another day, another pro gun "Christians" swaying souls into hell by twisting the Scriptures
This one is going to be long and I know that hardly anyone will read it, but I actually do it for 1) for God who explicitly told me to "do my part" and 2)the 1% of Christians who are actually dedicated to follow Christ and not trample the word of God because of their sinful entitlement to murder.
If even one (1) person reading this actually changes their mind on gun violence than it will be a Grace from the Lord and I am glad of being a useful servant of Christ.
I'm going to call out the misquote, dishonesty and LIES of typical pro gun Christians. Since tumblr isn't really handy for text formatting I'm going to color code every "chapter" of the exposé to smoothen up the read
Israelites prerogatives ≠ Christian prerogatives
The bigger picture
Jesus is the Sword - not guns
God is the only self-defense
Let's begin ! ✝️💙
1. Israelites prerogatives ≠ Christian prerogatives
I'll tackle down the tumblr user reply to the ask later, to focus on the link she posted as a "pretty well done exploration" as of why gun violence is seemingly a-OK to Christians.
I'd like to start off saying that every Christian using Old Testament Prescriptions to legitimize the use of violence to CHRISTIANS is either, uneducated about basic Christian theology, a liar, a false prophet or a maybe everything at once. That's why this website quoting plentiful of OT (=Old Testament) prescriptions FIRST is a very bad omen forecasting the piss poor theology that's going to unfold in that page.
Israelites had to abide to specific rules and commandments that matched their own very specific purpose : they had to fight/go to WAR to create the EARTHLY kingdom of God. The commandment compelling to not kill was only for Israelites (because Israelites went to war and killed cities foreign to Israel). And even within the Kindgom of Israel, there were cases where murder was allowed in situations when it was sanctioned by God to kill (those caught breaking the sabbath had to stoned, for example).
Ever since Jesus crucifixion and the veil got torn, Christians don't abide to the prescriptions of Israelites. There's no more kingdom of God on earth. There are chances that you, who's currently reading this, are living in a country with defined frontiers that you don't have to go to war to defend and/or expand (as God told you to).
We do not abide to the 613 commandments of Israelites anymore : we can eat pork (no more "impure food"), don't have to stone anyone not doing the sabbath, circumcise newborn son, etc.
Interestingly, the same Christians who use OT prescription enabling the use of violence and murder, don't feel compelled to follow the other set of commandments abiding to Israelites. They're cherry-picking what goes their way simply because they a) don't understand the Bible b)are dishonest.
Israelites had to obey to ALL commandments - disobeying to one, was like disobeying to the WHOLE Torah (James 2:10-11)
Feel entitled to Israelites rights? Fine, abide to their OBLIGATIONS, too.
You think you still have God sanctioned right to kill? Then keep that same energy for the other 600+ commandments of those having the same right : do the sabbath, circumcise your sons, stop eating pork, stone adulterous people, etc etc. You cannot be a CHRISTIAN while abiding to cherry-picked Law prerogative. You cannot have it both ways.
2. The bigger picture
In the tumblr post reply, she refers to the passage in Luke where Jesus lets his disciple arm themselves moments before he gets arrest. This passage is infamously misquoted by pro gun zealots. Their trick is that they ALWAYS disregard the second part of the story where Jesus scold the very person who used their weapon to protect him (Peter) and went as far as heal the man, which shows how dishonest they are. But that's not enough ;
In the website she linked, we reach a whole new level of Scriptural twisting dishonesty
It's interesting how this person is switching the word of the passage from "sword" to "gun". I'll elaborate on this later on the point #3, but the "sword" is a very significant symbol in the Bible, and seeing this person recklessly replace it with a "gun" truly shows how off base they are when it comes to biblical literacy. Bad theology all around.
"It is difficult to make absolute claims beyond these observations" then why quoting those passage in a pro gun defense article? If you can't draw a conclusive interpretation from that passage, what's the point of bringing it up?
Jesus giving his consent for his disciple to bring along weapons doesn't mean he endorsed their use. Jesus said "That's enough", not "That's good" or "That's right". The Bible is full of examples of God "consenting" to humans carrying on their sin up until a certain point. It doesn't mean God condoned the sin itself. And yet, many pro gun Christians use this cherry-picked passage of Jesus in Gethsemane to act like Jesus endorsed gun use.
Jesus explicitly saying ""Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword" and ""Stop! No more of this" are pretty clear, actually. The author quotes them here :
It's not that we're "getting a sense of(...)", OP. That's literally what Jesus says, that's not an impression or a feeling. What's more straightforward then saying "Stop" when witnessing a violent act? why are you acting like there was any ambiguity about the actual intention or message of Jesus saying that? There's not. Jesus doesn't want violence to happen. Period.
But you wanna know why the author is acting oblivious about the straightforwardness of those passages ? because if they admit that Jesus rebuked violence, then their stance in favor of gun violence ends up moot. So they act dumb.
Note that after that explanation, the author states : "The sword is not always the appropriate response, especially in persecution for Christ." but they miserably fail in showing in what situation using the sword is actually an "appropriate response" beside quoting the Old Testament (which I already explained in point #1 why Christians weren't entitled to OT prescriptions). And when they do quote the New Testament, they do so in a fashion that leaves out the whole picture to twist the actual message of that passage (e.g quoting Luke 22:35-38 to act like Jesus condoned gun carrying when he allowed to do so to publicly rebuke them later and make his point known to a multitude of people)
3. Jesus is the Sword - not guns
Now I'd like to reflect on the Sword that is repeatedly used in the Bible, and what it actually represents in the Gospel (plot twist : not guns)
One fundamental staple of a sound theology is acknowledging that words usage do matter in the Bible and are particularly relevant when they are consistently rehashed through the books. The Sword is one of them.
