And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no 9mm Luger sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two Glocks.” And he said to them, “It is enough.” (Luke 22:35-38, ESV)
***(I jest. I inserted “9mm Luger” and “Glocks” in the place of the word “sword(s) used by Jesus.)
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution reads: “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.”
In light of recent mass shootings, however, this right of the people to keep and bear arms has come under heavy fire and heated debate.
The current White House Administration seems to suggest that most Americans favor stricter gun laws. Oddly enough, at the same time, national background checks for retail firearm sales (which are performed every time someone buys a gun at a gun shop) have soared to new heights. Ammunition sales are also setting records as states report dramatic increases in the number of concealed-carry licenses being issued. Despite the apparent desire for more gun control, the firearms industry is booming. It isn’t the industry buying their own ammunition you know, so it is obviously the American citizenry that’s buying it up.
Wall Builders founder David Barton, a well-known and respected Constitutional scholar says this about the original intent of the Founding Fathers when writing the Second Amendment That “it was to guarantee citizens “the biblical right of self-defense.”
Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who helped frame the Second Amendment in the First Congress, wrote, “that to preserve liberty, it would be essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and to learn how to use them rightfully, and to teach others from their youth on the proper and just reason for bearing arms.”
David Barton believes that “the ultimate goal of the Second Amendment is to make sure you can defend yourself against any kind of illegal force that comes against you, whether that is from a neighbor, or from an outsider or whether that illegal force is from your own government.”
So, what are the concerns for Christians in this debate over stricter gun laws? Does the Bible say anything about the right to bear arms?
I believe I have the responsibility to defend myself, my family, and my home. For every verse that I have used as a case for defense, people are throwing up verses that teach peace and harmony. I agree with those verses; however, when there is no other alternative, I believe I am charged with the responsibility of self-defense.
Conversely, as soldiers seized Jesus at his arrest, our Lord warned Peter (in Matthew 26:52-54 and John 18:11) to put away his sword: “For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”
It’s interesting to note that Peter was openly carried his sword, a weapon similar to the type Roman soldiers employed at the time. Jesus knew Peter was carrying a sword. He allowed this, but forbid him to use it aggressively. Most importantly, Jesus did not want Peter to resist the inevitable will of God the Father, which our Savior knew would be fulfilled by his arrest and eventual death on the cross. The point is that if peter and the disciples had intervened and prevented Jesus from being arrested, they may have prevented Jesus from going to the cross, and God’s plan of redemption would have been avoided.
Scripture is quite clear that Christians are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), and to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-40). Thus, any aggressive or offensive violence was not the purpose for which Jesus had instructed them to carry a sidearm just hours earlier. When Jesus cried out to Peter to put away his sword, he didn’t tell him to throw it away, but to put back in its place. There is a time to draw the sword, and there is a time when the sword must remain in its place. Jesus was saying that those which are quick to answer with violence when violence is not a threat will eventually die in violence. In other words if they always act with aggression and resort to offensive actions disproportionate to the situation, someone may eventually use self-defense against them, with the result being their unnecessary death.
There is a strong case to be made here about aggression and disproportional actions leading to heightened levels of violence. For example, we are seeing lately the way the police have upped the ante in how they appear.They show up dressed in full military warfare apparel with night vision goggles, and AK-47’s in hand in armored carriers and their whole attitude changes from the community policemen who patrols and gets to know their neighbors, to one who stares at you and by menacing looks lets you know he is ready and willing to kill you! That’s the impression given to the public, and the public then rightfully responds to the unnecessary threat with heightened anger, and begin to act out accordingly. But see, it’s not the weapons and the AK-47’s and the armored vehicles that are the threat, but it’s the policemen who become aggressors behind the shield of those things.
Weapons, we can conclude, are not the problem. Nowhere does the Bible forbid Christians from bearing arms. But wisdom and caution are of the utmost importance if one does choose to bear a lethal weapon. Anyone who owns and carries a firearm should be properly trained, and know and carefully follow all safety rules and laws pertaining to such a responsibility.
Ultimately, the decision to bear arms is a personal choice determined by one’s own convictions. As a believer, the use of deadly force would be applied only as a last resort, when no other option is available, to prevent an evil from being committed and to protect human life. Pastors will instruct their congregations about the biblical right to bear arms according to their own personal convictions, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are right. A minister can find plenty of scripture to make his claims, as I can do the opposite. My personal convictions lead me to realize that we live in an evil fallen world and believers do get murdered, so I believe believers should do whatever they can to make up the difference in the areas where their faith will fail to prevent their harm. I feel better having a 9mm in hand when someone has broken into my home at 3 AM and my faith might fail under duress.
At GENESIS, I am in favor of those men and women who have a legal permit to carry a firearm on their person, to carry it into the church. I believe it is their right to carry, and since they have attained a permit and met all the requirements of that permit then I am not in favor of denying them their Constitutional right to carry their firearm.
There are of course preachers who gasp and their eyeballs get huge when they hear me say that, because they believe the church is so sacred that guns have no place in their sanctuaries. Oh Please! Sin doesn’t have any place in your sanctuaries either, so how are you coming along keeping that out of your sacred sanctuary? Some preachers simply have very low skills at knowing how to apply the word of God and apply it to the reality of life. Some of them come up with the most senseless and asinine arguments I have ever heard, which leads me to think they have been smoking a little sump, sump n’ in their pipe.
I will not make my church a “Gun-Free Zone” where some lunatic or terrorist will see an opportunity to kill at will. No sir, here at GENESIS we teach to prepare people for someday meeting the Creator, and any who thinks to come here to spill innocent blood will be meeting their Creator sooner than they expected. So put THAT in your pipe and smoke it!
The Genesis Oracles 
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