Guns and the Bible

[Esaias]

I would suggest that unless a person had a definite, clear conviction to be a pacifist, it would be practically sinful to be unarmed and untrained to use those arms.

1. The Bible nowhere teaches passive disarmament in the face of evil as a general principle.

2. The Bible everywhere represents disarmament as a curse and a sign of conquest and subjugation in punishment for sin.

3. The Bible nowhere represents armed men defending both hearth, home, and homeland as evil, bad, sinful, misguided, wrong, or outside the will of God with one possible exception (the Judeans in Jeremiah's day who fantasised about resisting the Babylonian occupation by fleeing to Egypt).

4. The Bible everywhere represents armed men defending hearth, home, and homeland as brave, faithful, courageous, and strong in the LORD. Ever heard about standing your ground in a lentil patch?

5. The Bible gives commandments and judgments relating to proper and godly rules of engagement in war, thus assuming that war would be possible, not forbidden.

6. The Bible gives no command whatsoever forbidding the waging of just war against the nation's enemies, nor does it give any command whatsoever against the individual defense against murderous criminals.

7. The Bible actually gives a command to be armed, and that was in the New Testament, given by Jesus Christ Himself, to his church.

8. As pointed out already in this thread, some members of his church were already armed, and apparently made it a habit of being armed, even during 'religious services' (the Last Supper).

9. Jesus approved of their being armed.

10. Even when Peter got out of line and attempted to prevent Christ's (unlawful) arrest, Jesus rebuked him - but not for being armed. Nor did He command Peter to disarm, but told him to holster his weapon and quit trying to interfere with His mission. He did however warn him that the consequences of going into battle are usually being killed in battle - something everyone who decides to be armed needs to be aware of.

Furthermore, we are taught to support civil government unless it demands sin. The political structure of the United States includes an armed and trained citizenry being required to maintain a free state. Therefore, our civic duty requires that we be armed and trained, and willing to defend home, hearth, and homeland. And if one believes a Christian must obey the 'laws of the land', one must conclude that in America at least a Christian must support the right of the people to be armed (and all that follows from that premise).