If we kill enough people, we win. That’s the premise behind conflict. If we can kill enough of them before they kill enough of us we will have victory. We can celebrate. We will have heroes. They will have to submit to our thinking, way of life and even worship gods we worship. Our victory will come at a price of the loss of many whom we love. But it will be worth it. Winning is all that matters.
The problem with this line of thinking is that no one truly wins. Yes, indeed someone will submit to someone else. One civilization will conquer another. One people will reign supreme over another. One ethnic group will oppress, exploit, degrade and even enslave those whom they see as inferior. However, both lose.
Because we reflect the image of our Creator and are the highest order of His creation, true victory only comes in reaffirming our fellow creatures. To destroy someone else’s property and treasure is a crime not against humanity but against God. To kill is to destroy God’s property.
Killing enough people sets about an endless cycle of bloodletting. If we can destroy enough of them we believe that our own value is increased. If only they would act like us, look like us we would not have to kill them.
We allow ourselves to become ugly monsters so that we can suppress the sinful humans that we are. We become monsters for a moment.
As monsters when we kill an error we say ‘ooopps’. When they retaliate we say; ‘shame on you.’
You can’t kill enough people. You can’t win. We cannot please God by killing his highest order of creation no matter what the cause. No matter how noble the endeavor killing enough people will never satisfy or allow us to win. We will ultimately turn our swords on ourselves because after all, if I don’t value them, I don’t value myself. We were all made in His image.
Matthew 26:52New International Version (NIV)
52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.