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Ed. Note: Jeff originally wrote this piece
for Christian Sixgunners (www.christiansixgunners.org).
Check them out!
Boge
I
have been asked on occasion how I can justify carrying a gun and
being a Christian at the same time. This is always posed by
someone who is trying to trip me up. It can either be a devout
Christian asking the question, or a Hedonistic heathen; it
doesn’t matter. There are those who believe, or choose to
believe, that a Christian must be absolutely passive in all
things. I am not just referring to those Christians who ride a
horse and buggy. I have been asked about my views on self
defense by Christians of most every denomination. Some are
genuinely seeking an answer. Others just want to chastise me for
not being as "faithful" as themselves.
Many
will accept every modern worldly convenience, but scoff at the
idea of trying to protect oneself or the life of another. Their
attitude seems to be that "God will protect us". They
do have a valid point. God will protect us from the evils of
this world, if he so chooses. I would rather have God on
my side than a battery of Sidewinder missiles. Indeed, our
God can protect us. However, that attitude would lead one
to believe that he could walk through Harlem wearing a Ku Klux
Klan outfit campaigning for George Wallace, and that "God
will protect us". God could get you through that, but Jesus
said that we should not tempt God. I tend to agree with his
assessment.
In
the saddlebag of my motorcycle, I have a tiny cross with the
inscription "Faith Moves Mountains", but I also
ride in the mountains of East Tennessee and the western United
States, and I make sure that my brakes are in good working
order. I could just trust God to catch me, but again, that could
be construed as tempting God. God gave us brakes on our
motorcycles, and that is sufficient.
God
can indeed protect us. He can keep us safe on the highways, and
he can also keep us safe from those who would intentionally do
us harm. I am not speaking of politicians here, but of the evil
that is in the souls of some human beings. Be certain in this;
there is true evil in this world, and it sometimes manifests
itself in the form of a low life predator. Being a Christian, it
is difficult to believe that people, made of the same
composition of flesh, bone, and blood as ourselves, could be
truly evil. We have a Heavenly Father who has filled us with
basic goodness, but Jesus said that there are those "who
are of the synagogue of Satan".
No
sane individual would hesitate to defend himself from a rabid
dog or a poisonous snake, but are the two-legged vipers of this
world any better than an animal? An animal does that which comes
naturally to him. Children of Satan do that which comes
naturally to them: that being evil.
Can
God protect us from those who would do us harm? Absolutely.
However, just as he has given us brakes to save us from the
mountain, he has also given to us the tools necessary to defend
ourselves, and those whom God has given to us. As Christian men,
God not only allows us to protect our families, but he expects
us to protect those whom he has placed in our care. This may
seem contrary to the mandate for us to "turn the other
cheek", and I too have pondered over this. It takes great
strength to turn the other cheek as Jesus intended. That
is not a commandment to be weak. Jesus did not operate from a
position of weakness. In fact, nothing ever happened to him that
he did not allow.
God
has entrusted us with the care of our brothers, whether those
"brothers" be the children that he has given to us, or
our wives, or our friends. We could set our children outside in
the cold and trust that God would keep them warm. We could
abandon them and trust that God will keep them fed. We could let
them loose on the city streets or send them off for a week at
Neverland, and trust that no sick, evil freak would abuse them.
As Christians, we do not do these things to our children. God
expects us to clothe them, feed them, and protect them from the
evil that is inherent in this world. He gave to us the ability
to buy clothes, grow food, build a fire, and to fight off those
who would do us harm. In the time that Jesus walked the Earth in
the form of man, the short sword was the state-of-the-art
weapon. He told his followers that the time of living carefree
was over, and that the time had come for those without a sword
to "sell his garment and buy one".
Today,
we have better than a sword. We have more modern weapons at our
disposal, and so does our enemy. Keeping a good rifle to defend
one’s homestead and a reliable handgun to ward off evil
that finds you when you least expect it is not only prudent, but
expected. A Christian man is not mean, hateful, spiteful, or
quick to anger. Neither is he weak. God never told us to let the
evil in this world run over us like a train. He never told us to
stand by idly as those whom he trusted to us are abused or
killed. A Christian man who packs a gun does not look for
trouble, and avoids it if at all possible. However, evil can
seek you out.
A
well-armed man operates from a position of strength. He is less
likely to have to fight than an unarmed man. The predators in
this world look for easy prey. God did not put his people on
this Earth to be prey for the sons of Satan. God expects us to
stand up for what is right, and he gives us the tools with which
to do so. When you defend the life of one of God’s children,
you are defending good against evil. Use your good sense and
God’s word to avoid trouble. If necessary, use the gun at your
side to stand against it.
Jeff Quinn
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Click pictures for a larger version.
AR-15
The Word and a .45
Author carries this tiny Cross in his Harley's saddlebag
Jeff's "always" gun, S&W's
Model 342PD.
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