Question:

On the topic of owning a gun for the express purpose of using it to defend oneself or others has arisen; even with a willingness to kill if deemed necessary. I witnessed your adherence to the truth contained in the Word of God through your teaching and your passion to apply it, without bias, to your own life. (I have read your book about Daniel and am halfway through Is There A God?) Even though it is unrelated to the topics I I have enjoyed in your books, I would be honored if you would email me your Biblical perspective on the topic. Thanks in advance for any insight or direction you can impart.

Answer:

This is a grey area, and I hesitate to launch into it. Personally, I would go back to the simple WWJD. What would Jesus do? It is really hard to imagine Jesus purchasing a gun and packing it as he walked along in his ministry to defend himself against his enemies. Using a gun to obtain food by hunting raises no significant issues for a Christian as far as I understand, but carrying one around for the specific purpose of killing another person is problematic for me. Jesus said that if a person strikes you on one cheek, you should give him the other as well. Based on this, I, personally, would never keep a gun with the intention of possibly using it to kill another person.

Like I said, this is a grey area, and I understand that some of the most sincere followers will disagree with me on this. They say, for example, that if a rapist were to go after their wife, they would not hesitate to shoot to kill. Some would even justify killing to defend their personal property. Well, I guess I will simply have to disagree with this interpretation. I could certainly see pushing the person away or restraining him, but to use lethal force does not seem Christian to me. The Bible does say that the governing authority does not bear arms in vain. In a fallen world, with violence a part of our societies, we do need something like a police force to defend the peace and to prevent the violent from taking advantage of honest people. It is possible for us to find ourselves in a situation which is, for practical reasons, beyond the help of the law. This is one reason I hesitate to make absolute statements on this question. I am generally thankful for the police in my community, but I would not advise a Christian to choose this as their occupation.  The potential for a believer to be put in a difficult situation is just too high, in my opinion.

Ideas about this are personal, and we should assume that Christians will not agree on the question of using violence to defend our possessions and our physical safety, but since you asked, I will express my opinion, but leave it to you to decide how you feel about this topic.

John Oakes