 | FIREARMS
SCRIPTURALLY DEFENDED |
With the tragic shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado fresh on the minds of nearly all Americans, rabid anti-gun fanatics are once again on the warpath in their campaign to disarm American citizens. In response, the gun lobby is also out in full force. So the battle wages on. However, conspicuously absent from the struggle is a Biblically based argument for the right to bear arms.
The liberal, leftist opinion-makers often win the war of words before it even begins by preconditioning the public mind with semantic engineering. For example, Roe vs. Wade was won prior to reaching the judicial arena by identifying the battle as one of abortion rather than infanticide. The primary definition for abortion in the 1975 Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary is as follows:
"abortion
1: the expulsion of a nonviable fetus: as a spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation - compare miscarriage
." 1
"miscarriage
2: expulsion of a human fetus before it is viable and esp. between the 12th and 28th weeks of gestation." 2
In other words, technically a miscarriage is an abortion. What judge or jury in their right mind would rule against a miscarriage? Had the battle been waged over infanticide or infant murder, rather than abortion, Roe vs. Wade would likewise have been won before reaching the courtroom. No judge or jury would have ruled in favor of murder. 3
The anti-gun lobby has used similar tactics. They have identified firearms (specifically certain rifles, although there is a carryover to all firearms) as assault weapons. Assault is usually viewed as something that a criminal does to his victim. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary provides the following definition for assault:
"assault
1: a violent physical or verbal attack 2a: an apparently violent attempt or a willful offer with force or violence to do hurt to another
compare BATTERY
."4
"battery
b: the unlawful beating or use of force on a person without his consent
."5
Consequently, by employing the term "assault weapons," the anti-gun lobby is associating all gun owners with criminal behavior. Yet, even the gun-grabbers know that the vast majority of gun owners are neither criminals, nor have they any intention of assaulting anyone. They do not own assault weapons, they have, instead, armed themselves with defense weapons. According to the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution this is every law-abiding citizen's constitutional right. Nevertheless, it might be asked if Christians share the same right to self-defense? Is self-defense sanctioned in the Bible? How would your pastor answer those two questions? If you do not know, perhaps it would be prudent to ask him.
For Christians, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, is the absolute authority on these and all other questions. If this is not true in your case then you are a humanist, a Buddhist, a Moslem, or something else masquerading as a Christian. Yahweh and His laws are either paramount in your life or something else is. For the non-Christian patriot, the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, whereas for the Christian (patriot and non-patriot alike) the Bible is the supreme law of the land. Christian patriots must choose between the document that begins "We the people" or the one that begins "In the beginning God."
If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that America's constitutional form of government has already been lost, and if our right to bear arms is derived from that constitution, then we have already been divested of that right. However, as Christians, our "marching orders" do not come from the Constitution of the United States of America or from the present American government (except where it is in conformity with God and His laws) or from anti-gun liberals. As Christians, our commission comes from our God, Yahweh, and His orders as issued to us in His Word. So what is Yahweh's law concerning self-defense?
If the thief is caught while breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account. But if the sun has risen on him, there will be bloodguiltiness on his account
. (Exodus 22:2-3 NASV6
)
The Eighth Commandment, "thou shalt not steal," is a crime punishable by restitution except when a thief is caught breaking in under the concealment of darkness. Under such conditions, the intruder's intention is unclear. It cannot be quickly determined whether the intruder is simply an unarmed thief or someone with more malicious intentions. Thus, in such cases, Yahweh gives the benefit of doubt to the potential victims and allows the intruder to be slain. In other words, Yahweh's law clearly provides for self-defense whether for the purpose of constraining a criminal or killing him while in the commission of a capital offense.
Not only does Yahweh's law sanction self-defense, but Yeshua7
also used self-defense to illustrate a spiritual point:
When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own homestead, his possessions are undisturbed; but when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied, and distributes his plunder. (Luke 11:21-22 NASV)
If this idea of homesteading ever catches on, the liberal opinion-makers will transform homesteading into the next buzzword for rightwing, radical, gun-toting extremists. Nevertheless, if you are a Christian you ought to be a homesteader of this caliber, in spite of how the government, media or Hollywood might portray you. According to the Apostle Paul, you are worse than an infidel if you are not this type of homesteader:
if any [Christian] provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (1 Timothy 5:8)
After first providing for your family's spiritual safety, your next priority should be adequate physical protection for yourself, your family and your possessions. What benefit is there in providing food, clothing and shelter if you have laid out a welcome mat for criminals to come in and take it from you? If pacifist, turn-in-your-gun preachers were to persuade all Christians to abandon their weapons, then thieves, rapists and murderers would, in all probability, target Christians as their victims of choice. It is a statistical fact that criminal activity increases whenever law-abiding citizens are disarmed. This is precisely what has happened in Australia. Since Australia's gun-buy-back program was implemented in 1997, which resulted in thousands of Australian citizens turning in their weapons, crime has escalated.
It is not un-Christian to practice self-defense or Yeshua would have never used it as an illustration. Not only are we encouraged to protect our homesteads by whatever means necessary, we are also taught that the better we are armed the less likely someone stronger will be able to take away from us what is ours. The liberal anti-gun establishment calls this "stockpiling." Yeshua would deem it as being godly. After all, the antithesis of being an infidel is godliness. Godly in terms of Nehemiah who "prayed unto our God, and set a watch against them [Israel's enemies] day and night" and who "set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows," yet whose confidence was in Yahweh - Nehemiah 4:7-20.
It is absurd to think that it is unspiritual for Christians to own firearms. If this is true, then Yeshua was unspiritual for commanding His disciples to arm themselves:
Then said he [Yeshua] unto them,
he that hath no sword [the equivalent today of a semi-automatic rifle or handgun], let him sell his garment, and buy one. (Luke 22:36)
Additionally, note that Yeshua did not tell His disciples to first go and register their swords with the government. Moreover, a government that cannot trust its law-abiding citizens with weapons is a government that cannot be trusted.
Thus, in obedience to Yahweh "let the high praises of God be in [your] mouth, and a two edged sword [or today's equivalent] in [your] hand." (Psalm 149:6) However, let us not forget that "except YHWH build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except YHWH keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain." (Psalm 127:1)
A copy of this article is available in MS Word in a zipped file and can be downloaded HERE.
Endnotes
1. "abortion," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (Springfield, MS: G. & C. Merriam Company, 1975) p. 3.
2. "miscarriage," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 734.
3. "Aborticide" is an improper term because one can not kill or murder an abort.
4. "assault," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 67.
5. "battery," Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 95.
6. All scripture is quoted from the King James Bible unless otherwise noted.
7. "Yeshua" is the English transliteration of our Savior's Hebrew name and is preferred by the author.
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