{"id":90705,"date":"2021-03-11T13:27:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T18:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/"},"modified":"2023-10-30T01:07:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T05:07:22","slug":"guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/","title":{"rendered":"Guns, Violence and Biblical Conviction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Despite notions of a higher\ndegree of personal and cultural peace with the turn of the century, violence in\nthe 21<sup>st<\/sup> century continues literally on display from ISIS and other religiously-driven\nmilitant aggression to senseless Antifa-related carnage promoting rebellion and\nanarchy.&nbsp; What is a Biblical\nresponse?&nbsp; Three key convictions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li><strong>Exodus 20:13<\/strong>: \u201c<strong>Thou shalt not kill<\/strong>\u201d provides\n     the Biblical basis for self-defense.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>\u201c<strong>Kill<\/strong>\u201d in the Hebrew\n      is \u201crasah\u201d meaning \u201cmurder,\u201d specifically in two senses only: 1)\n      premeditated crime and 2) accidental as well as senseless killing: \u201c<strong>You shall not kill in malice or senselessly.<\/strong>\u201d&nbsp; In the\n      introduction above, both ISIS and Antifa are guilty of violating <strong>Ex. 20:13<\/strong>,\n      just as a pro-life advocate who attacks an abortion-providing physician\n      is guilty of the same.&nbsp; In fact,\n      the Bible teaches among many sins murder will keep one from heaven: \u201c<strong>But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually\n      immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the\n      lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>Rev. 21:8<\/strong>).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Scripture describes God\n      as merciful, filled with grace and the very definition of love, but He is\n      also a God of justice, and when necessary, \u201c<strong>The LORD is a man of\n      war; the LORD is His name<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>Ex. 15:3<\/strong>).&nbsp; According to <strong>Ecclesiastes 3:8<\/strong>,\n      there is a time and season for everything, including war.&nbsp; Many people make the mistake of reading\n      <strong>Ex. 20:13<\/strong> and\n      applying it to the concept of war.&nbsp;\n      We know that not all killing in wartime is a sin because there\n      have been times when God Himself commanded battles to be fought (<strong>1 Samuel 15:3<\/strong>; <strong>Joshua 4:13<\/strong>). &nbsp;God never tells people to sin, so the\n      Israelites who followed God\u2019s commands to wage war were not sinning. In\n      the New Testament, most tellingly, some soldiers came to John the Baptist\n      as he was baptizing in the Jordan River. The soldiers asked John, \u201c<strong>What should we do?<\/strong>\u201d\n      This would have been the perfect opportunity for John to tell them to\n      stop engaging in warfare, stop killing, or stop being soldiers. Instead,\n      John replied, \u201c<strong>Don\u2019t extort money and don\u2019t accuse\n      people falsely\u2014be content with your pay<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>Luke 3:14<\/strong>). Being a soldier is not inherently sinful just\n      as killing in war cannot be equated with murder.&nbsp; So, God is not against killing in all\n      circumstances, but only murder.&nbsp;\n      Again, murder is senseless and for selfish reasons, while killing\n      is to protect and preserve life.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>God ordered the death\n      penalty for numerous crimes (<strong>Exodus 21:12<\/strong>, <strong>15<\/strong>; <strong>22:19<\/strong>; <strong>Leviticus 20:11<\/strong>).&nbsp; We\n      must remember that God has instituted capital punishment in His Word;\n      therefore, it would be presumptuous of us to think that we could\n      institute a higher standard, especially misapplying <strong>Exodus 20:13<\/strong>. God\n      has the highest standard of any being; He is perfect.&nbsp; Second, we must recognize that God has\n      given government the authority to determine when capital punishment is\n      due (<strong>Genesis 9:6<\/strong>; <strong>Romans 13:1-7<\/strong>). Therefore, it is unbiblical to claim that God\n      opposes the death penalty in all instances.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li><strong>Luke 22:36<\/strong>: \u201c<strong>But now if you have a purse, take it,\n     and also a bag; and if you don&#8217;t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one<\/strong>\u201d demonstrates that the use of physical force to\n     protect oneself or defend another is not an alternative but a\n     command.&nbsp; <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>The \u201csword\u201d (Greek:\n      \u201cmaxairan\u201d) is a dagger or short sword that was part of the Jewish\n      traveler&#8217;s equipment for protection against robbers and wild animals. A\n      plain reading of the passage indicates that Jesus approved of conditional\n      self-defense.&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>If Jesus were a pacifist\n      and opposed the use of weapons, He would not have instructed his\n      disciples to own them. They were not to be heavily armed, but\n      sufficiently armed.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Self-defense does not\n      always mean physical defense.&nbsp; Paul\n      engaged in self-defense on occasion, although non-violently. When he was\n      about to be flogged by the Romans in Jerusalem, Paul quietly informed the\n      centurion with the scourge that he, Paul, was a Roman citizen. The\n      authorities were immediately alarmed and began to treat Paul differently,\n      knowing they had violated Roman law by even putting him in chains. Paul\n      had used a similar defense in Philippi\u2014after he was flogged\u2014in order to\n      secure an official apology from those who had violated his rights (<strong>Acts 16:37\u201339<\/strong>).&nbsp; The persistent widow in Jesus\u2019 parable\n      kept pounding on the judge\u2019s door with the repeated plea, \u201c<strong>Grant me justice against my adversary<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>Luke 18:3<\/strong>). This widow was not about to give up and let\n      her enemy take advantage of her; through the proper channels, she pursued\n      self-defense.