Recently I met a man I hadn’t seen in many years. He was driving down my street and saw me outside talking to a neighbor, and so he stopped. We talked for a while and he enthusiastically told me he had “found Jesus.” He wore a gun on his right hip. He said he needed it for protection.
That night as I sat in my darkened living room, I pondered my chance encounter with this man I knew from long ago. In particular, I pondered the incongruity between his ebullient connection with Jesus and the firearm he felt he needed to defend himself.
It has always been my understanding that Christians (and Jews) are instructed to not kill people. As in, “Thou shall not kill.” That’s a solid statement. There are no exceptions mentioned.
If Jesus were walking the highways and byways of today (and maybe, somewhere, he is), would he wear a gun on his hip? Would Jesus kill someone in self-defense?
Were I a Believer, I think I would be more concerned about losing my soul than losing my life. As for my life, the Believer’s Handbook – the Bible – has a few things to say about that:
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me..."
“fear not, for I am with you”
“no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed”
“The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.”
If you choose to be a Believer, then one of your beliefs should be that protecting your life isn’t your job; it’s God’s job. But if you choose to be a Believer who doesn’t trust God to do His Job and run His Plan, then maybe you should wear a sidearm. Because a part of you thinks maybe God has become distracted, maybe He has forgotten about you, maybe He doesn’t even exist. Trust in God, but carry a Glock. Just in case God drops the ball.
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