SHEPHERD
TO SHEEP
GUN CONTROL
(The right of self-defense)
Today America
is experiencing one shooting after another.
It used to be just gang shootings and an occasional domestic dispute but
now we have killers entering public places and shooting indiscriminately. And every time we have one of these high profile
shootings the advocates of gun control step up to the plate and speak their
minds. But in the midst of all the debate
we must ask ourselves what does the Bible say about this topic?
Let’s go
back to the first murder. (Gen 4:8) Now Cain talked with Abel his
brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up
against Abel his brother and killed him.
Now it doesn’t say what he used to kill his brother. Perhaps it was a big enough rock that was
there as he was creeping up on his brother.
Man has always had a weapon to use because the Bible says violence
begins in the heart. (James 4:1) Where do wars and fights come
from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in
your members? (See also Mat 5:21-22)
The Bible says this regarding the core of our sinful hearts: (Jer
17:9) “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can
know it? So it’s really not the
weapon, but the sinful heart that generates hatred and crime.
One of these
days the world will be peaceful under Messiah’s reign. (Isa 2:4) He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But right now we live in a world riddled with
violence that needs to be kept in check:
(Joel 3:10) Beat your plowshares
into swords and your pruning hooks into spears…
In other words, a nation needs to “keep its powder dry” because
there are rogue nations and despots still bullying the world. And as a nation is to defend itself, so the
individual has the right to defend herself on a personal level.
The pacifist
produces Bible verses such as this: (Mat
26:52) But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take
the sword will perish by the sword. But
what they fail to notice is that Jesus previously said: (Luke 22:36)…he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one…(Luke 22:38) So they said, “Lord, look, here
are two swords.” And He said to them, “It is enough.” Jesus
endorsed their personal protection in the threatening days ahead but during His
arrest they were not to resist because He had come to die for the sins of
humanity.
A man is to provide
for and protect his family whether he believes in having a gun or not. (Exo 22:2)
If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there
shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. (See also 1 Tim 5:8) If one chooses to have a gun then it is also
important to learn to use it properly and to keep it locked up from
children. God protects us but we are not
to tempt the Lord by not using sensible and appropriate means to restrain
violence when it is called for. (Luke 4:12)
Louie
