Why do so many churches advocate for gun control and gun confiscation? Doesn't the 6th Commandment tells us "thou shall not murder"? And the answer is of course, that yes, yes it does. As with everything in these commandments, if it tells you to do something, it is also telling you to NOT do the opposite. So, since it commands to not murder, it also means that you shall defend not only your own life, but the lives of your neighbor and those under your care. But, it turns out that in a stunning survey of Christian beliefs taken in 2020, we find that huge numbers of Christians don't believe in the very things that make someone a Christian, including that Jesus was God or that He issued the 10 Commandments! Lloyd Bailey and Pastor John Bennet discuss these issues at The Armed Lutheran this week. It's around 45 minutes, though it is also entertaining, so check it out when you have time.
I attended an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for a time, and got a weekly dose of left wing social issues. That would included the need to gun bans because guns murder people. Not, of course that the murderers had anything to do with it. No, the guns caused these people to be used as tools to commit murder. To me this showed a stunning lack of understanding of Luther's theology. Surely the pastor had read Luther's Small Catechism, which explains the meaning of each of the Commandments. After all, he had to teach children using the Small Catechism, right?
I have noted that guns really should not be a partisan issue. Because human nature is, if left to their own devices, to do the wrong thing, guns are needed by everyone for self defense. The need for self defense may arise as a result of a mugging, of gang violence, of foreign invasion. Everyone who bears arms hopes to never be forced to use them. But the idea is always in the back of one's mind that they day may come. This was wisdom that the Founders had, that seems to have disappeared today.
The wording of the Second Amendment to the Constitution is pretty clear that one of the reasons for including it in the Bill of Rights was foreign invasion. The Founders were, rightly in my opinion, concerned about having too large a standing army. A large standing army is expensive. Moreover, it must be kept busy doing something, and that something might not be good. Many a military officer has carried out a coup and named himself dictator for life. Better to have the whole body of men trained to arms. Of course, those men would need to bring weapons and ammunition when called up at a moments notice.
Which of course, brings us to the notion that "weapons of war do not belong on the streets of America," as has been uttered by many Democrats and probably a few Republicans as well. This notion is...how do I put this?...pure high grade hogwash. If we were following the Constitution, we would draft every young man and train him as a soldier, and send him home with the type of firearm with which he trained. There are a number of texts you can use to understand the philosophy behind the Second Amendment, but a good place to start is The Hertitage Foundations in an article by Bob Barr. It is also a long piece, but deserves your study.
That document argues against what he terms a "needs based" defense of the Second Amendment. Indeed, he is correct that the right to self defense, out of which the Second Amendment grows, is a God given right, one that no government can grant, therefore one that no government can take away. Even if the government bans guns, since it has no right to do so, we still have our rights to keep and bear arms.
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