Bear Arms

Our founding fathers thought it so important that we, the people, should be able to defend ourselves that they wrote an amendment to the constitution giving us the right to own guns.

But did you know that Jesus supported the right to bear arms?

What? The man who said, “turn the other cheek” wouldn’t support owning guns.

Despite reading the New Testament many times somehow I had overlooked something he had told his disciples before he was arrested.

This passage is from Luke 22 and begins by Peter declaring his willingness to do anything for Jesus.

33 But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

34 Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.”

35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”

“Nothing,” they answered.

36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’[b]; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”

38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

“That is enough,” he replied.

We know that Peter complied with Jesus’s command, because later, when Jesus was arrested, Peter drew his sword and used it.

John 18:10
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

Jesus’s response was to reattach the ear(miracle) because the time wasn’t right. Jesus was still with them and he knew he must go to the cross.

Do I believe we should have the right to bear arms?

Absolutely.

Do I believe tougher guns laws would prevent tragedies like what happened in Connecticut?

No.

Do I believe a person who took no thought to killing innocent children would obey a gun law?

No.

But I’ve read,

Luke 12:4-5
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

Arm yourself.

Ephesians 6:16-18
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.