Let me start by saying
that, politically, I am a conservative, a gun owner, and a good ole country
boy. The possibility of a gun ban,
regardless of what kind of ban it is, makes me upset. Not because I’m scared that the government is
going to take away my guns but because of the response that I see people
giving. The more I read about the
arguments for and against guns it makes me think “What would Jesus do.” As I search for this answer one seems to
escape from me. I have read Luke
22:35-38, Matthew 5:38-42, and Luke 22:49-51.
I have read countless Facebook post from pastors and friends that I look
up to in ministry. I have consulted dear
friends about the matter; people of both political persuasions. Yet, the answer just seems to not be
there. Maybe this is because the Gospel
of Christ is about love and peace. Maybe
Jesus wasn’t clear on this matter because He wanted us to focus more on love
and peace not guns and politics. The
King James Bible mentions the word “love” 310 times and the word “peace” 400
times. The only verses that may pertain
to a pro-gun argument are the ones listed above. I don’t know what to believe about guns and
gun bans in terms of a Christian but what I do know is that God saw fit to tell
us to love people 310 times and have peace with people 400 times. This leads me to believe that those two words
are a lot more important than the multiple guns I have in my room.
Before we proceed any
further, I will offer you my political option just so you will know where I
stand on the issue. I am not your
average 19 year old college kid. I love
history, I love politics and I love this country. I have heard just about every political
argument about guns. I have researched
them and have studied them. So I feel
safe in offering you my option. I
believe that placing a ban on assault weapons will not solve the problems that
we face today. It’s not an issue with
the type of weapon used. It’s an issue
of the person operating the weapon.
People have always killed people and people will continue to kill other
people. Cain killed Able without an
assault weapon in Genesis 4. Cain killed
Able, not because he had a weapon that was considered dangerous, but because he
was “very angry” as the New King James puts it.
The first crud firearms were invented around the 14th
century. Until then people killed people
with swords, spears, clubs, battle axes, bows and arrows, sticks and
stones. This is what leads me to believe
that killing is ingrained in to humanity itself. In the 1920’ the U.S. banned the sell and
production of alcohol. This ban was
placed into effect because people thought that alcohol was causing men to beat
their kids and wives and causing men to spend all of their money on
alcohol. The ban was in place until
1933. The main reason the U.S. lifted
the ban of alcohol was because the rate at which people were being killed over
producing, running, and selling alcohol increased more than when alcohol was
legal. Is alcohol a bad thing? It can be when it is abused. Does alcohol cause men to beat their wives
and kids? If they drink too much, then
it can. I believe the same thing will
happen with the gun bans. The government
will ban assault weapons and people will still be killed by assault weapons because
the problem does not lie with the weapon but with the person.
The problem lies in the
sin that we have in us. There is no ban
the government can put on sin. As long
as sin abounds there will be death. But
lucky for us “where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.” (Romans
5:20b) The only thing that is going to
stop the death and destruction of this world is Christ. Guns don’t save us. They may save you from a robber or a thug but
they will not save you from Hell. Guns
do not advance the kingdom of God. Christians
have tried that before. Remember the
crusades. It didn’t work out well for
them. So why do we cling to our guns
like they are the things that will save us?
Why are we, as Christians more outspoken about gun bans than about what
Christ can do for people? So as
Christians, I would like to see people start to advance the kingdom of Christ
and tell people about the peace and love that God can offer us. Let’s put down our guns and put on Christ!
