Will Nations
Karen Otto
English II Pre-AP
September 17, 2008
Bible Essay 1
Violence is a key element to many works of literature throughout the world. It is only on rare occasions that these actions do not somehow set off the course of events that would change the rest of the characters’ lives within the story. Yet, it is in great literature that one can find the conflict to extend past the pages of the word into the intricacies of the world at large. The Bible, being among those great works of literature, contains a myriad of destructive scenes that influence the course of the future for its participants.
The annihilation of life on the planet “wiped the slate clean” so to speak (The Bible: New International Version, Genesis 6). God saw the evil of the humans and deemed it necessary to start over. The massive bloodshed leads to a new world with renewed life on the planet as Noah unloaded the Ark. It also helps God to realize exactly what he has done and what humans can do. God simply doesn’t say, “Noah, I’m gonna kill everyone on the planet just for the heck of it… except you. I needed a good laugh, and you’re the only funny guy around.” God’s patience is long, and he waits until there is only one honorable man left who could be trusted to restore the world to its natural balance. The Flood was a necessary part of God’s plan to give humans another chance.
The story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) brings forth a second memory of purposeful devastation in the Bible. Once again, God’s patience with man’s sin wears thin as the people reject him. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was a repeat of the Flood, although on a drastically lower scale. Without God’s mercy and Abraham’s pleas, every person would be dead, the city swept clean. When the cities came down, it showed God’s tolerance level of humanity. There weren’t even ten good people left in the city and with that, it fell. If God had done nothing, the slow deterioration of...