Were biblical humans less violent than modern humans?

[9-10ths_Penguin]

You can put your own constraints on this argument. 2 BC, 200 BC, 100 AD... What are your thoughts? Were ancient people less or more violent than humans today? Was a larger percentage of the total population being killed and raped then or today?

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

On a per capita basis, we're much, much less violent than societies of the past.

I'd have to dig to find it again, but there's a Stephen Pinker lecture from a few years ago (from when "the past century" still included WWI) where summarized some of his book Better Angels of our Nature and made the case that in the past century, on average, people were less likely to die by violence than in any previous century... all despite WWI, WWII, many smaller wars, the Holocaust, the Rwandan Genocide, the Armenian Genocide, etc.

 

[ChristineM]

You can put your own constraints on this argument. 2 BC, 200 BC, 100 AD... What are your thoughts? Were ancient people less or more violent than humans today? Was a larger percentage of the total population being killed and raped then or today?

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

I think that overall we are more aware of human worth and suffering and so less violent than 2000(ish) years ago.
But we have much more efficient ways of presenting the violent streak that remains.

 

[Jollybear]

You can put your own constraints on this argument. 2 BC, 200 BC, 100 AD... What are your thoughts? Were ancient people less or more violent than humans today? Was a larger percentage of the total population being killed and raped then or today?

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

I think the less challenged humans are, the less violence and crime there is.

I also think thats unfortanate too because i think people should do right irregardless of having more challenges within a society.

 

[Axe Elf]

You were googling what I wrote.

I don't have to google basic concepts like God hating.

I grew up with the bible and can recall lectures on most of the scriptures you are quoting.

Then I shouldn't have to educate you as to how I know that God hates.

You are very full of yourself

What else would I be full of?

and still not adding a thing to the thread but defending instead yourself.

Stop accusing me of stuff and I'll stop defending myself.

 

[Thief]

fresh out of the garden.....Cain killed Abel

probably with a rock

 

[BilliardsBall]

You can put your own constraints on this argument. 2 BC, 200 BC, 100 AD... What are your thoughts? Were ancient people less or more violent than humans today? Was a larger percentage of the total population being killed and raped then or today?

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

People then and now have a common marker, sin, which means "moral imperfection". IMHO, this moral imperfection precludes us from utopia unless we are transformed by Jesus's death and resurrection.

 

[Vee]

Human nature hasn't changed that much. Violence might come naturally to some people, but I believe it is mostly about the environment surrounding them. People who are exposed to violence see it as natural and might become violent themselves. All it takes is a trigger or some peer pressure.
In Bible times there were a lot less people on the earth than today, and events weren't known worldwide in a few seconds like today. Their battles were man to man, with a sword or some other rudimentary weapon. Today in order to kill thousands of people all it takes is a few bombs and those doing the killing don't even have to come close to the victims and look their opponent in the eyes when they kill.
I don't think people today are more or less violent than in the past. However, today we have weapons that cause damage in a much greater scale than before. As a society we are probably in more danger than ever if we think about it that way.

 

[Ancient Soul]

Take a look at what evidence we do have though. It looks like humans are getting better. Now that could all change but so far it looks like the better we become at killing each other the less we want to do it.

Not so fast.

Your original thread headline and opening statement only stated "violent", now you jump to "killing".

So I'm sticking to my original statement on "violence", it all depends upon where one lives.

As to "killing", well, I suppose that also depends upon where one lives.

Like anywhere in the world?

 

[Vaderecta]

This is one picture of ancient times. Pictures are said to be worth a bit more then words. Humans were very violent in the past. Much more violent then you could probably even imagine. (The bible goes into detail a few times though)

Over time the people have become more and more civilized. As Penguin mentioned even if you count the last two world wars the modern violence we face now pales in comparison to those of the ancients. And with luck the trend will continue. It wasn't that long ago that if you disagreed with someone you would ask for a duel yet now you can just trade words on a worldwide connected internet.

 

[TheresOnlyNow]

You can put your own constraints on this argument. 2 BC, 200 BC, 100 AD... What are your thoughts? Were ancient people less or more violent than humans today? Was a larger percentage of the total population being killed and raped then or today?

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

Likely more violent. The human animal is the only species capable of manifesting what is termed, "evil", in this world. And being we're biologically classified as animals, even part descendant of ape DNA, we're also the most violent, unconscionable "animal" on the planet. And, we're parasites.

But God loves us.
Go figure.

 

[Salvador]

Ancient Jewish tribal members committed less rape than the overall world's population today, cause back in Biblical times, if a Jewish man were caught raping a Jewish woman, the rapist had to pay his rape victim's father 50 shekels and the rapist also may have been legally compelled to marry his rape victim. No doubt, these stiff penalties were a powerful deterrent against rape.

