{"id":128253,"date":"2015-10-06T22:23:35","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T04:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/06\/christians-must-arm-themselves-just-like-jesus-told-us-to-amirite.html"},"modified":"2015-11-11T09:29:39","modified_gmt":"2015-11-11T16:29:39","slug":"christians-must-arm-themselves-just-like-jesus-told-us-to-amirite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/10\/06\/christians-must-arm-themselves-just-like-jesus-told-us-to-amirite.html","title":{"rendered":"Christians must arm themselves, just like Jesus told us to, amirite?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know, I'm talking about He-Man Jesus, not that namby-pamby liberal pacifist Jesus the wishy-washy hippy Christians and Episcopalians are so fond of. I mean, he was right there, telling his followers to cut down anyone who came to harm them (Luke 22:49-51, Matt. 26:47-53), to strike back at persecutors (Matt. 5:43-48, Luke 6:27-28), to fear those who come to kill you (Matt. 10:28), and to enjoy sweet vengeance if someone offers you violence (Matt. 5:38-39) because life and security in this world is the highest Christian virtue (John 18:36).<\/p>\n

But, of course, I jest. <\/p>\n

The question of Christian pacifism is a difficult one, debated by much more intelligent lights than Mr. Ramsey (or myself) for centuries. What seems pretty certain to me, though is there is no concerted mass wave of violence against American Christians. There has been one<\/i> shooter who appeared to target Christians (and his argument seemed to be more against organized religion than Christian faith per se). <\/p>\n

While there is a wing of Christians who seem bound and determined to portray themselves as Latter-Day Martyrs, there's as yet little foundation for such concern. (And, even if it were so, the Martyrs of Old were … Martyrs, not gunslingers fighting back against the sinister and superior forces of anti-Christian paganism. Until they were the ones in power, at least.)<\/p>\n

My reading of the Gospels regarding violence and self-protection is that Jesus put such things in the hands of the authorities — the civil government and the military. There's ambiguity about personal self-defense — some passages where Jesus seems to be okay with people carrying<\/i> weapons, but, as noted above, condemning their use. And while I am able to cite examples of Jesus suggesting that persecution and martyrdom and the attacks of enemies should be answered with love (and welcomed as signs of faith), I don't think I could be sanguine about an attack (religiously motivated or not) upon myself, let alone my family. Though I think that makes me less of a good Christian rather than rationalizing that Jesus is jiggy with Christians packing heat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n<\/a>
\nRon Ramsey Calls On Christians To Arm Themselves Following Oregon Mass Shooting<\/a><\/span>
\nChristians should consider arming themselves, Tennessee’s Senate Speaker says in response to Thursday’s shooting at a community college in Oregon. Ron\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know, I'm talking about He-Man Jesus, not that namby-pamby liberal pacifist Jesus the wishy-washy hippy Christians and Episcopalians are so fond of. I mean, he was right there, telling his followers to cut down anyone who came to harm them (Luke 22:49-51, Matt. 26:47-53), to strike back at persecutors (Matt. 5:43-48, Luke 6:27-28), to … Continue reading “Christians must arm themselves, just like Jesus told us to, amirite?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,298,378,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts","category-guns","category-intolerance-persecution","category-religious-zanies"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42104,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/20\/sauce-for-the-goose-is-okay-if-it-is-jesus-sauce.html","url_meta":{"origin":128253,"position":0},"title":"Sauce for the goose is okay if it is Jesus sauce","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 20-May-14 2:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I've come to the conclusion that for too many people like Ms Mefferd, ends justify means, and actions are judged solely by whether they are to a \"good\" end or an \"evil\" end. \u00a0So, in that light, she's not a hypocrite -- if it supports her view of Jesus, it's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10400,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/28\/book_review_the_myth_of_a.html","url_meta":{"origin":128253,"position":1},"title":"Book review: The Myth of a Christian Nation","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 28-Jan-07 1:37pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Myth of a Christian Nation by Gregory A. Boyd (2006) Overall Writing Re-Readability Info Gregory Boyd is a theologian and pastor of a large Protestant congregation in Minnesota....","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/stars4.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128812,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/15\/who-is-my-neighbor-compassionate-conservative-edition.html","url_meta":{"origin":128253,"position":2},"title":""Who is my neighbor?" (Compassionate Conservative Edition)","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 15-Nov-15 10:55am","format":false,"excerpt":"Jeb! thinks that the United States should focus its Middle Eastern refugee aid on Christians.'Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush says that any U.S. assistance to Middle Eastern refugees should focus primarily on Christians fleeing persecution. \"We should focus our efforts as it relates to refugees on the Christians that are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50975,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/05\/11\/the-christian-right-catches-up-with-modern-history.html","url_meta":{"origin":128253,"position":3},"title":"The Christian Right catches up with modern history","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 11-May-15 4:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Christians are being persecuted horribly. Eek! They're taking away our Years!A.D. vs. C.E.: Silent Christian bashing: http:\/\/www.wnd.com\/2015\/05\/a-d-vs-c-e-silent-christian-bashing\/At issue is a continuing shift in the academic community, and now beyond, to replace the use of A.D. and B.C. in dates with C.E. and _B.C.E. (usually rendered as \"Common Era,\" sometimes \"Current\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shutterstock_251014447-1050x5905B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shutterstock_251014447-1050x5905B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/shutterstock_251014447-1050x5905B15D.jpgimgmax%3D660.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":135655,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/13\/tragedy-persecution-american-christians.html","url_meta":{"origin":128253,"position":4},"title":"The tragedy of the persecution of American Christians","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 13-Dec-17 7:06pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The tragedy is that it doesn't exist, but some Christians in the US are convinced it does. Speaking as both an American and a Christian, here's what I see. Christians do still hold tremendous power in this country. They hold positions of influence. They have tremendous privilege. The national holidays,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/roy-moore-for-senate.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":137869,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/19\/oh-you-mean-religious-freedom-means-people-can-discriminate-against-me.html","url_meta":{"origin":128253,"position":5},"title":"Oh, you mean "religious freedom" means people can discriminate against ME?","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 19-Feb-19 10:24pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, lots of people love pounding the \"religious freedom\" drum -- \"I shouldn't have to associate with \/ offer services to \/ dispense medicine for \/ accept customers who are those types of people\" -- when they think that they're part of \"Us,\" not one of \"Them.\"So there are certainly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128751,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128253\/revisions\/128751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}