No Guns In Church In Alabama?
BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 10 months ago
State Rep. Thomas Jackson worries that Christians who carry guns into church aren’t acting like Christians.
Jackson, D-Thomasville, has filed a bill for the current legislative session that would make doing so illegal. He’s not sure it’ll become law — Democrats are outnumbered in Montgomery — but he hopes the bill will get people talking.
“If we as Christians put more faith in Smith & Wesson than we do in God, then we’ve got a problem,” Jackson said, speaking by phone Thursday.
Jackson, an associate pastor at New Hope Baptist Church in Thomasville, said he was shocked to learn how many people carry guns into church.
That sentiment is echoed by the Rev. Lee Shafer at Grace Episcopal Church in Anniston.
People carry them in their purses, Shafer said.
The matter went largely unknown to Shafer until a church-related meeting not long ago, when the topic came up and folks started talking.
“The saddest thing is that there’s a need for guns anywhere,” Shafer said. “Wouldn’t it be horrible if a child got hold of a gun in church?”
Churches, like private business, can ban guns from their buildings, but Shafer said there is no such ban at her church.
While the idea of having a congregation packing pistols along with their Bibles doesn’t sit well with her, Shafer said, “There’s just too many other things for people to get upset about” for this topic to concern her greatly.
Shafer was hesitant to try to decipher the Bible’s message on carrying weapons into church.
Call any 10 pastors and you’ll get 10 different biblical interpretations, Shafer explained, but she quoted the biblical commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“Does this contradict that? Not necessarily, but at the same time Jesus was such a nonviolent presence,” Shafer said.
I once knew some of the good people from Anniston, Alabama. While there are bad people in Alabama too, there are enough good men and women left that it’s a wonder that any of this has come up in Alabama.
I like the line about putting more faith in Smith & Wesson than in God. That’s amusing. I’ll have to remember that one. I’ll find an opportunity to use it again in some fashion. Watch for it in the future. In the mean time, it sounds like Shafer needs to go back to seminary (or at least, attend a good one). Yes, it’s sad that there is a need for guns in church. It’s been with us for a very long time, and it’s called original sin. You should have covered that in your survey of the OT as well as in Systematic Theology (I covered it in Historical Theology And Church History as well).
As for any of those ten pastors who give false interpretations of what God has to say about self defense, I’ve covered that. If ten of them say that God expects us to become doormats and allow the execution of our loved ones so that we can “be like Jesus,” then ten of them are wrong and they are false prophets, not worthy of your attention. As I’ve said in the clearest terms I can muster:
God has laid the expectations at the feet of heads of families that they protect, provide for and defend their families and protect and defend their countries. Little ones cannot do so, and rely solely on those who bore them. God no more loves the willing neglect of their safety than He loves child abuse. He no more appreciates the willingness to ignore the sanctity of our own lives than He approves of the abuse of our own bodies and souls. God hasn’t called us to save the society by sacrificing our children or ourselves to robbers, home invaders, rapists or murderers.
Self defense – and defense of the little ones – goes well beyond a right. It is a duty based on the idea that man is made in God’s image. It is His expectation that we do the utmost to preserve and defend ourselves when in danger, for it is He who is sovereign and who gives life, and He doesn’t expect us to be dismissive or cavalier about its loss. Finally, self-defense may actually result in one of the greatest examples of human love.
I carry in worship every Sunday. I carry at the grocery store, at work, during haircuts, while walking the dog. Always. While I’m not a betting man, I’ll make this wager with Rev. Lee Shafer and Rev. Stan Albright in Alabama. Here it goes.
You show me a promise in the Scriptures – not moralistic platitudes, not normative statements or observations, not miracles that occurred at specified times in redemptive history for specific reasons, but a promise – always and in every circumstance to deliver God’s people out of the hands of evil-doers if we simply lay down our weapons and subjugate ourselves to their desires and refuse to engage in acts of self defense, and I’ll never carry at church again.
But if you can’t do that, I win, and you must read my entire commentary on Christians and the duty of self defense next Sunday as your sermon, without additional commentary.
So, Stan and Lee and Mr. Jackson, where do we stand with this wager?
