Thoughts about God and GUN RIGHTS AND SELF-DEFENSE
by Rick Jenkins, Ed.D. (July 2016)
In a July 2016 article in America's First Freedom (an NRA magazine), Reverend Robert Schenck stated: "Is it always God's will that I survive a violent confrontation with another human being? I'm not sure that's always God's will. . . How can evangelicals be pro-life and pro-gun? Who will ultimately save us? Christ or a Glock?" Let's explain to Reverend Schenck how Christ might want us to use a Glock (or other weapon of choice) to protect ourselves, our family, or our friends. (America's First Freedom, July 2016, p. 24)
God loves peace, but that does not mean that we must always "turn the other cheek." In many cases, God authorizes force and self defense.
Consider this verse in Luke: "He said to them, 'But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'" (Luke 22:36, NIV) Why would Jesus instruct his disciples to obtain a sword if he did not believe in self-defense? Knives, swords, and spears along with bows and arrows were the weapons of choice of that time period. Jesus was instructing his disciples to protect themselves from potential dangers. Such dangers were real in the form of wild animals and criminals such as roving bands of robbers. Based on this, we see that self-defense is Biblical and authorized by God.
"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe." (Luke 11:21, NIV) In this verse, Jesus is condoning protection of your private and personal property - his possessions. Jesus is not limiting the use of weapons to self-defense only. Not only is your life important to God but also your worldly possessions (He knows you need them).
God even condones the use of military force in times of war: "Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me." (Psalm 144:1-2, NIV) I would argue that God does not support all reasons for war but he does support "righteous wars." A good example of a righteous war was World War II. In World War II, Americans fought for freedom from aggressive nations - the Axis countries. I believe that the Civil War is a good example of an unrighteous war.
In addition, the wars and battles that the Israelites undertook to conquer the promised land were righteous wars as they were instructed to do so by God. God did not reward the Israelites with the promised land due to their righteousness but for two reasons: to punish the wicked nations that occupied the promised land and to fulfill his promises that He had made to the Israelite's forefathers. "It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." (Deuteronomy 9:5, NIV)
It can be deduced that from the above examples, all wars are not necessarily wrong. Some wars serve a good and useful purpose. In fact, some wars are direct instructions from God.
God even considers events as sinful when people do not take forceful self-defensive action when they should. "But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone's life, that person's life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood." (Ezekiel 33:6, NIV) In this verse, God will hold the watchman accountable for not blowing the trumpet preventing the people from protecting themselves. The watchman's job was to warn the people so that the people could defend themselves and any action preventing such defense is wrong. In other words, God wants us to be able to fully protect ourselves and anyone preventing such self-defense will be held accountable.
This event about the watchman reminds me of recent times in America of many politicians not taking seriously the potential threats of Islamic terrorists and and an uncontrolled border. I believe that we are to take such threats very seriously, to fully secure our borders, and to fully protect the citizens from terrorism. As shown above, anyone neglecting the people's self-defense will be held accountable.
While the Bible does not say a lot about weapons, the above scriptures seem clear. Using a weapon to defend one's family and property, and even to go to war for righteous causes, is sanctioned by God. And any action that detracts from the nation's self-defense capabilities is wrong.
In addition, the Declaration of Independence states that our rights come from God and that force is sometimes a necessary means to ensure our security.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. . . That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. . . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security." (Source: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html)
The founding fathers fully recognized that God played a major role in the foundation of the new nation and that the rights that were enjoyed by all were rights granted by God and no one else. The King of England did not grant these rights - God granted these rights. Therefore, if God granted such rights, no one could take these rights away except God. That is why this section of the declaration then references the right to abolish ruling authorities and institute a new government. It goes on to state that it is not just the citizens right to do so, but it is their duty or obligation to do so. This of course was the justification of the revolutionary war. However, if we believe what our founding fathers wrote, then this right and duty endures today. It did not expire during the revolutionary war. As even Abraham Lincoln stated many years after the revolutionary war:
This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it. (Source: BrainyQuote.com, June 27, 2016, Retrieved from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin101160.html)
This belief in the right and duty of the citizens to physically overthrow government was placed in the U.S. Constitution in the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment of the Constitutions states that: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." (Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment) The second amendment was affirmed by a Supreme Court in the famous Heller case (District of Columbia v. Heller) on June 26, 2008. In the Heller case, the Supreme Court decided that:
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home. (Source: SupremeCourt.Gov, June 27, 2016, Retrieved from http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/07pdf/07-290.pdf)
Many refer to the second amendment as the right that protects all of our rights. The below statements are from our founding fathers regarding the second amendment:
- Thomas Jefferson: "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." - Proposed Virginia Constitution, 1776
- Thomas Jefferson: "Laws that forbid the carrying of arms. . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." - Jefferson's "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776, quoting from On Crimes and Punishment, by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764
- George Mason: "[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people; that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them; but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and let them sink gradually.". . . I ask, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers." - Virginia's U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788
- George Mason: "That the People have a right to keep and bear Arms; that a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body of the People, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe Defence of a free state." - Within Mason`s declaration of "the essential and unalienable Rights of the People," - later adopted by the Virginia ratification convention, 1788
- Samuel Adams: "The said Constitution [shall] be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms." - Massachusetts' U.S. Constitution ratification convention, 1788
- Richard Henry Lee: "A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves . . . and include all men capable of bearing arms. . . To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms... The mind that aims at a select militia, must be influenced by a truly anti-republican principle." - Additional Letters From The Federal Farmer, 1788
- James Madison: The Constitution preserves "the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation. . . (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." - The Federalist, No. 46
- Noah Webster: "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they will possess the power." - An Examination of The Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, Philadelphia, 1787
- Alexander Hamilton: "[I]f circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude, that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little if at all inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their rights and those of their fellow citizens." - The Federalist, No. 29
- Thomas Paine: "[A]rms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. . . Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of the use of them." - Thoughts On Defensive War, 1775
- (Source: NRAILA.ORG, June 27, 2016, Retrieved from )https://www.nraila.org/articles/19990729/america-s-founding-fathers-on-the-2a
God and the founding fathers of the United States of America support gun rights. Shouldn't you?
Support Gun Rights and Gun Rights Organizations: People desiring to protect their family and property with their weapon of choice should have full rights to do so. And in the Heller case, the Supreme Court held that the second amendment protects the individual's right to own firearms. So we should support gun rights and gun rights organizations.
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