[marktwain]

Christianity has developed a strong doctrine of self defense.

[ThunderSleeps]

"You qualified lowest in the rifle, iron sights, category. Sorry, three more Sunday's of ushering..." ;-)

Got to provide some incentive!

[muawiyah]

Next time someone visits the Mohawk Valley in New York to check out the baptismal registries at The Old Yellow Church, and others, recall for a moment that the Northern War against the Brits was organized and conducted from this place.

The church graveyards in this area usually have a registry to identify MANY of the Revolutionary War veterans.

[NavyCanDo]

I can see my pastor doing something like this. He's former Special Forces and sermons are full of stories of exciting events in his life, both in and out of uniform. One favorite of mine was when he was on a bus in Seattle, when a belligerent jerk got on board and started harassing the people, trying to pick a fight with everyone he in the front of the bus. My pastor told him to sit down and shut up - then the man went nose to nose with the pastor, saying “make me”.

My pastor responded by saying to him, you have a choice of 2 people to ask that question to today, A Pastor or a Airborne Ranger, which one do you want to answer you? The jerk sat down and was quite the rest of the trip.

[flowerplough]

From one of your books, Mr. Twain:

“Next Sunday we all went to church, about three
mile, everybody a-horseback. The men took their
guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their
knees or stood them handy against the wall. The
Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery
preaching — all about brotherly love, and such-like
tiresomeness; but everybody said it was a good ser-
mon, and they all talked it over going home, and had
such a powerful lot to say about faith and good works
and free grace and preforeordestination, and I don’t
know what all, that it did seem to me to be one of the
roughest Sundays I had run across yet.”

Huck Finn, Chapter 18

[lapsus calami]

 

Not far fetched at all. A friend of mine attended a church in North Texas where they had bow practice before services and afterwards was pistol practice time - no rifles, since there was insufficient range and backstop for those. They use various types of targets to challenge prowess, like clay birds buried halfway in the ground, in contests to see who gets the most hits. Friend was going to that church until he had to move last year.

 

 

[CholeraJoe]

I pack in Church most Sundays. No one but me knows or needs to.