Religion and self defense....

[mrvmax]

I was just watching some of the video that CWOOD linked on HB 284. I stopped after the Reverand from Dallas spoke against the bill. I wish I would have been there to testify. He mentioned that the Bible states "thou shalt not kill". Anyone that is a Rev should know that the real interpretation is "thou shalt not murder". Self defense is clearly not murder. In the OT anyone who killed someone unintentionally had a city to flee to where their "case" would be heard and where they could go without fear of retribution. Check out Exodus 21:12 (also Deut 4:42, Josh 20:8) it is clear that God did allow for self defense and that God expected immediate retribution for murder. He also fails to mention that God instituted capitol punishment in Genesis and he also conveniently neglected to mention all the Biblical punishments in the Old Testament for crimes. It was not uncommon to kill a person for committing a crime. The majority of what I have studied in the Bible allows a person to defend themself, I do not see how people are so unclear and uneducated on these matters. Christianity does not teach passivism!

[longtooth]

Good post sir. Them guys need to come to my church or go a couple of others on this board.

[Mithras61]

A large part of the problem with Christianity as it is usually taught in this country is a lack of understanding of the time during which Jesus was on Earth.

One of the prime examples is the "turn the other cheek" line from the Bible. One needs to understand that the line was about demanding equality, not about pacifism to correctly teach it. Servants were struck on the left cheek, and equals were struck on the right cheek. Turn the other cheek meant to offer your right cheek for a blow from a Roman, not your left cheek. This was an act of defiance in the face of the Roman demands that Jews be fully subjugated and treated like servants.

A similar example is "go the extra mile" which I will leave to your own efforts if you're interested. At any rate, the point is that Jesus did not teach pacifism. He taught psychological warfare and peaceful resistance (much like what was taught by Ghandi).

[txinvestigator]

So I guess, according to the Reverend, that I violated a commandment when I squished that bug yesterday.

Or if a person steps out from behind a parked bus directly in front of my car and the person dies as a result of that I violated that commandment.

[barres]

In Luke 22:36, we read:

He said to them, "But now, let him who has a purse take it, and likewise a bag. And let him who has no sword sell his mantle and buy one.

As Jesus was about to send his disciples into the world without Him, He made sure they were equipped to defend themselves with the technology available to them. When they later said they already had two swords between them, He said that was sufficient. He wasn't building an army (in the earthly sense, at least), but making sure His people were prepared for a world that had turned away from His father's teachings.

Are we in a world any less dangerous that the Roman empire of Jesus's day?

[Tote 9]

Good post sir. Them guys need to come to my church or go a couple of others on this board.

AMEN&AMEN

[Venus Pax]

This is something I prayed about when deciding to carry. I did not want to carry if there was a doubt in my mind as to whether God would approve of its use in self-defense. (And we all know that the gun is more of a liability than an asset if one isn't willing to use it.)

Good thread. Thank you for posting. We battle ignorance much more often than we battle for our lives. (I guess that's a good thing.)

[bigdook]

great post, and i feel the same way about how its missunderstood.

[gigag04]

+1

[cyphur]

I was trained in the arts of wholesale slaughter - and killing in a war is nothing but justified homicide. In the same light, self defense is homicide as well.

HOWEVER, if you were to look up the definitions of murder and homicide, however, you would find they are two entirely different things.

mur·der /ˈmɜrdər/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[mur-der] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. Law. the killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law. In the U.S., special statutory definitions include murder committed with malice aforethought, characterized by deliberation or premeditation or occurring during the commission of another serious crime, as robbery or arson (first-degree murder), and murder by intent but without deliberation or premeditation (second-degree murder).
2. Slang. something extremely difficult or perilous: That final exam was murder!
3. a group or flock of crows.
–verb (used with object)
4. Law. to kill by an act constituting murder.
5. to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously.
6. to spoil or mar by bad performance, representation, pronunciation, etc.: The tenor murdered the aria.

hom·i·cide /ˈhɒməˌsaɪd, ˈhoʊmə-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hom-uh-sahyd, hoh-muh-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. the killing of one human being by another.
2. a person who kills another; murderer.

The major difference being justification - something these pacifist commie's must think is a pipe dream or something. (I fixed this one. Remember the 10yr old daughter rule please sir. LT)

[quidni]

Does God Believe in Gun Control?

excerpted:
The view that life is a gift from God, and that permitting the wanton destruction of one's own life (or the life of a person under one's care) amounts to hubris is hardly new. As a 1747 sermon in Philadelphia put it: "He that suffers his life to be taken from him by one that hath no authority for that purpose, when he might preserve it by defense, incurs the Guilt of self murder since God hath enjoined him to seek the continuance of his life, and Nature itself teaches every creature to defend itself."

Found on the Second Amendment Main Page.