Part 1 of 4 – Yellow & Blue

I have had a statistically unusual amount of violent encounters in my adult life and I also minister to people who have been victims of violence and people who use or have used significant levels of violence in their lives (on both sides of the law).

This up close and personal view of violence in our world has helped me to see how polarized most people and most Christians are on the subject and has driven me to seek out an ethic for living in a violent world that is both reality-based and true to my faith and hope as a follower of Jesus.

With many polarized topics, the opposing sides begin with a common value and diverge when it comes to explaining root causes of an issue and championing possible solutions. For Christians, the topic of violence is no different. Both sides of the issue begin with the central Christian value and belief that life is precious and that all people are created in the image of God. After that things get interesting.

One side, we’ll call them the Yellow Team, takes very seriously the systemic influences on human behavior. They see that a young man who is raised in a single parent household, in generational poverty, surrounded by people with low educational achievement, has easy access to guns (which makes effective acts of violence easier), and is exposed to too few models and narratives of masculinity or achievement that do not involve violence, is much more likely to choose a life of crime and violence than someone with better systemic influences.

With this view of the root cause of violence in the world, Yellow Team Christians work on addressing systems of injustice and inequality. They provide support for single parents, they advocate for systemic paths out of poverty, they volunteer in schools, tutor struggling students, mentor at-risk kids, they seek out jobs in underperforming schools and community non-profit organizations, they advocate for prison systems based on rehabilitation and not punitive models, they seek mercy, compassion and understanding for the perpetrators of violence, and they advocate for limiting the access of firearms to criminals and potential criminals.

The Yellow Team is right about a lot of things.

The other side, we’ll call them the Blue Team, takes personal responsibility and the predominant Christian view of free will and individual choice very seriously. They see that it is a small percentage of people in any social, economic, or cultural group that chooses to commit acts of violence and that those acts of violence are the result of moral choices made by individuals. The Blue Team believes that since human life is precious, innocent people have the right and perhaps the responsibility to protect themselves and other innocent people from the violent choices and violent actions of others – using force if necessary. The Blue Team advocates a criminal system that discourages people from choosing to commit violence and limiting the freedom of the individuals who repeatedly choose to commit acts of violence and especially certain acts of violence. The Blue Team advocates for the right of law-abiding individuals to have access to training and tools of self-defense and self-preservation, including firearms (which make effective self-defense easier and more probable for those who could be outnumbered or overpowered).

The Blue Team is right about a lot of things.

[Stay tuned or subscribe by email at the top or bottom of the bottom of the page to see Part 2 – What the Yellow Team is Missing]