16, 2007, Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed thirty-two people and wounded seventeen others in two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, before committing suicide at Virginia Tech.
e. On January 8, 2011, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen other people were shot by Jared Lee Loughner during a public meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, Arizona. Six of those shot died.
f. On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. The shooter, James Eagan Holmes, killed twelve people and injured fifty-eight others.
B. The evidence against our nation as a violence-loving people is substantial.
1. People generally react with horror and disgust when they hear of events such as those just described. Typical Americans do not love massacres, bombings, shooting sprees, and terrorist attacks. In fact, they hate such things.
2. Nevertheless, individual acts of violence are daily occurrences in most American towns.
a. The jails and prisons of America are filled with violent offenders, and the city streets of our nations are dangerous places at night.
b. Worldwide, approximately forty million unborn children are put to death each year via abortion. Approximately one million of those are in the United States.
3. Moreover, Americans are entertained by both depicted and real violence.
a. Graphically violent movies and television programs are very popular. Most of these contain no moral value whatsoever, but rather they glorify evil people committing mindless acts of violence. (The Dark Knight Rises, which was the film showing at the shooting in Aurora, Colorado, is a brutally violent movie marketed to children.)
b. Many of the most popular video games among young people contain realistic, bloody violence. This simulated violence conditions players to be insensitive to real violence.
c. Sporting events, such as mixed martial arts, have become increasing violent.
d. Let us remember the bloodthirst that existed in the Roman Empire and gave rise to violent sports and entertainment in the gladiator games. Woe to America if we are following in the footsteps of Rome.
III. THE ONE WHO LOVES VIOLENCE
A. God hates the one who loves violence because such a person mars the image of God within man.
1. Although man was made in God's image (Gen. 1:26-27), mankind was given to violence by the time of Noah. Such violence does not portray the image of God.
a. In Genesis 6:11, the Scripture says, "Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
b. In Genesis 6:13, God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.”
c. It was the violence of men that especially provoked the wrath of God, for the one creature made in His image had corrupted the earth by the continual practice of brutality.
d. If we fill the earth with violence today, will we not also provoke His wrath?
2. Consider the words of God to Noah after the flood in Genesis 9:5-6:
"Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.”
a. Life is in the blood (Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:10-16), and both are the exclusive claims of God. God requires our lifeblood, for our lives and our blood belong to Him.
b. Whoever commits violence, sheds man's blood, and takes man's life has violated God's claim. Man has no right to shed man's blood (neither that of others or of his own) except by the authority of God in the punishment of violence. Only God has that authority.
c. The shedding of man's blood is much different than the shedding of the blood of animals, "for in the image of God He made man.” When man does violence against man, he does violence against the very image of God Himself. In this way, the holy image of God is marred within both the offender and the one who is harmed.
3. God's instruction for capital punishment is understandable considering the plague of violence that brought the flood on the earth. The image of God should never be so marred by violence again.
B. It is important to understand how acts of violence begin with a love of violence within the heart.
1. Notice the warning of Jesus in Matthew 5:21-22:
"You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder' and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.”
a. Jesus recognized that the commission of murder is preceded by anger and a devaluing of human life in the heart.
b. Later, the Lord said, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders” (Matt. 15:19).
c. We might equate this preconditioned, sinful attitude of the heart as a love of violence.
2. Consider the example of Cain in Genesis 4:3-15.
a. Cain was angry because God had no regard for his sacrifice. God warned him of this dangerous condition of heart in verses 6-7:
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
b. Despite God's warning, Cain continued to seethe in anger, and it resulted in the murder of his brother Abel. The love of violence in Cain's heart became an act of violence against his brother.
c. Notice that Cain was not mentally ill, but rather he was sinful. It was in his power to control his anger, but he chose evil and committed violence.
IV. CONCLUSION
A. God hates the one who loves violence because the love of violence leads to the commission of violence. Violence is a violation of the sovereignty of God over the life of man, for life is the sole possession of God.
B. Therefore, let us not love violence lest God will not love us. Let us resist those who entice us to do violence (Prov. 1:10-19), but instead let us love God and the peaceful truth of His word.