• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Stephen M. Miller

Award-Winning, Bestselling Christian Author

  • Home
  • About
  • Books
  • Blog Features
  • Bible
  • Contact
Painting/photo of Jerusalem Temple-Casual English Bible

Terrorism: What’s a Christian to do?

Stephen M. Miller
Painting of Peter crucified
DIE. That’s how the first several generations of Christians dealt with Roman terrorism, injustice, and a corrupt political system unable to protect them. Peter, reportedly, was crucified upside down. Today, however, Christians in free nations have a few extra options. Painting by Caravaggio.

IT’S THE QUESTION OF THE WEEK.

It comes from Tony Nave, on my Facebook page. Tony gets a free book for his curiosity.

With the way the world is today with the shootings in the schools and the laws about guns and the economy letting people down. What [Bible] passages could help us….cope with these worldly problems?

Our drive to justice – and more than that, to revenge – comes natural to us.

We don’t have to rent a Buick to take us there.

We are already there.

We’d like a bucket of blood, please. And a pound of flesh. Thank you very much.

Our troubles come when there is no justice.

Or when there is justice, but when the revenge it brings doesn’t fill the emptiness in our soul.

Terrorist attacks like the Boston Marathon bombing gut our spirit.

Ditto the mass murder with an assault rifle at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Ditto a Congress that seems bought and paid for by lobbyists in bribes that trump overwhelming public will. So it would seem, given the recent polling that showed 9 out of 10 Americans wanted our representatives to pass the most recently proposed gun control legislation, requiring more extensive background checks.

I don’t think we need to go to the Bible to figure out the solution for Congress.

In our country, all we have to do is go to the voting booth.

It’s probably a good idea, also, to let our representatives know when we think they made an intelligent decision and when they seemed to lack the intelligence of a donut hole. (Just don’t phrase it that way. It trips their “off” switch.)

But how do we deal with the injustice that will persist as long as sinful human beings walk on this planet shooting their guns and collecting their bribes?

Let me pull a couple of Bible verses from the “What the Bible Says About…” section in Bible Snapshots.

Revenge

  • “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, ‘I will take revenge; I will pay them back,’ says the LORD” (Romans 12:19).

Forgiveness

  • “Forgive anyone who does you wrong, just as Christ has forgiven you” (Colossians 3:13, CEV).

When it comes to forgiveness, I think it’s important for us to remember one promise that God makes to everyone – even to the worst among us:

“No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool!” (Isaiah 1:18 TLB).

That’s a verse we love to apply to ourselves.

Perhaps we should work a little harder at applying it to others as well.

I wonder, too, if we should put a little more energy into understanding why people do what they do.

A lot of insane crimes are caused by people who are mentally ill – and untreated because they can’t afford the treatment.

As a nation, we’ll provide them roads to drive on so they can get to where they need to go to kill someone. But we won’t provide them with the healthcare they need to fix their brain so they’ll get the signal to consider a detour.

As for terrorists, I have limited insights. As far as I know, I’ve not met any. From what I’ve seen in documentaries and read about them in books and news reports, many of them seem brainwashed by religious leaders who are misinterpreting their Scriptures. Others are driven by different demons: poverty, intolerance, and desperation, to name a few.

Stopping a terrorist with a drone attack is one approach.

Stopping them with education is another.

I wonder which approach Jesus would prefer.

In answer to Tony’s question about how to cope with mass murders and the inhumanity of it all, I think it’s within our nature to try to fix the problem.

What’s beyond our nature – supernatural – is to trust God for what we are unable to fix.

Maybe that trust in God begins with a prayer:
“Forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us” (Matthew 6:12).

On a lighter note

Over the weekend I played around with videotaping Buddy the Dog.

Here’s the thing about Buddy. Whenever I run a picture of him on my professional Facebook page, it draws two or three times the number of viewers than any of my blog posts or my other comments.

Some of my readers suggested I figure out a way to get Buddy to promote my books.

Here’s a YouTube link. It’s my 2-minute attempt.

Share this:

  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...
View All Posts - Ordered by Most Recent First
« Previous
Next »

About Stephen M. Miller

STEPHEN M. MILLER is an award winning bestselling Christian author of easy-reading books about the Bible and Christianity and author of the Casual English Bible® paraphrase. His books have sold over two million copies and include The Complete Guide to the Bible and Who’s and Where’s Where in the Bible.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sgrisetti

    April 22, 2013 at 8:31 am

    I wish I could believe that social and mental health programs would put an end to terrorism and violence, Steve.

    Unfortunately, there is also true evil in this world — and will be until Christ comes back.

    The only way to deal with it is to thank God that evil and violent acts in this world are still way outnumbered by acts of goodness and love.

    Reply
  2. Wayne Sacchi

    April 22, 2013 at 9:45 am

    Great Blog today and well written…and on that lighter note Pastor Bob and I stopped by McDonald’s on our way home from Bible Study…he gives his dog, Nicolas, a McDouble and he waits patiently for it – BUddy just needs something better to eat Lol.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

Casual English Bible Website

Featured Book

Complete Guide to the Bible

Complete Guide to the Bible
Buy from Amazon
Buy from Books-A-Million
Buy from Christian Book Distributor
Buy from Google Play

Latest Posts

  • I do one thing better than God May 27, 2025
  • When our faith glitches May 5, 2025
  • Job is the right book for me now April 16, 2025

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog Features
  • Books
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy

  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn

Copyright © 2025 · Stephen M. Miller · All Rights Reserved

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
Reject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
%d