Christians
and Guns
By
Stephen Terry
“Do
not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be
afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28,
NIV
In the wake of what I call the “Newtown Massacre of the
Innocents,” our country has been abruptly awakened to the true cost of American
idolatry and worship of guns. As the bodies of so many small children violently
riddled with bullets were laid prematurely in the cold darkness of the grave,
some began to ask when is enough, enough?
According to the Centers for Disease Control, an average
of 87 people die each day from guns. This means that as of the date of this
writing, January 18, 2013, over 3,000 more have been shot to death since
Newtown. Our streets are literally running red with the blood of our citizens. This
means that more than 30,000 die each year from guns. I served in Vietnam during
that war, and in eight years of conflict if we add up the names on the Vietnam
Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C., we find we had fewer American
casualties than we currently have in two years on the streets here at home. If
our young soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen were suffering such a high
casualty rate, we would immediately begin questioning whether or not such a
conflict was worth the price. But when the corpses are piling up on the streets
of our cities, we don’t. Why?
Could it be because of a neutered Christianity that no
longer speaks out against such atrocities? We have gotten in bed with the Devil
so many times over single-issue politics that we find we can no longer speak
with moral power about right and wrong. We align ourselves with politicians who
are against abortion while turning a blind eye to their oppression of the poor
families that have to raise those children. We support those politicians who
are against gay marriage, but refuse to recognize that those same politicians support
serial polygamy and adultery. Because we as Christians are willing to remain
blind to everything else so long as our “one button” issue is addressed, we set
ourselves up for demagogic manipulation. Perhaps nowhere have we fallen into
the trap as readily as on the issue of gun violence.
Because we want to encourage political leaders who are against
some single issue we cherish, we willingly accept their stance on so many other
things as a “necessary evil.” Hence if a political party is against gay
marriage, but accepts the gun violence on our streets as that “necessary evil,”
we jump in bed with that evil to get what we want. How is this different from
the temptation the Devil offered Jesus? “Again, the devil took him to a very
high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you
will bow down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8-9, NIV
The Devil offered Jesus the easy way out. His plan
required no faith in God the Father and no cross. Jesus came to save the world,
so Satan offered Him exactly what He came for without the sacrifice. But Jesus
knew that without faith in God, the world would be lost, not saved. He
responded to the Devil, ““Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the
Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Matthew 4:10, NIV
You see Jesus recognized that taking the road without
faith was a matter of worship. He knew that trusting Satan would be worshipping
him rather than God. But do we understand that in the choices we make, today? Getting
in bed with the Devil offers us solution without sacrifice, and results without
having to trust in God’s timetable. However, as we do this, faith becomes
harder and harder to come by. As with exercise of our muscles, so it is with using
our faith. If it is not utilized it atrophies, but when it is exercised it
becomes stronger.
With this principle in tow, we can look at the question
of gun violence. While some may have legitimate sporting uses for guns, for
many others the desire for guns is based in large part on fear. They may believe
that an apocalypse is headed straight for us. They look around at the chaos in
the world and fear the worst is about to happen to them and their families. Some
find an answer in stock-piling in preparation for that apocalypse, and many in
order to protect those stockpiles or their families look to guns as an answer.
Even those who do not have an apocalyptic view want to protect their goods and
well-being and find an answer in guns and ammunition. But is this the answer to
the chaos we face? Will guns be the answer that gets us through the end times?
When the disciples were on the Sea of Galilee in a boat,
Jesus came walking on the water to them during a storm. You can read the story
in Matthew, chapter 14. Peter seeing what seemed to be impossible wanted to do
it, also. Jesus called him and he, too, began to walk on the water, but soon he
became distracted by the violence of the storm around him and took his eyes off
of Jesus. When that happened, he began to sink. His own strength could not save
him. Only by direct, divine intervention was Peter saved. The same thing
happens to us when we begin to look to solutions in our own strength rather
than trusting in God and staying focused on our relationship with Him.
As Christians it makes little sense to say that we are
saved by faith but actually trusting the strength of our own hands holding guns
to protect us, our families, and our property rather than God. Some misguided
souls might quote to us, “God helps them that help themselves,” but this is not
found in the Bible. It is found instead as a pithy saying in Benjamin Franklin’s
“Poor Richard’s Almanac.” If we want to trust in such a belief for our
protection and salvation we should be aware that it is not God we are putting
our faith in, but long-deceased Mr. Franklin.
At this point, some might appeal to the Second Amendment
of the United States Constitution as somehow justifying their trust in guns
rather than God. But is this any defense for a lack of faith in God? Some might
be surprised to learn that heaven does not appear to be a democracy or even a
republic. This does not mean that the principles which have governed the United
States have not been a blessing in many ways. But it is important to remember
that we should ultimately be placing our faith in God rather than in any
man-made system of laws or governments. Truly those governments are “ordained
of God”[i] and should be obeyed, but
they are not God.
By the same principle, The United States Constitution is
the law of the land and should be obeyed, but we must be careful not to overrule
on matters of trust and faith in God. When that choice must be made, “we ought
to obey God rather than men.”[ii] The Second Amendment was
crafted at a time when a young republic needed to stand ready to defend itself
against the various world powers. Even the one the country had recently freed
itself from continued to push its might until finally the War of 1812 broke
out. The burning of the White House demonstrated how tenuous the thread of life
was for this fledgling democracy and how important was the foresight of those
who drafted the amendment. One could readily see the importance of an armed
citizenry as a defense not against our own government but against the tyranny
that Britain sought to impose with two wars. The idea that the framers of the
Bill of Rights intended it as a defense against our own government is a fiction
not found in the text, or in any of the various texts proposed before the final
version. The idea of Christians supporting an insurrection against their own
government is also spurious.
Perhaps no government was as hostile to Christianity as
Imperial Rome. Yet, in spite of that hostility, we find no occasions in the New
Testament where armed overthrow of the government by Christians is advocated or
even hinted at. Those who advocate such actions are misguided and delusional. Today
it is popular in some circles to vilify governments and advance conspiracy
theories as proof of demonic intent on the part of elected leaders. We
sometimes act as though God were not in control, and we need to set things
right for Him. But this is nothing short of the age old conflict between faith
and works. Will we have faith in God’s control, or do we only appeal to Him as
a lesser adjunct to our own strength?
It is time that Christians stand with Joshua. Some would
have us make an idol of guns and our own strength, but Joshua said, “But if
serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day
whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the
Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as
for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15, NIV
Along with the Israelites, let us respond, “Far be it
from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!” vs. 16 Let us return again to
our rightful state as a people of faith. Let us not be swept along by the fears
of the lost who are seeking salvation in their own strength and power. Let us
once again discover the spirit-filled faith of those who willingly faced the Coliseum
and death rather than gather arms to themselves to seek their own deliverance. That
faith, unlike the anemic Christianity of today, set the world on fire. It can
do so again.
