Thursday, April 18, 2013
Building People of Substance for Works of Power
I believe in the 2nd Amendment, Friend.
I have listened with considerable interest to the debate over gun control in the United States. Prompted by a school shooting in Connecticut, many have thought it a good idea to make new laws making guns harder to acquire. Anyone with a heart wants to do something substantive to prevent violence, especially in a schoolhouse. My personal history makes me pretty comfortable with firearms. I don’t remember the first time I fired a gun. I was very young. Dad thought it was important. Some of my early memories are of my grandmother answering the front door of her rural home/business with a shotgun in hand. Don’t knock after dark if you don’t want to go through granny’s security check. That said, I sometimes struggle with the subject as a Christian. I don’t really want to shoot anyone. Crimes against property are heinous, but I am not at all certain Jesus would approve of my killing a kid for stealing my copper wire. Crimes against the weak and the innocent are a different matter. I would probably resort to force to protect my wife or a child. . With those things in mind, here are my thoughts on the subject:
- As our economy spiral toward its own destruction, I certainly want to be able to kill food if necessary or desirable.
- There are lots of disturbed and evil people in the world who should not have firearms. However, they tend to ignore laws. That is part of being disturbed and evil.
- If the disturbed and evil people are probably going to have firearms, it might be prudent for me to have them as well.
- As a Christian, I depend on the angels that have been given charge over me to protect me, however, I may be called upon to protect the lives of the innocent.
- All evil and disturbed people are not identified as criminals. Historically, many of them have been government agents of some kind. Indeed, many more people have been annihilated by governments than by “private” killers.
- Evil and disturbed people from hostile nations are dedicated to destroying the country I love. They are on public record as desiring to do acts of mass violence in the streets of our cities. If and when the central government fails in its charge to protect us, I may be the last line of defense against outside invasion.
- With gun ownership, as with all questions of government authority, the issue is, “Who decides?”
Our founders were quite leery of the power of a central government, recognizing that power is a powerful and addictive intoxicant. All things which can be left to the individual ought to be left to the individual. Freedom of speech, press, and religion are universally recognized as keys to a free society. In that same vein, freedom to possess firearms is absolutely essential. The folks with all the guns get to make all the rules.
Somebody Said: I have a very strict gun control policy: if there’s a gun around, I want to be in control of it. Clint Eastwood
Scripture Reading "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. (Matthew 10:16 NKJV)
As a Christian, my primary calling is to preach the Gospel, make disciples of the converts, love the brethren, and comfort the orphan and the widow. I am not planning on shooting people, but as a matter of wisdom, I reserve the right to decide if I should own a weapon.
vls
www.fcftucson.org
Check out my new book "You Are a Keeper!" at http://www.lulu.com/shop/virgil-stokes/youre-a-keeper/paperback/product-20954506.html
pastorvirgil.com 