 

[74x12]

This is one picture of ancient times. Pictures are said to be worth a bit more then words. Humans were very violent in the past. Much more violent then you could probably even imagine. (The bible goes into detail a few times though)

Over time the people have become more and more civilized. As Penguin mentioned even if you count the last two world wars the modern violence we face now pales in comparison to those of the ancients. And with luck the trend will continue. It wasn't that long ago that if you disagreed with someone you would ask for a duel yet now you can just trade words on a worldwide connected internet.

Well ... I think the outlook you're giving here is a bit naive. What we have right now is a bubble; it seems all cozy but it can burst any time. And then the world could see violence like it has never seen before.

The fact that modern people are so "soft" and unused to violence will make it even worse for them to see their friends and families butchered.

People in their normalcy bias tend to forget all about the fact that various countries have literally thousands of nuclear weapons waiting for the right war to set them off. Then there are other weapons of mass destruction such as chemical and biological weapons capable of (probably) the destruction of 99% of the world's population.

There has not been a real serious war between state of the art militaries since world war 2. There has been a lot of insurgency situations like Vietnam, Afghanistan (both the Soviets and now the USA). As well as a lot of bloody wars between 3rd world countries and civil wars. But, meanwhile first world militaries such as that of the USA or Russia have become more and more deadly. Other countries such as China are not to be considered far behind.

 

[blü 2]

You can put your own constraints on this argument. 2 BC, 200 BC, 100 AD... What are your thoughts? Were ancient people less or more violent than humans today? Was a larger percentage of the total population being killed and raped then or today?

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

According to Steven Pinker in his book The Better Angels of our Nature human society has never been less violent.

According to the bible, acquisition of entire regions by unprovoked invasive war, massacres of entire city population, mass rape, enslavement and slave owning and trading, human sacrifice, seizure of animals and goods, belittlement of women, are all fine as long as God's on your side.

Since to the best of my understanding none of those things is usual in my community, I'm inclined to side with Pinker.

 

[Thief]

Ancient Jewish tribal members committed less rape than the overall world's population today, cause back in Biblical times, if a Jewish man were caught raping a Jewish woman, the rapist had to pay his rape victim's father 50 shekels and the rapist also may have been legally compelled to marry his rape victim. No doubt, these stiff penalties were a powerful deterrent against rape.

and the young woman is then victimized by that resolve

for the rest of her life

 

[Vaderecta]

Most people think the world is more violent and spiraling into chaos even though that is not true. I have no idea why this idea is so controversial. People are getting less violent since as far as we can measure. Humans should be happy about this.

 

[Twilight Hue]

You can put your own constraints on this argument. 2 BC, 200 BC, 100 AD... What are your thoughts? Were ancient people less or more violent than humans today? Was a larger percentage of the total population being killed and raped then or today?

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

I would say instinctively we are as violent and destructive as we always were throughout our history. That said because of our brain capacity we've evolved enough to where we are more capable now than in the past of controlling violence through the use of violence due to our advances in technology and capabilities. I tend to think it's basically a natural evolutionary Fail-Safe that had developed over time to make sure we survive as a species and not end up destroying ourselves at some point. I supposed to latter could be contestable.

Something that wasn't as developed when Heanderthals and Hobbits went extinct I think.

 

[74x12]

Most people think the world is more violent and spiraling into chaos even though that is not true. I have no idea why this idea is so controversial. People are getting less violent since as far as we can measure. Humans should be happy about this.

How do you know it continues like this? One "good" war and it's all over. At that point you can chuck your statistics out the window.

 

[Looncall]

The Bible tells us that God hates, so anyone who believes the Bible knows that God hates.

"And I hated Esau..." --Malachi 1:3

"Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated" --Romans 9:13

"These six things the Lord hates..." --Proverbs 6:16



Prophets can help people sort out the difficult questions.



Yeah, that's what prophets do--although like I said, knowing that God hates is possible for anyone who believes the Bible.



That would be a wise choice.

But why bother with the Bible? It's pretty clearly propaganda written by a people who were conquered by everyone who happened by (old testament) or an obvious scam (new testament).

 

[Jumi]

Is civilization getting more violent or less violent?

It's getting less violent. Age old genocides weren't even worth mentioning, the cultures and sometimes peoples just disappeared.

 

[Vaderecta]

How do you know it continues like this? One "good" war and it's all over. At that point you can chuck your statistics out the window.

People have always reasoned this way. You think its great now but next year there could be a famine for our brothers to the north and they will come here to take what they will.

It seems though that all humans are becoming more civilized and less violent. Granted the weapons we have today are beyond imagination of the past so I take your point.