Posted on 05/20/2015 5:54:14 AM PDT by OK Sun
A couple of weeks ago a toddler shot himself in the head after finding a gun under the pillow of his parent's bed. Just days later a police officer accidentally shot his mother at a family wedding while adjusting his jacket. Last year, a nine-year-old girl was being shown how to use an automatic weapon and accidentally killed her instructor. In Idaho a two-year-old boy was shopping at Walmart with his mother and three other children, when he found a gun in his mother's bag; he pulled the trigger and killed her.
Some would argue that these tragic stories are reason enough for people to rethink their attachment to firearms, but apparently not. Not all American Christians are pro-guns of course, but there is a sizeable number who are. One of the more outspoken evangelical proponents of gun ownership is theologian Wayne Grudem, whose arguments I will critique here.
The Second Amendment to the American constitution states: "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."
Grudem argues that the reason the Second Amendment was added to the constitution was "to provide another protection against tyranny – to make it harder for any potential dictator or would-be king to take control of the entire nation against the will of the people." This concern is probably not at the heart of the individual gun control debate at the moment as the right to bear arms against a tyrannical dictatorship is a different question as to whether Christians need to own guns now in a stable democratic environment. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at christiantoday.com ...
Uh, riiiiiiight. Has this guy even glanced at the news?
“A stable Democratic environment???????” Says who?
“This concern is probably not at the heart of the individual gun control debate at the moment as the right to bear arms against a tyrannical dictatorship is a different question as to whether Christians need to own guns now in a stable democratic environment.”
Since we DO NOT have a ‘stable democratic environment’, this Christian will continue to be armed. Molon labe.
Tyranny can take many forms. One aspect may be that the government may choose to not enforce the law against favored groups when they commit violence against unfavored groups. Having a right of self-defense works against this sort of abuse.
Hitlers government, at the beginning, was considered a stable democratic environment.
Then they banned guns.
Then they killed millions of people.
The CDC reports that for 2010 (the latest year available), one single six-year old died from a gunshot. For all children younger than 10, there were 36 accidental gun deaths, and that is out of 41 million children. Perhaps most important, about two-thirds of these accidental gun deaths involving young children are not shots fired by other little kids but rather by adult males with criminal backgrounds. In other words, unless you send your child to play at a criminal’s home, she is exceedingly unlikely to get shot.
Indeed, if you are going to worry about your child’s safety you should check into other, perhaps less obvious dangers lurking in the playmate’s house: swimming pools, bathtubs, water buckets, bicycles, and chemicals and medications that can cause fatal poisoning. Drownings alone claimed 609 deaths; fires, 262 lives; poisonings, 54 lives. And don’t forget to ask about the playmate’s parents’ car and their driving records if your child will ride with them: After all, motor-vehicle accidents killed 923 children younger than 10.
Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/348095/children-and-guns-fear-and-reality-john-lott
5. Biblical precedent
“Then Jesus asked them, ‘When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?’ ‘Nothing,’ they answered. 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 22:36-38)
Should Christians own pools?
Should Christian children ride bikes?
Should Christians cross busy streets?
The basic thesis here seems to be flawed and disjointed.
Does owning a bible somehow alter the right of ownership for anything else?
Illogical...
Not only Grudem but these right-wing wackos too:
"I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, January 30, 1787
"What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms."
- Thomas Jefferson, letter to James Madison, December 20, 1787
“The thoughtful reader may wonder, why wasn’t Jefferson’s proposal of ‘No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms’ adopted by the Virginia legislature? They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, "Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor", November 11, 1755
"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country 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."
- Noah Webster, An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, October 10, 1787
"Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of."
- James Madison, Federalist No. 46, January 29, 1788
As if anyone gives a rat’s patootie what some Iiberal British theologian thinks. (Gruden, not the author of the linked article)
The biggest eye-roller in there was that we live in a “stable” democracy, so guns as a bulwark against tyranny are not needed.
Sheesh.
Should Christians own butter?
If this guy wants to be a martyr, go for it.
But the reality of “now” is that we’re on an express train to Nero’s persecution here in America.
Don’t be silly. What does Scripture have to do with modern theology?
Why does Krish think I care what it thinks?
“Hitlers government, at the beginning, was considered a stable democratic environment.
Then they banned guns.
Then they killed millions of people.”, WRONG the Weimar “Republic” BANNED Guns. The Nazis just took it further.
The Christians of Mosul would like to answer that question about whether they should own weapons.
But they can’t, because they’re either dead or have fled.
Really? FedGov is ordering Christians to pay for abortion for their employees, even if they consider abortion to be murder. FedGov and states are ordering free Americans to engage in expressive speech in support of gay "marriage", with wedding photographers, bakers, and others compelled to participate in violation of the First Amendment or face excessive fines that violate the Eighth Amendment.
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