Gird on Your Sword in the House of the Lord

Gird on Your Sword in the House of the Lord

by Gretchen A. Fritz

Most Sundays I enter the small church I have attended since I was 11 years old and sit as far to the right as I can in the second row from the back. Unfortunately, there is no cover anywhere in this room. I’m pretty sure one of the ushers is checking me out as I enter. He is trying to see where I’m carrying my gun.

It’s been said that Sunday morning is one of the most divided times in America—racially divided, to be sure, but also divided between those who carry guns to church and those who do not.

If you are already strapped in the sanctuary, you’ve probably got the right idea. Shootings in churches are not common and often arise from domestic situations, but that knowledge makes it no more palatable to any sheepdog. Crimes other than indiscriminate public shootings are also a possibility. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.” (John 10:10) That’s literal and spiritual.

I see a fair number of discussions on this topic on social media, so I know that carrying concealed in church is far from universally accepted or practiced, even by people who claim to be pro-Second Amendment or who carry at other times and places. Most people object on the basis of pacifism—that Christianity is the religion of turning the other cheek. Others feel that church should be a sacred sanctuary that is unsullied by weapons and violence.

Problems with Pacifism

Since guns did not yet exist in Bible Times, a sword would have been the most advanced weapon of that day, so most everyone can agree that references to swords are our best biblical guidance on weapons and the use of them. Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, told Churchleaders.com, “I don’t think there is a gun control policy outlined in scripture. There is a commitment to human life and to the protection of human life, but I think Christians can disagree on what the specific policies ought to be to get there.”

Pacifists love to throw out Jesus’ words in Matthew 26:52 just before his arrest: “All who live by the sword will die by the sword.” Most English translations actually say “all who take the sword” or “all who draw the sword,” but saying “live by” is probably on the way to an interpretation. This does not mean you should not own weapons or defend yourself. Jesus earlier that day had told his disciples, “…if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.” (Luke 22:36) In 1 Samuel 25: 13, King David, the man after God’s own heart, commanded his men, “Put on your swords!” Why would Jesus and David tell their disciples to procure weapons if they were not to use them for self-defense?

            It also does not mean that you should not make your living by carrying weapons, in the military or as a police officer. In the Old Testament the Hebrew army was very active and confronted many people groups. “When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace….If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.” (Deuteronomy 20:10, 12-13) You can’t read the Old Testament without reading about the many battles and killing that were authorized by God.

Pacifists also love to quote Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:39) Jesus is giving his followers a very specific situation: yes, this is violence, but it is not lethal force. If someone offers the Christian force that is not lethal, he or she should stand strong and make an effort to deescalate. Just like the Hebrews in the Old Testament, a Christian would never attack someone. Self-defense with a firearm is, by its very nature, reactionary. We do not want to kill anyone; we only react to lethal threats with lethal force.

If you think carrying guns in church is wrong, also be aware that that puts you in the same camp as those who use the bogus phrase “gun violence,” such as the Archdiocese of Chicago which banned guns in all of its buildings in September 2017, saying, “Churches, schools, and administrative facilities are intended to be sites where people can gather, pray and worship in peace.” The Catholic Bishop of Dallas and the Archdiocese of Atlanta have also banned guns.

After the horrific massacre in Sutherland Springs, Texas, where 26 worshippers were murdered at the First Baptist Church, Rev. Michael McBride, director of Urban Strategies for LIVE FREE, an initiative to prevent “gun violence” and eliminate white supremacy, told ThinkProgress.com, “Rather than continue to push for more instruments of death, which are unable to keep us safe, we must rather start to call for a more peaceful existence that limits the proliferations of instruments of death” — otherwise known as gun control.

Seeking Sanctuary

Historically churches were places of sanctuary—refuge, asylum and protection. Religious men and women taught the Ten Commandments there, and everyone followed them, at least numbers six and eight. But as Richard Vaughan, editor of the Illinois Shooter, succinctly stated in an e-mail to me, “Some of the most important rules of civilization have broken down, and now we have to deal with it.”

Moore told The Washington Post, “There are not two sides here about whether shootings should be stopped, laws enforced, and criminality punished, but rather two sides about whether gun control is a prudent way to carry out those common goals.” Looking back on Sutherland Springs, Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas told Fox & Friends, “I’d say a quarter to a half of our members are concealed carry. They have guns, and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. They bring them into the church with them….If somebody tries that in our church, they may get one shot off or two shots off, but that’s it. And that’s the last thing they’ll ever do in this life.”

We are fortunate in Illinois that churches are not on the list of restricted places for concealed carry but rather are included in “private real property of any type” (430 ILCS 66/1, Firearm Concealed Carry Act, Illinois). Owners of private property not specifically prohibited from allowing concealed carry can make their own decision about whether or not to allow it.

For more on this topic, I highly recommend Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defense by Charl Van Wyk, who returned fire on a group of terrorists who attacked his church in South Africa during a worship service in 1993. The book includes the entire text of “The Biblical Principles of Gun Control” by Larry Pratt.

And that usher? Don’t worry about him. He’s my dad, and he’s packing too.

Gretchen A. Fritz is the co-host of On Target Radio and an NRA Pistol Instructor.

Reprinted from The Illinois Shooter.