WHERE IS the Christian to stand amid the gun debate? As Americans, we may rightly proclaim our opinions when our present governmental branches attempt to legislate concerning our right to bear arms. We rightly call their attentions to our historical legacy having been gained by the founders of this nation, those who preserved for us the ability to own firearms by writ of the Constitutional Second Amendment. Yet, dialectically as Christians we are also called to be healers faced with loss of life in schools and society through domestic small arms fire, a feature that demonically clings to our environment with horrid tenacity.

Personally, I find myself torn when witnessing the murder statistics of major population centers within these United States. I seem to see a rise in violent, gun involved death both near and far. However, at the same time comes to me, memories of hunting to put food on our family table. I also take comfort in knowing the security of having my home fires protected by the presence of a firearm. A sense of guilt intrudes on my consciousness when seeing these tools of providence and protection used on helpless teachers and students in our nation’s schools, even while remembering the faces of my parents who strove hard during WW2 to preserve my right to bear arms.

Being a Christian then I speak to solve this corporate and personal dilemma. We must turn to scripture to reckon a clear way ahead. Now, my knee-jerk reaction would be to rail in public for armed guards and a return of prayer to our nation’s schools, but the latter of that path I fear would only fall on the deaf ears of a heathen brood. We must turn to scripture because there we interact with our God, whose Word has hewn for us a clear path. We read of a divine determination that a peaceful and settled people shall be established within the kingdom of heaven, but it reveals also that our God’s method in this world has been historically quite varied.

Sculpted From Chaos
As biblical history reveals, for example, God himself rescued his chosen nation Israel from Egypt. Israel, as described in Passover narrative, was a people without the ability to defend or free themselves. This was so as Moses said to them as they cried to the God of Israel…

"Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see

Black Robe Regiment Allegany-Nov 2024 Editorial

again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still." (Exodus 14:13-14)

Surely in scripture, therefore, we are told of the Yom Yahweh (War of God). A man called of God warned and guided the people, but Yahweh delivered. This happened most surely when the people of God found themselves enslaved. God himself railed against the oppressor. What did God use? The warfare of nature was first thrown against Egypt by God in the form of plagues of frog, bugs, and other relentless burdens. The people needed to mark clearly their own identity, but could not watch… only hearing the lament of Egypt when at last its power was drowned by supernatural wrath.

But then, we also see that we who are also lost and wandering humans, like Moses, may be rightly used corporately in the Yom Yahweh. After Israel (named as those who contend or wrestle with God) found themselves rescued by God, they were groomed to participate as an infant vagabond nation in wars fought for a place to settle. They moved against many city states within the ancient lands encountered. The Bible reveals that they attacked Ai, Jericho, and other ancient principalities and prevailed whenever divinely-guided. The Psalmist recalls that Yahweh said…

“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, with trembling, kiss his feet, lest he anger, and you perish in the way; for his wrath is quickly kindled.” (Psalm 2:8-12)

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