Where Do Wars Come From?

I am by no means the first person to ask this question. A man called James said precisely the same thing many years ago.
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"What causes wars?” he wrote to some of his friends. “What causes all the fighting I see amongst you?”
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And then he tried to answer his own question.
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“Isn’t it because your passions are at war within your members? You desire and do not have, so you kill to get it. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask God. Or you do ask, but do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
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"Unfaithful creatures! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Do you suppose it is in vain that the holy book says: 'He yearns jealously over the spirit which He has made to dwell in us'?
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"But God gives yet more grace. The holy book also says: ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’
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"Therefore you must submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you men of double standards. Be wretched, mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to sorrow and your joy to dejection. Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you."
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It seems to me that we could - and we should - learn a lot from the teaching of James. May God in His mercy help us do so.
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