10.04.2017

"You're into guns - Right?!"

Not my gun safe! I don't have a gun safe! 

Responding to a comment on my previous post.

The comment: "It's time for Christians to stand up to the Alt-right gun nuts and push for gun control, now!"

As to the Alt-Right part of Anon's comment - I think tarring Biblical Christianity with the Alt-Right tag is a canard. I provided a link to respond briefly to that in a reply to Anon's comment. I was at a Reformation conference yesterday and during a break I bumped into a pastor whom I know and he sad/asked: "You're into guns - Right?!" Clarifying that:

  • I haven't shot a gun in probably 10 years
  • I used to have 4 handguns. A year ago when I thought I was likely to die soon, I sold 3 of my four guns because the wife didn't want my guns around after my demise.
  • I have my grandfather's gun only - an antique from the 30's. It has been rebuilt and shoots but I haven't shot since the rebuild
I would like to disabuse the idea that Christians have a position on gun control:
  • No Christian creed mentions guns (or self defense (they creeds predate gun technology))
  • No confession of faith (eg the Westminister Shorter Catechism, London Baptist Confession (1689), New Hampshire Baptist Confession (1833) mentions self-defense). The New Hampshire confession was written in the era of semi-modern firearms so the concept of firearms was well-know - eg the Springfield Model 1855. The Second Amendment predates the New Hampshire confession by 44 years so it could have addressed it
  • I can think of no American Christian denomination that has taken a pro-gun stand. I've considered the many brands of Baptists, non-denom's, EFCA, and Christian colleges and universities, et cetera.
  • I personally have been a member of various churches over nearly 50 years and ditto - crickets on guns.
  • I pastored 3 churches over 16 years and never took a position that I would call either pro-gun or anti-gun.
Do I have a position on gun control?
  • I am support the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
  • I support the 2nd Amendment
  • I support common sense gun control that protects both the rights of individuals to bear arms balanced with the need to protect against the madness of Mandalay Bay-like monsters
  • More on this below but - No amount of gun control will protect us from Evil!
More on Monsters

  • The image above is from the old FPS game - Doom
  • The Monsters in Doom spawn out of mid-air (I haven't played this game in years - but I can tell you it is very creepy!)
  • Our valueless society spawns Monsters!

The nearly 800 comments on this opinion piece are interesting:

See The Culture of Death
When Columbine happened in the spring of 1999, it hit me like a wave of sickness. I wrote a piece about the culture of death that produced the teenage shooters: “Think of it this way. Your child is an intelligent little fish. He swims in deep water. Waves of sound and sight, of thought and fact, come invisibly through that water, like radar. . . . The sound from the television is a wave, and the sound from the radio; the headlines on the newsstand, on the magazines, on the ad on the bus as it whizzes by—all are waves. The fish—your child—is bombarded and barely knows it. But the waves contain words like this, which I’ll limit to only one source, the news:

“. . . was found strangled and is believed to have been sexually molested . . . had her breast implants removed . . . took the stand to say the killer was smiling the day the show aired . . . said the procedure is, in fact, legal infanticide . . . is thought to be connected to earlier sexual activity among teens . . . court battle over who owns the frozen sperm . . . contains songs that call for dominating and even imprisoning women . . . died of lethal injection . . . had threatened to kill her children . . . had asked Kevorkian for help in killing himself . . . protested the game, which they said has gone beyond violence to sadism . . . showed no remorse . . . which is about a wager over whether he could sleep with another student . . .

“This is the ocean in which our children swim. This is the sound of our culture. It comes from all parts of our culture and reaches all parts of our culture, and all the people in it, which is everybody.”

We were bringing up our children in an unwell atmosphere.

11 comments:

  1. Jim fair enough point that no Christian creed mentions guns, for or against. I am not aware of any, as you mentioned. But I don't think you can use this a a cop out. The Christians in the USA have by and large been associated with the Republican party, a party known as an out of control, gun-loving collection of misfits. So even if no official stance has been taken, this is the historical view over the past several decades. And you yourself just admitted you are a support of the 2nd Amendment! You can't be serious, can you? Most Christians I know believe that the 2nd Amendment is an old, outdated "right" that needs to go. I have no idea where you go to church, but I would guess that it may have people in it who hunt? Another case in point. Christians have this weird love affair with that violent "sport." There is no excuse for anyone but a police officer to have a weapon of any kind.

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    Replies
    1. Ah, sporting use, and no one but police may have guns....do you know where that came from?

      Hint; 1938, Berlin.

      http://shop.jpfo.org/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=24

      Sorry, but given that all of the big genocides of the 20th century were preceded by gun confiscation, killing 65 million people or so, I'm not willing to trust government with sole ownership of guns.

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  2. Not only is real Christianity not closely linked with the "alt-right", neither is the NRA.

    In my mind, it's a case where we'd love to "do something" about that which we cannot control. People who are deranged are going to find a way, and all you can do is try and detect their plans before they carry them out, and then work to make what slips through less lethal.