I'd like to quote verses of the New Testament featuring the Sword
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
The Sword is SPIRITUAL. And you know who's the "Word of God"? JESUS (John 1:1 and 14)
Hebrew 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Here the God of Word is again metaphorically represented as a sharped tool ("sharper than any twoedged sword")
Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Only Jesus is entitled to carry a Sword ; because HE is the Sword. Has Jesus used a physical sword to kill people while on earth? or called his disciples to carry a physical sword? in Luke 22:35-39 in which Jesus tells them to "buy" a sword, a few moments later he rebukes the one who actually used it, so it's definitely NOT a physical sword he was talking about. Why would Jesus incite his disciples into possessing something (carrying a sword) only to scold them for using it moments later?? it doesn't make any sense. His disciples definitely got something wrong in the process (=understanding the sword as something physical, not spiritual). That's why reading Luke 22:35-36 as elevating weaponry as godly sanctioned is a total misconception.
The Sword that Jesus does bring is SPIRITUAL. He's the Sword of the Spirit that will separate His children from the rest of the flock. The joint vs the narrow. The goat vs the lamb. Heaven vs Hell.
Pro guns are misguiding people into believing that guns are the equivalent of the "sword" that's talked about in the Bible. That couldn't be more untrue.
Either those people either know that the biblical Sword = Jesus and LIE about it to project what they want into Jesus teaching, or they don't and by their ignorance, they are professing a destructive theology that's bewildering many Christians. Hosea 4:6
This person is LYING to you. That's why they obsessively resort to quote prescriptions for ISRAELITES to back up their falsehood. The Philistines aren't a thing anymore. CHRISTIANS don't have a Kingdom to protect & expand. Christians are dispatched through the Nations - there's no more united "people of YHYW nation". The only relevant kingdom to defend is THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM OF GOD.
Possession of weapons is discouraged in the sense that Christians aren't entitled to violence (see point #4). This is the same logic as acknowledging that Christians shouldn't possess porn videos because adultery is forbidden. And inb4 the comparison with knives (who can also be used a deathly weapons) : knives actually have a purpose beside hurting or killing. Normal people don't buy knive having in mind hurting someone ; therefore owning them isn't sinful.
To show you how dishonest this person is, look at them quoting Romans 12:19 that states to "NEVER take [our] revenge".
How "NEVER". is remotely compatible with "oh in some cases it's okay to use violence"?? And yet it doesn't seem to ring a bell into the author's mind. Crazy.
Then the author proceeds to make the more asinine examples of "good" use of violence
As tackled in point #1 the shady usage of Israel prescription to justify how CHRISTIANS can use violence is an instant giveaway of bad theology and should be dismissed when it comes to CHRISTIAN (not Jewish) theology
But can we also talk about the author saying that David is "not a soldier???" KING David? who spend almost his whole life FIGHTING IN WARS and building the foundation of the Kingdom of Israel?? "NOT a solider"???? .......This person can't be serious, and I'm legitimately embarrassed for anyone taking seriously anything coming from this page.
Then the author compels to use to look into worldly entertainment(??!!) for example of proper use of violence *shrugs*
The cognitive dissonance of quoting Romans 12:19 ("Never take your revenge") just after elevating -full of violence and aggressiveness- gunfight/Western movies as an example of "great virtue" is mind-blowing....
4. God is the only self-defense
The reason some Christians rely on their gun -instead of God- is because of their unfaithfulness.
They don't believe that God can protect them when needed, so instead they elevate physical weapons and shoe horn them as biblical.
They also undermine God's power by acting like beside physical violence, we cannot help people :
This couldn't be further from the truth!! There are NO EXAMPLE IN THE BIBLE OF CHRISTIANS USING VIOLENCE TO SAVE PEOPLE.
Abiding in the Lord asks for resilience and Love. Which is someone pro gun Christians desperately lack. Love is not compatible with Death.
The reason Jesus didn't resort to use violence against the men who came to arrest him (when he could) is out of obedience to the Lord. Non-violence is a direct commandment from God ; therefore Christianism is fundamentally non-violent.
Proverbs 3:31
Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways
Matthew 5:38-39
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
Therefore, every Christian defending the use of violence are disobeying God ; and every child of rebellion will end up in Hell.
No human is entitled to kill another creature of God. Their body belong to God, and we are not entitled to "steal" God's property.
TL;DR :
every Christian using Old Testament Prescriptions to legitimize the use of violence to CHRISTIANS, is either uneducated about basic Christian theology, a liar, or a false prophet
You cannot be a Christian while feeling entitled to the Law prerogative. If you want to be entitled to murder like the Israelites, then you necessarily have to abide to the same Law as them. Christians can't have it both ways : the Law is incompatible with the Grace & Salvation covenant (Romans 8)
Jesus giving his consent for his disciple to bring along weapons doesn't mean he endorsed their use. Jesus said "That's enough", not "That's good" or "That's right". The Bible is full of example of God "consenting" to humans carrying on their sin up until a certain point. It doesn't mean God condoned the sin, but rather let humans learn & grown from their mistake.
The Christian "Sword" is Jesus, not guns
The reason some Christians rely on their gun -instead of God- is because of their unfaithfulness
