The Gospel and Guns

This post isn't my normal fare, but I need to write some things down on this subject.  Forgive me for posting so glaringly off-topic.

Since Newtown I've had guns on my mind and on my heart.  I've shaken my head in disgust at the NRA and followed the Brady Campaign on Twitter (@bradybuzz). I've started Facebook fights and prayed about it.  I genuinely think less of one of my former Facebook friends because of his opinion, as wrong as that is.  Nobody is going to change their mind, unfortunately, and that's sad.  

I'm not going to write anything about policy in this post.  I won't write about background checks or assault weapons bans or high capacity magazines.  That conversation is going on all around the country.  

I want to talk about the Gospel.


Specifically, I want to ask my Christian friends a question: Do guns fit in the Gospel?

It's a question that I tried to ask on Facebook shortly after Newtown, but the thread quickly turned into a policy debate.

There's an almost unbreakable link between American Christianity and American Conservatism.  The broader ramifications of that are a subject for another time, but the link extends to gun rights, naturally.  The modern Evangelical Christian is likely to be a Republican, and therefore likely to be pro-firearm rights.  There's an archetype of the gun-totin', church-goin' Southerner that pervades our culture, especially in Texas.  

There's several historical reasons for that, like cowboys, pioneers, and the Revolution, among others that lend themselves to this narrative.  After all, Americans had the advantage and necessity of guns when we expanded deeper into our land.  The inherent mistrust of government in the American mythos lends itself very handily to self-armament. And, of course, there's that little Amendment everyone keeps talking about.

The point is Americans love guns.  But should Christians?

I say, no, we shouldn't. We should absolutely hate guns.  

Here's why.  Guns, distinct from other modern inventions, are manufactured with the sole purpose of killing another human being.  They were invented to give each soldier their own personal cannon.  They were invented to give a competitive killing advantage in warfare. To me that's indisputable. At the very least they are meant to cause intense pain and bodily injury, although usually that's from being a poor shot. 

Christians should absolutely stand against anything that takes human life.  It is totally and completely contrary to the Gospel of Jesus.  

To recap:  We are all sinners and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). The cost of our sins is death and separation from God (Romans 6:23).  Jesus came, lived a perfect life, and died a sacrificial death for us, taking on all of our sins, past, present, and future, so that we would no longer be separated from God (2 Cor. 5:21). He was then resurrected, defeating death in the process for all who believe in him (John 11:25, Eph 2:4-5....pretty much the whole New Testament!).  

The power of the Gospel is Jesus' total defeat of death! The power of the Gospel is life! So why does the Christian culture in America stand so firmly on the side of instruments whose only purpose is causing death? We've been set free from death! 

The truth that many Christians in the pro-gun crowd don't realize or don't want to know or choose to forget is this: If making it more inconvenient for you to buy guns prevents a shooting, its worth it. If infringing on your rights saves one human life, it's worth it. If taking away your right to bear arms advances the Gospel to people who would otherwise be shot dead, it's worth it. Remember that the Christians before us have sacrificed far greater for the sake of the Gospel.  

We are Christians first, then Americans.  We are blessed to live in a country where we enjoy tremendous freedom to practice and preach our beliefs without fear of persecution or death. But a lot of people are dying because of guns. Shouldn't Christians be at the head of the charge to prevent earthly death, so that the Gospel of spiritual life can be preached? 

Yes. Because it's worth it.