“Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things – as I warned you before – that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (CSB – Read the chapter)
Our culture’s relationship with violence is an interesting one. On the one hand, the movies and streaming series we produce are increasingly gory. Long gone are the days when violent releases merely hinted at the really gruesome stuff. Now directors seem to delight in finding more and more creative ways for people to be killed or otherwise mutilated, and also in showing us all of the details. Horror films used to rely on scaring audiences. Now they mostly rely on overwhelming their senses with senseless gore. On the other hand, the barbarity of Hamas’ recent attack on Israel was a shock to our senses. We hear the stories or see the videos and ask how one person could possibly do that kind of thing to another person. The answer is almost certainly not that they were just desensitized by watching recent Western horror films. The answer is that this is how people have always been. Let’s talk about why we struggle to understand that, and just what it means for us.
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The Nexus 