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  3. From my brother:

    Liberals wanting to find fault with something are quick to have Americans dismantle the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. They say the "National Rifle Association" promotes gun mayhem .. forgetting that the NRA is profoundly pro-American values and supports our freedoms. The liberal left will never question images from Hollywood .. just like they promote rudderless values. Guns are and have been simply a tool ..like the atomic bomb, this may not be what we would wish; but a "gun ban" would generally not accomplish much in the inner city. I can make a crude gun in my garage with a bit of time and a few hand tools. Even altering the Constitution would not change the mindset of a few who are determined to create mass murder. Have guns killed in Europe even with tight controls? Can we control our borders for illegal activity like we want to control the free flow of guns? Would a registry really work? HINT: Failed attempts in Australia hold a lesson. Do cops abandon or loose control of guns? Can weapons be legally imported from our sworn enemies across the ocean? The first step is SIMPLY to enforce the laws already on the books. Can we STOP the import of Soviet bloc weapons of war that Hollywood likes to use in "B movie" shoot-'em-ups. Are there mass merchants of gun mayhem? Here's an easy place to start .. IF Congress has COURAGE. Is the Government creating a problem by lack of any action? Chicago .. Detroit.. Baltimore .. St. Louis..

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  4. I've found this 2-part sermon series by Dr. Ken Burkett to be immensely helpful in developing a biblical theology (Christian perspective) of self-defense. You can get the audio at http://bit.ly/2xjDW8d

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  5. Bike Bubba, I don't think you can support your statement at all: "Not only is real Christianity not closely linked with the "alt-right", neither is the NRA. " The alt-right is generally considered rabid gun supporters and actually think that Americans have a "right" to own them. That is patently absurd! There is no reason that any private citizen should be allowed to have a weapon or a gun of any kind. If you look at any Republican platform, virtually all of them are proud of the fact that they support gun "rights." Many of these same people claim to also be Christians. I don't know how you can say with a straight face that Rpublican Christians don't support gun rights, just like the alt-right. You yourself made comments that seem to support the "rights" of citizens to own guns, so you are actually contradicting your own arguments.

    This blog seems to be pretty anti-Trump, like most Christians should be. His rude comments and crude actions such as his anti-woman policies, his anti-transgender policies for the military, etc. are enough to drive any Christian far away. Frankly, I am shocked at the reactions I am getting on this site. This is starting to sound like a reelect Trump blog. What's next, is someone going to claim that Mr. Paddock was a Muslim (rolling eyes) or part of a team of "terrorists"?

    This blog is also starting to resemble the alt-right by big letters proclaiming EVIL, just like Trump said. Come on guys, you can do better than that. Do you really want to go down that road and start calling names and calling people "evil," just like Trump? Evil is when your son-in-law steals your silverware. After analyzing this situation and listening to the psychotherapists on CNN, I would not call this an evil act. If you had paid attention to the news, you would have known that many professionals have labeled Mr. Paddock as a psychopath. In that case, he feels no guilt and did not have remorse for what he did. He was not hurting people on purpose. He had a mental disorder that prevented him from feeling any guilt or shame in what he did. Is that his fault? Now, if this had been the act of some guy who knew it was wrong and went ahead and did it anyway, then I would call it evil. But a psychopath feels no remorse in that absolves them of any wrongdoing because they don't know any better. I was disappointed to see the big bold EVIL post on this site.

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  6. Of course, none of us are glad this happened and would consider it unfortunate and sad. But to call the act of a man with mental illness "evil" is just cruel, just like Trump. He is a victim of mental illness and to label him anything else is so last century.

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  7. Anon, depends how you define the alt-right. Some will define it as anyone who voted for Trump, others will define it in terms of being opposed to Christianity and having a frankly evolutionary view of life and--ahem--mating.

    I submit to you that the proper definition is really the latter, and that a huge plurality, probably really the majority, of the NRA is not only emphatically Christian, but just as emphatically not evolutionary in their views of life. We say "God made Adam and Eve, but Colonel Colt made them equal.", for example.

    Yes, some alt-right people like their guns, but so do the Crips and Bloods, Nortenos and Surenos. I disavow all of them.

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  8. Bike Bubba, the commonly accepted cultural definitions of the "alt-right" is anyone who voted for Trump, anyone who believes American private citizens have a right to own guns, people who have a problem with gays or transgenders in the military and try to keep them out, people who think America should have a fiercely independent spirit and "go it alone" (Old West, cowboy style) and make our own laws and treaties and not support the UN and international trade agreements, are against NAFTA, think that NFL players don't have a right to protest the American Anthem, etc. I'm not sure what a person's view of evolution has to do with anything regarding the alt-right. Some alt-rights believe in it, others do not. It dos not seem to be a defining characteristic related to the issue at all.

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    1. You mean that's the media's definition of the alt-right. Those who identify themselves as "alt-right" are quite different. To put it mildly, the media have changed a lot since my great uncle was a war correspondent in WWII.

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  9. Jim, thank you for the chance to debate. I saw your post about your health concerns. That is the more important issue and I don't want to take the time anymore on your blog blog to debate. Thank you for allowing comments.

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