Online Aggression (In Search Of Truth, Hebrews 11:30)

Hebrews 11:30 (ESV) By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

The well-known story of the battle of Jericho is found in the book of Joshua, chapter 6 (with contextual details beginning at 5:13).

Despite being called a "city" in many translations, Jericho was actually a military stronghold guarding trade routes into the civilian populated hill country. There is no archaeological evidence of a civilian population at Jericho and the reference to "men and women, young and old" is argued by some scholars to be hyperbolic phrasing common to the time period. (For more, see "Is God A Moral Monster?" by Dr. Paul Copan.)

Despite the strong defenses and military strength of Jericho, God told Joshua "I have given Jericho into your hand" (Joshua 6:2). Although their company included armed men, Israel's forces had no combat training and simply circled Jericho for 6 days and then circled it 7 times on the 7th. Finally, they blew on trumpets and shouted loudly. Yeah really, that's it. Then miraculously, in response to Israel's faith (as indicated by Hebrews 11:30), God made the fortified walls of Jericho come "a-tumblin' down".

With the stories of military victories often a memorable part of childhood Sunday school classes, and New Testament military metaphors that describe believers as "soldiers"(Philippians 2:25, 2 Timothy 2:3) in "full armor"(Ephesians 6:11), we can mistakenly enter into a socially combative mode with others and think we are serving God through our aggression.

Facebook, Youtube and message boards of all kinds are breeding grounds for heated disputes and even raging hatred, expressed in either passive-aggressive words or vicious, direct insults. And sometimes we find ourselves among the worst of these offenders .

But God's plan for his people has never been that they go out looking for a fight, either on his behalf or their own. Israel could defend themselves when attacked, of course. But they were not to go out and look for people to destroy or conquer. God alone was meant to select military targets, and when he did, Israel had victory. By contrast, when Israel took military leadership into their own hands God allowed them to be brutally defeated. (Numbers 14:39-45, 1 Samuel 4)

To be clear, I'm not making some kind of anti-war statement here. And trying to make application to our modern military organizations and ancient Israel's military activities is dangerous, since the men of Israel who went into battle were not "military" in the sense we think of today, and they also had God himself as their commander. So we ought to make comparison and application between these "apples and oranges" with great caution.

That said, we do face conflict in this life, and the faith modeled by Israel as they faced Jericho is a useful example to us.


SO WHAT'S IN THIS FOR GEEKS?

Israel wasn't looking for the fight with Jericho, and the victory they experienced was not the result of their own aggression and force. God told them the city was theirs, and then instructed them to do things his way, which looked very unusual at the time.

Geek fiction regularly examines and gives commentary on all kinds of ideas, and in response, so do many geeks online. When I run into something that mocks Jesus, the Bible or Christian belief, I sometimes feel like engaging in that conversation. But I want to get better at discerning the difference between being useful to God's agenda and gratifying something in me. In those moments I also want to be skilled at doing conversation God's way instead of the way that satisfies my cravings for security or dominance.

A lot of people in Paris are in shock and despair right now because of the Isis attack that took so many lives. We live in a time of passionate but thoughtless extremes that are destroying relationships, lives and entire countries. So I want to ask myself, when am I joining in with those extreme and thoughtless battles that are not appointed by God? And when the battles do seem to be appointed, am I remembering who the real enemy is?

(Ephesians 6:11-12, ESV) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Am I doing battle through acts of patience and undeserved favor that cause the consciences of those against us to condemn what they're doing? Or am I giving them more fuel for their rage by responding in the way their actions deserve?

Can I trust God enough to wait for his timing before engaging with those against me? And when the time comes, can I trust him enough to do battle in the unexpected ways he wants me to?