Christians, it's time for us to have a conversation about the appropriate use of physical force to defend the gathered church.
The problem, as I see it, is that too many Christians are naive about violence (this isn't necessarily a bad thing), have a type of "absolutist pacifist" misunderstanding of the teachings of Jesus, or are just plain ignorant (willingly or otherwise) about these issues, or they have a misunderstanding about how God can ordain the ends and means to any action. How to address violence, biblically speaking, is a discussion that is rarely had these days in the church because some pastors consider it a (1) distraction away from the teaching of the Scriptures, (2) addressing it from Scripture on a Sunday morning would breed unnecessary fear, and (3) scare people off, and/or (4) promote a mentality of violence or a violent use of force in the church which they believe to be contrary to Jesus' supposed pacifism.
I am a former pastor and I addressed some of these issues from the pulpit in a sermon I gave titled "Killing Abortionists and Starting Revolutions". Essentially, I argued the following:
(1) We are commanded to avoid *vengeance* as we are forbidden to engage in vigilantism and taking matters into our own hands because the state is the only lawful, God-ordained authority to execute murderers as a form of bringing "God's wrath against the evildoer" [Romans 13:4-5]. Thus, for example, we can't just start killing abortionists because we deem their actions murderous. Only God's duly ordained authority (i.e., the civil magistrate) has the authority to execute criminals for capital offenses, not an individual acting in a vigilante fashion.
(2) Regarding self-defense, a misunderstanding of primarily Matthew 5:39's "resist not an evildoer" has caused much confusion among various branches of the evangelical churches (esp. those from Anabaptist backgrounds) and has been used to promote absolute pacifism. I argue that in the context of 2nd Temple Judaism, Jesus wasn't teaching pacifism when he said "resist not an evildoer", but again, was issuing a command to avoid vengeance by not returning insult for insult and "one-upping" the one that publicly shamed you through a personal insult, thus avoiding escalating the argument into a violent encounter.
(3) Generally speaking, we are to be committed to the principle of non-violence, but the New Testament allows for a *graded pacifism*; in other words, we are permitted to use physical force up to the point of lethal force when the greater good demands it (i.e., protecting our loved ones from crazed murderers who intend them lethal harm). A parallel argument could be lying to or deceiving a bad guy when the greater good demands it. We normally are prohibited from deceiving and lying, but if you lived in Nazi Germany and SS soldiers knocked on your door demanding to know if you're hiding Jews in your basement and you're actually hiding 30 of them there, the greater good would be to lie through your teeth and deny that you were housing Jews in order to protect them from harm. I then appealed to Rahab's deceiving the pagan authorities and sending them out another way to protect the Hebrew spies way as something that God clearly commended as an evidence of justifying faith [James 2:25] and the Hebrew midwives lying about saving the Hebrew babies [Exodus 1:17, 19-21].
(4) Prayer. I agree wholeheartedly that we should always be praying that God will keep us safe. Generally speaking, we must pray above all that he will keep our services peaceful for the purpose of the gospel spreading in our communities through the influence of our churches. However, perhaps God will answer that prayer through having your church employ a uniformed, armed police officer or an armed, well-trained security team and allow licensed concealed-carriers to carry into the facility. When God gave young David the ability to overcome Goliath, he didn't miraculously cause Goliath to have a heart attack, but instead, he saw fit to use David’s self-defense skills that he developed when defending his sheep (i.e. sling and a stone) to kill Goliath. God ordains the means that leads to the ends that you prayed for, namely, safety. And sometimes that involves the normal means of his providence through hiring a police officer, investing in a well-trained security team, or in you, a well-armed and sufficiently trained private citizen.
Objections:
1. "This is depending on the strength of man's abilities to defend the church instead of God through prayer."
Answer: Again, God ordains the ends and the means to the end when answering prayers. Sometimes that includes armed security, sometimes it doesn't. It's not an either/or scenario.
2. "The early church suffered greatly and they didn't resist the evildoers, but suffered persecution and grew exponentially as they followed Jesus' pacifistic teachings."
Answers: First, I'll grant you that the 2nd and 3rd century church grew very quickly through the blood of the martyrs. No argument there. However, (a) the early Christians weren't allowed to have weapons sufficient to defend themselves against their persecutors, which was the Roman war machine, and (b) I believe they were patently wrong about their interpretation and application of passages such as Matthew 5:39's "resist not an evildoer" [see linked article below].
Second, are you seriously implying that you would rather have your entire family murdered at church by a gun-wielding psycho versus having an armed security team take him out?
Thus, sometimes, the Lord ordains that lethal force be used to answer his people’s prayers of protection when evildoers won't yield to God's saving grace through the gospel.
You certainly can yield up your life in the name of persecution though you have the ability to defend yourself in such situations. I however, will gladly be praying for protection for my family, understanding that the same God who ordained the answer to my prayers sometimes also ordains that I and other armed men are the answer to my prayers.
FOOTNOTE: Jesus’ “resist not an evildoer” statement in Matthew 5:39 wasn't promoting pacifism, but attacking the notion of vengeance: http://ourrabbijesus.com/articles/jesus-view-of-pacifism/
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