If someone suggested that Jesus was pro-gun I’d say that person was a moron.
Actually, that’s not very nice so I probably wouldn’t say it.
But I would think that person was a moron.
I can’t help it.
Jesus never said a word about guns.
There was no such thing as guns
That was soooooo condescending. I’m sorry.
But there may be some people reading who believe Jesus was a gun advocate.
At least, that’s what John Pavlovitz thinks.
He wrote an actual article with an actual title that actually reads:
No Christian, Jesus Didn’t Say You Can Have Your Guns
It’s not nice to say it.
But I’m thinking it.
I can’t help it.
There might be some John Pavlovitz fans reading along so I need to be condescending again.
Jesus didn’t say anything about guns.
He didn’t say you can have swords, spears, or cudgels either.
Jesus didn’t say you can have refrigerators, lamps, motorcycles, or Netflix subscriptions.
If you’re a fan of Pavlovitz, go back and tell him that Jesus didn’t say you can relentlessly attack God’s children on your blog.
Evil has a name and it is John Pavlovitz.
He told you to love your enemies.
That is what he said clearly.
Yeah, John. That’s what he said.
Guess what?
You can do that while owning a gun!
You can glory in your amassed arsenal.
You can do nothing while thousands of people die every year in America.
And you can glory in the applause of your amassed readership.
You can do nothing while thousands of people die every year in America.
And that’s okay.
If you’re not actively shooting innocent people, then you’re okay in my book.
Jesus would approve too!
But you’re not content with that, are ya Johnnie Cakes?
You butter your bread by vilifying decent, law-abiding, Christian gun owners.
Remember when you preached about Jesus telling us to love our enemies.
That applies to YOU too.
20 Responses
“Jesus didn’t say you can have refrigerators, lamps, motorcycles, or Netflix subscriptions.”
Now, I have to get rid of my Netflix subscription, too? Darn. At least I can still drink wine with prostitutes and IRS agents. 🙂
…. I hate to break this to you….
Perhaps some of this really smart group could help me. None of the screaming athesists have been able to. The cry for Christians to quit “Imposing Christian morality” on secular law is never ending. Let a Christian say his opinion is “religiously” based, and we are told to shut up. You know, on things like abortion and such. Yet, all of the sudden we are being taken to task for not doing the “Christian” thing and attempting to impose THAT supposed religious value on society.
Furthermore, nobody actually seems too concerned about the rampant killing of unborn children…..yet…well you get the point.
Just my two cents.
That’s a pretty good point.
In fact, it might be kind of fun to scroll back to the last article Pavlovitz wrote about loving women who choose abortion, and change all the times he said “abortion” to “gun ownership.”
Might be a decent blog post then! Lol.
Now THAT was a good point! I may do it just for fun.
Contradiction is the only reliable aspect of secularity, Wally. It’s just a big old fashioned case of take what you like from Christianity and leave the rest.
Well you are, of course, correct with that answer Jasmine. I suppose me expecting anybody from that camp to admit that is a useless dream. Ugh.
Jesus actually DID instruct the disciples to buy swords at one point…
Just saying.
Pavlovitz paraphrased the Gethsemane incident where Peter cut off the centurion’s ear. That was to serve as Jesus official stance on guns. When you don’t actually quote scripture, your theology is very flexible.
Luke 22:36
“He said to them, ‘But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'”
(And then, I believe they said something like, “We’ve already got a sword here, Jesus.” And he said “Okay, cool, that will work.”)
It’s weird… I wonder what the Pacifist Hippie Jesus wanted them to do with that?
He probably just wanted them to be carrying it so they could turn it in when Rome called for a weapons ban. The Roman Government was always working hard to protect their kids from school stabbings.
Maybe he wanted them to tape a cardboard sign to the end of it so they could picket. (The sign would say, “somebody should do SOMETHING.”)
I’m curious to find what you think Jesus wanted them to do with it. It does seem that Peter had the wrong idea at the time when he utilized it. But then again, I guess defending the Son of God with a sword isn’t as important as self-defense. ; P
I think Peter was wrong only because he didn’t understand that Jesus was SUPPOSED to die. He didn’t need to be rescued and certainly not by humans. Jesus’ death was if supreme importance, and Peter missed that memo.
But when Jesus rose again and told the disciples to arm themselves, suddenly there was a new priority. The Gospel needed to be spread. (It was of supreme importance.) I think Jesus intended for the messengers to keep themselves alive, if necessary.
Before, Peter was trying to keep alive someone who needed to die. But after the resurrection, self-defense became appropriate.
I don’t recall the disciples getting into any skirmishes in their travels. Perhaps the sword was symbolic. Jesus was telling them to prepare for conflict.
I don’t think that’s possible. He always spoke so plainly…
I tend to read Jesus’ command as having to do with the immediate impending arrest and crucifixion – not post-resurrection. Just kind of given the context of the passage there, what with Jesus being numbered with transgressors and all.
But yeah, I mean the 11 must’ve taken the self-defense for sake of the gospel seriously. Good thing none of them were killed. >_>… ^_^
That’s how they scaled their fish…. or you know, whatever “context” you want to put around it these days 😉
“If you’re a fan of Pavlovitz….”
Ha! I’ll bite my tongue but that sentence right there is a punchline.
No guns when Jesus and the disciples walked about, but there were swords and even a few passages that suggest perhaps there should be swords. Jesus is all about love and forgiving your enemies, but I don’t think He is a pacifist. That’s a tough issue for us to wrap our brains and heart around, God as infinite mercy and yet God as justice, too.
My issue is his self-righteous condemnation of church people for their stance on gun ownership. He completely omits the name of the shooter. To read his article, you’d get the idea that the Florida school was invaded by an Evangelical gun club.