"Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways" (Proverbs 3:31).

Two gunmen in Paris shoot 12 journalists dead. In the days following, people find strength in the well-known proverb: 'The pen is mightier than the sword.' Is it really? Clearly there are those who do not so believe. Chairman Mao famously wrote: 'Political power comes out of the barrel of a gun.' There is indeed a temptation to violence because it seems to achieve desired outcomes--at least in the short-term. What of the long-term. Will violence ultimately be vindicated. Or will the meek inherit the earth?