"Does Scripture Allow for Self-Defense?"

Bibletools.org ^ | January 2003 | David C. Grabbe

[ctdonath2]

The concept of armed self-defense is axiomatic in scripture, right down to being the foundation for many parables & metaphors: sword of the spirit/word, legions of angels, full armor of God, strong men protecting homes, etc. If weaponry and proper use thereof was inherently evil, such literary comparisons would be about as crazy as favorably comparing righteous acts to prostitution, murder, drunkedness, etc.

Imagine the "put on the full armor of God" metaphor expressed as "put on the full kinky lingere of God". Atrocious! Sacreligious! But then if weapons - and their suitable use - is so bad, why is "put on the full armor of God" the inspired Word? Is "the sword of the Spirit" to have the same impact as "the dildo of the Spirit"? certainly not! Yet those who seek to classify weapons (and by extention those who own/use them appropriately) as bad must in turn acknowledge that weapon-based Biblical metaphors must have horrible meanings, rather than be inspirational.