Really, you're looking to Jesus for justification to carry guns?Philip wrote:Even Jesus told his disciples to carry a sword - the handgun of the day.
Don't invoke Christ's name, because that is a serious misrepresentation and insult.
I'm over the US issue of the gun-death link. Here's an insight Christianity should provide us with: We can all be that "bad guy" because it's in our nature to oppose God. Really, I think all has been said. And, by and large there is a lot of agreement between all when all the emotion is cut out.
BUT, your small comment there merits a whole new perhaps more important discussion of its own.
Jesus didn't need weapons for protection any more then He feared the storms while out on a boat.
As Christ said later on after the two swords were obtained, "do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?"
Perhaps it should be this quote of Jesus' you should pay attention to:
- Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword. (Matt 26:52)
So then, what of an entire society within a nation who strongly believe that it is some innate right to take up guns, many guns? Surely, if we apply Jesus' words, many within that same society with perish by those guns. Those looking to use Christ for support will find zero unless they rip Scripture apart in Ku Klux Klan fashion.
Rather, in Luke 22 the reason Jesus gave for taking up swords, was because that which was written must be fulfilled in Him, ‘AND HE WAS NUMBERED WITH TRANSGRESSORS’. Jesus never said to take up swords for protection but rather so that He could fulfill His purpose on Earth. Jesus makes a reference to Isaiah 53 where we read some rather prophetic words:
- 1Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.
4Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
5But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
Jesus never said what the swords were for, but his followers obviously thought Jesus was about to rise up and make things finally happen! And, all Jesus' other followers who were with him.
Then when the Jewish high priest and elders came to seize Jesus, one follower rushed to Jesus' defense and cut of the ear of the soldier. What did Jesus do? He said, "stop, no more!" and healed the person.
No, Jesus was teaching them a lesson that ALL his followers would only understand in retrospect. Perhaps, the cutting off of the ear hardened the High Priest and elders all the more against Jesus, His healing adding coals of fires upon their heads (cf. Proverbs 25:21-22; Romans 12:20-21).
I seriously question those who fear death and yet claim to follow Christ. I'm no pacifist and the weak should be protected. There is a law and order that needs to be kept, and governments are suppose to fulfill that role and keep evil in check.
I do not fear for my life, even in death. This should enable me to try love those who'd take my life, those who hate us and to try and show them hope and meaning, rather than existential issues about life's ultimate meaninglessness which appears what the main reason for these people acting out. Our fight isn't against flesh and blood, but the invisible rulers of this world.
For us Christians, WE should be the ones leading by example after that of Christ. Your arguments Philip, seem to show someone who is ruled by fear. What Christ teaches me is that fear is cast out with love, not a gun or the sword. This isn't a left vs. right issue, it isn't a religious issue (so don't make it one), but it is a deeply embedded cultural issue that perhaps arose out of America fighting for independence and the colonizing of America, "Wild West", etc.
To Christians there is nothing to worry about; 24“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25“He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
