On guns and faith

Having apparently never read or fully comprehended the book on which Christianity is based, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the second highest ranking official in the state, has called for fellow believers “who are serious about their faith” to consider getting a gun.

In response to the tragedy in Oregon, he wrote in a post on Facebook that Christians have been the target of recent mass shootings:

The recent spike in mass shootings across the nation is truly troubling. Whether the perpetrators are motivated by aggressive secularism, jihadist extremism or racial supremacy, their targets remain the same: Christians and defenders of the West.

While this is not the time for widespread panic, it is a time to prepare. I would encourage my fellow Christians who are serious about their faith to think about getting a handgun carry permit. I have always believed that it is better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it.

Our enemies are armed. We must do likewise.

CHRISTIANS-GUNS

Credit: liberalbias.com

I’m not exactly sure what being serious about the faith has to do with self-protection, but is it really better for believers, who may or may not be trained well enough to effectively use them, to have concealed weapons and then, if the situation arises and while others are doing the same, pull out their guns and proceed to take matters into their own hands?

Also, doesn’t Jesus say a thing or two about nonviolence and loving your enemies? I’m pretty sure retaliation and in-kind violence didn’t make it into the Beatitudes. Does “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” ring a bell? Guess not.

I wonder how Ramsey and people who support the unholy union of guns and faith might rectify themselves with passages like Matthew 6:25-27:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

and Luke 6:27-36:

But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

In any case, doesn’t it show a supreme lack of faith that believers don’t trust their god enough, or at all, to protect them from would-be shooters in the unlikely event of a crisis? If their faith was really strong, a) why would they be worried about the possibility of their god allowing them into a situation where their lives could be in danger and b) why would they be fearful of losing their lives in the first place if the ultimate prize was heaven? The answer to both of these is that the lion’s share of believers don’t actually have true faith that compelled people like the Sept. 11 attackers and other terrorists to hurl themselves into buildings and strap bombs to their chests on the promise of reward in the ever-after. In fact, Christians know, somewhere deep down, that they actually aren’t protected, just like the nine people in Oregon weren’t protected, just like the devout believers’ children in Newtown, Conn., weren’t protected, just like students killed at Columbine weren’t protected, just like Christians who lost their lives in 9/11 — to fanatical supporters of a competing religion, no less — weren’t protected by the god of the Bible, just like …

They know, at bottom, that there is no spiritual savior from tragedy in this carnal life, that wonderworking soul-force is impotent and that physical force for protection is the only force that matters. So, they advocate for more guns and dishonestly wrap it up in a banner of faith. Whatever that might say about them, it says very little about the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.