Would Jesus Carry a Handgun For Self-Defense?
Answer: No.
Would Jesus arm a teacher?
Answer: No.
Would Jesus encourage you to carry a gun?
Answer: No.
Would Jesus encourage you to shoot someone in self-defense?
Answer: No.
So why is there so much overlap between the Jesus people and the gun people?
I don’t have an answer to that one.
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Two takes on life, with a new riff or two.
They haven’t actually read the teachings of Jesus?
Admittedly I have not read many of your previous posts Kemp, but I have read enough to think that this seems a bit out of character for you. I don’t see the first fact to support any of your conclusions, and although it’s been a long, long time since I had a logic class, this seems like you’re making something along the lines of an ad hominem argument…how could someone who calls themself a Christian support something like armed self-defense? In typical weasel attorney fashion, I’ll respond to your questions with a a few of my own: how much of the Bible have you read; and upon what are you basing your bare conclusions about what Jesus would do?
No, I am making a more subtle point than that. I am not saying that someone who follows Jesus should necessarily reject arms. Rather, I am perplexed by the overlap. I would expect a Christian to be, at a minimum, no more likely to study techniques of wielding weapons, and carry one around all the time, than a Muslim, Jew, or atheist. What perplexes me is that so many gun-wielders in the U.S. identify themselves as Christian. To put it in the form of a logical construct:
- I assert that if someone is X, they are more likely to be Y than someone who is not X. (A statistically irrefutable point, in this case, at least for the U.S.).
- I assert that it is perplexing and not adequately explained why someone who is X is more likely to be Y than someone who is not X, given the teachings of X.
This is not the same thing as asserting that someone who is X should be LESS likely to be Y. I don’t see how being X would lead someone to be more likely to be Y.
Jesus’s teachings were the inspiration for non-violent leaders like Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr. He even directly instructed his followers to give in to violence, and turn the other cheek to allow more violence to be brought against the victim. He taught us not to worry about where our next meal or clothing would come from, but to trust that God’s will be done. This is summed up in a popular evangelical refrain: “Let go and let God.”
Jesus also taught that death is not an end to be feared, but a chance to join him in heaven. From this idea, one would think that followers of Christ would, for the most part, not be all that afraid to die, not enthusiastic about spending their time becoming skilled at wielding complex and dangerous weapons, and not paranoid of acts of violence that are inevitable in a flawed world.
So, why are gun-wielders MORE likely to be Christian than those who don’t wield weapons? What would Jesus do? Minister to the victims? Put himself between the shooter and victim and die a humble and meek death? Or would he pull out his Glock and pop him before he could get more rounds out?
To answer your other question: I’ve read a majority of the New Testament and the most widely-studied portions of the Old.
And perhaps therein lies the answer: maybe gun owning Christians are more inspired by the lessons of the Old Testament rather than the new. Why do you think? Why are gun-carriers more likely than the general population to identify themselves as Christian?