"Sell Your Garment and Buy a Sword": Did Jesus Permit Retaliation Against Religious Violence?

Everyone needs to know that the Creator is the author of life. Any person whom God creates should not be thoughtlessly destroyed. We should always seek to save, preserve, & restore life instead of destroying it. The violence that Christianity is suffering from has great implications for the church. The Church in Africa needs to develop an understanding of the nature of the theology of the cross to help Christians to know how to react to violence even before it occurs. The author wants to encourage Christians to develop the right approach when responding to religious violence. This is not just an important missiological or theological response, but more importantly, it gives Christians the right intellectual and practical tools with which to face and respond to the challenges of religious violence posed to Christianity whether in Northern Nigeria, or elsewhere. Writing from the context of decades of Islamically inspired religious violence in Northern Nigeria the author seeks to counsel Christians against responding in kind. By careful examination of Biblical teaching he seeks to dispel erroneous ideas and enable Christians to plot a careful, Biblically based approach through the maelstrom that surrounds them.