December 24, 2007

Critical Comments on a Horrible Event
Here is one of the many news stories:

Colorado killings linked to same [dead] gunman
USA Today
COLORADO SPRINGS — Police searched a home in suburban Englewood early Monday, seeking any link between two deadly shooting sprees at Christian religious centers that left both communities stunned on a day of worship. Four people and a gunman died in the attacks Sunday at a megachurch here in Colorado Springs and at the Youth With a Mission missionary center in the town of Arvada. "She [the security volunteer] probably saved over 100 lives," [New Life Church leader] Boyd said. He described her as a highly trained volunteer member of the church with a law enforcement background whose role was to provide security. He said she was not wearing a uniform and is licensed to carry a gun. Boyd said the shooting was random and that the gunman had no connection to the church. He said the church has had a security plan in place for many years which includes the evacuation plan it used on Sunday.

Let’s start with the good news: one woman with a gun, a church member, a volunteer with training, saved dozens of lives.

Why? Because:

(1) the leaders of that church (yes, a denominational church) faced facts (in today's society, just as in the time of Jesus, violence (sometimes random and irrational violence) was a fact of life, and no one is immune to it),

(2) fear did not drive their decisions (especially irrational fears about some of their own members carrying weapons, or about scaring away members of their church because weapons might be present in the meetinghouse),

(3) love DID drive their actions (concern for both the spiritual AND physical well-being of their fellow members in their church and those who visited); and

(4) they believed that self-defense was scriptural. It was taught by the Lord Himself, it is clearly a principle expressed in both the Old Testament and New Testament, and it does not mean that we do not trust in the Lord to save us or protect us.

Since Colorado is an open-carry state, I assume this woman volunteer had a CCW and carried her weapon that way - concealed. But more important, she knew how to use it and she had the courage to use it. Like the Lord, she was willing to lay down her life that others might live.

Notice: there was NO ONE armed at the Arvada church: no doubt they proclaimed what too many brethren have:

(1) “it can’t happen here,”

(2) "it is too dangerous,"

(3) "it might scare off people who would otherwise come to worship," and

(4) “we trust in God, not in evil weapons.”

Each of these excuses (and many others) can be answered simply and directly. This very incident (and dozens more across the years and around the world) show that it CAN happen here: yes, even in churches of Christ and even to faithful brethren. Just as floods, tornadoes, fires, vandalism, family violence, and other bad things can happen. Weapons are no more dangerous than any other tool: we don't ban electricity in the meeting house because there is a chance of electrocution, we don't ban baptisteries in the meeting house because there is a chance of drowning (and sadly, over the years, children HAVE died from drowning in a baptistery), but too many are so fearful of "guns" that they are willing to ban them.

If people are so fearful of weapons that it will keep them from worshipping God, it is THEY who are showing no trust in the Lord, nor in their fellow Christians: and the work of the church to educate them about the real dangers they should fear is obvious. Finally, if we are to trust in the Lord in the matter of self-defense and protection from attacks, why do we NOT "trust in the Lord" when it comes to fire, flood, vandalism, and car accidents: this argument makes paying for liability and auto accident insurance a sin of lack of faith in God. If we are to trust in the Lord in all physical things (an argument that has been advanced more than once to me), why do we have heaters in church buildings: do we not trust the Lord to keep us warm and safe from storms?

There are too many churches where leaders (sadly, elders and deacons) are willing to make fun of those who DO want to carry, asking “what are YOU afraid of?” and “why are you so fearful and distrustful of God?” Perhaps these needless deaths in Arvada and Colorado Springs will make a few wake up and and understand that when brethren are willing to and do carry weapons, openly or concealed, it is about LOVE and not fear: love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, love that says, in very physical terms and not just in pious words that if Christ was willing to die for us, we should be willing to put our own lives in danger to protect our brothers and sisters in Him, the visitors to our assemblies, even our neighbors and, yes, even strangers from both physical and spiritual dangers.

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Nathan Barton is writing this from a wonderful place in the West, which might be in the Black Hills of South Dakota or Wyoming, or might be in one of the Four Corners States. Exactly where it is, the breezes blow with the scent of liberty, and the sound of the pines or the pinions is the sound of freedom. For thousands of years, people have fought and died for the liberty that Americans in the great spaces of the West enjoy, and he writes these commentaries in the hopes that continued generations will be able to do so, until the end of Time.

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