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>The Bible never forbids\n      self-defense, and believers are allowed to defend themselves and their\n      families. But the fact that we are permitted to defend ourselves does not\n      necessarily mean we must do so violently in every situation. Knowing\n      God\u2019s heart through reading His Word and relying on \u201c<strong>the wisdom that comes from heaven<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>James 3:17<\/strong>) will help us know how to best respond in\n      situations that might call for self-defense.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>\u201c<strong>On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn\n     the other to him also<\/strong>\u201d (<strong>Matthew 5:39b<\/strong>) would\n     seem to imply that Christians should not resist an evil person but\n     actually delineates when retaliation should\u2026or should not be employed.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>In regard to protecting\n      ourselves from crime and our nation from foreign aggression, force is\n      allowed by both the Old and New Testaments, but Jesus\u2019 intent in <strong>Matthew 5<\/strong> was not to\n      retaliate when insulted or slandered (echoed in <strong>Romans 12:17-21<\/strong>).\n      Insults do not threaten a Christian&#8217;s personal safety. The idea of\n      rendering insult for insult, is not the same as defending oneself against\n      a mugger or a rapist, or someone that wants to kill you or a loved one<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>In <strong>John 18<\/strong>, Jesus is\n      addressing Peter who previously said he was willing to die with him and\n      instead tried to prevent His being arrested. Peter used the sword to\n      accomplish his goal, but Jesus\u2019 response was we are not to live by force\n      or violence but by love.&nbsp; There was\n      more to this than Peter could see: the will of God. Peter had pulled the\n      sword out to prevent Jesus from being arrested. In response, Jesus healed\n      the man\u2019s ear and He had Peter put away his sword so he <em>could<\/em> be arrested, to fulfill\n      God\u2019s plan by his death (<strong>John 18:11<\/strong>).&nbsp; So it\n      is important to see God\u2019s purpose at any given time.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><li>Therefore, the one area\n      in which deadly force is not permitted, is for the defense of the faith.\n      As far as our faith is concerned, we are to turn the other cheek and be\n      willing to become martyrs if it is about Christ. Jesus told his disciples\n      they would be killed for their faith and it is no different today.&nbsp; This is why we do not physically fight\n      for Jesus.&nbsp; In <strong>John 18:36<\/strong> Jesus\n      answered, &#8220;<strong>My kingdom is not of this world. If My\n      kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight.<\/strong>\u201d&nbsp; This\n      was the critical error of the Crusaders, for example\u2026and we still\n      experience the negative ramifications today.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Without close study, the Bible\ncan seem to give conflicting instructions regarding self-defense. God\u2019s Word\nteaches not to return evil for evil or to convert people by force; but by love,\nby testimony, by Godly interaction.&nbsp; If\nsomeone is physically attacking you, your family or nation as an evil entity,\nyou have every right to use whatever means is at ones disposal to defend\noneself and preserve life. If, on the other hand, one is attacking you and\ngoing to do harm because of your faith, you are not to physically defend\nyourself but certainly defend your faith through testimony. &nbsp;If we are asked specifically to renounce our\nfaith or die, we have the example of the early Church. We are told to be\nwilling to become martyrs.&nbsp; As noted in <strong>Revelation 12:11<\/strong>,\n\u201c<strong>they did not\nlove their lives unto death.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite notions of a higher degree of personal and cultural peace with the turn of the century, violence in the 21st century continues literally on display from ISIS and other religiously-driven militant aggression to senseless Antifa-related carnage promoting rebellion and anarchy.&nbsp; What is a Biblical response?&nbsp; Three key convictions: Exodus 20:13: \u201cThou shalt not kill\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[534],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Guns, Violence and Biblical Conviction - Grace Evangelical Free Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guns, Violence and Biblical Conviction - Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite notions of a higher degree of personal and cultural peace with the turn of the century, violence in the 21st century continues literally on display from ISIS and other religiously-driven militant aggression to senseless Antifa-related carnage promoting rebellion and anarchy.&nbsp; What is a Biblical response?&nbsp; Three key convictions: Exodus 20:13: \u201cThou shalt not kill\u201d [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-11T18:27:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-10-30T05:07:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tony Raker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\"},\"headline\":\"Guns, Violence and Biblical Conviction\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-11T18:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-30T05:07:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/\"},\"wordCount\":1327,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Life\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/\",\"name\":\"Guns, Violence and Biblical Conviction - Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-03-11T18:27:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-30T05:07:22+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/guns-violence-and-biblical-conviction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/\",\"name\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/gefc-logo-full-color-rgb.svg\",\"width\":514,\"height\":259,\"caption\":\"Grace Evangelical Free Church\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/#\/schema\/person\/6785bcea471ae92fb3660d811c5c74ef\",\"name\":\"Tony Raker\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/keriritenour.com\/grace\/author\/pastor_admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Guns, Violence and Biblical Conviction - Grace Evangelical Free Church","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Guns, Violence and Biblical Conviction - Grace Evangelical Free Church","og_description":"Despite notions of a higher degree of personal and cultural peace with the turn of the century, violence in the 21st century continues literally on display from ISIS and other religiously-driven militant aggression to senseless Antifa-related carnage promoting rebellion and anarchy.&nbsp; 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