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Monday, November 26, 2001
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Bible and self-defense By Joseph Farah -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2001 WorldNetDaily.com After my plea to Americans last week to buy
firearms as a first step to fighting terrorism, a number of Christians wrote
challenging my prescription as unbiblical, unscriptural and ungodly.
Wrong.
The Bible couldn't be clearer on the right – even
the duty – we have as believers to self-defense.
Let's start in the Old Testament.
"If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten
that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him," we are told in Exodus 22:2.
The next verse says, "If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed
for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall
be sold for his theft."
In other words, it was perfectly OK to kill a thief
breaking into your house. That's the ultimate expression of self-defense. It
doesn't matter whether the thief is threatening your life or not. You have the
right to protect your home, your family and your property, the Bible says.
The Israelites were expected to have their own
personal weapons. Every man would be summoned to arms when the nation confronted
an enemy. They didn't send in the Marines. The people defended themselves.
In 1 Samuel 25:13, we read: "And David said unto
his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword;
and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four
hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff."
Every man had a sword and every man picked it up
when it was required.
Judges 5:8 reminds us of what happens to a foolish
nation that chooses to disarm: "They chose new gods; then was war in the gates:
was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?"
The answer to the rhetorical question is clear: No.
The people had rebelled against God and put away their weapons of self-defense.
"Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my
hands to war, and my fingers to fight," David writes in Psalms 144:1.
Clearly, this is not a pacifist God we serve. It's
God who teaches our hands to war and our fingers to fight. Over and over again
throughout the Old Testament, His people are commanded to fight with the best
weapons available to them at that time.
And what were those weapons? Swords.
They didn't have firearms, but they had sidearms.
In fact, in the New Testament, Jesus commanded His disciples to buy them and
strap them on. Don't believe me? Check it out.
Luke 22:36: "Then said he unto them, But now, he
that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no
sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one."
I know. I know. You biblically literate skeptics
are going to cite Matthew 26:52-54 – how Jesus responded when Peter used his
sword to cut off the ear of a Roman guard: "Then said Jesus unto him, Put up
again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish
with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall
presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the
scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?"
Read those verses in context and they support my
position. Jesus told Peter he would be committing suicide to choose a fight in
this situation – as well as undermining God's plan to allow Jesus' death on the
cross and resurrection.
Jesus told Peter to put his sword in its place – at
his side. He didn't say throw it away. After all, He had just ordered the
disciples to arm themselves. The reason for the arms was obviously to protect
the lives of the disciples, not the life of the Son of God. What Jesus was
saying was: "Peter, this is not the right time for a fight."
In the context of America's current battle – as we
make plans to rebuild after the devastation of Sept. 11 and defend ourselves at
the same time – we should recall Nehemiah, who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem.
"They which builded on the wall, and they that bare
burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the
work, and with the other hand held a weapon," we're told in Nehemiah 4:17-18.
"For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded."
Any more questions, skeptics?
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