I was listening to a talk from the last LDS General Conference. It was a great talk about forgetting yourself and loving others. It got me thinking about the gun I carry and my training with that gun. It even made me think about this website and what I write about. Am I not being a follower of Christ? Am I not relying on my Father in Heaven because I feel the need to defend myself? What about those who do this for a living, military and law enforcement? Well obviously the pros have to do what they have to do.
I was a Bishop years ago and I had a counselor who worked in intel in the Border Patrol. He was exposed to the dregs of society almost constantly. As a counselor he was having a hard time separating his job from his calling. He was looking at most people as dishonest and not very well meaning, even though it just wasn’t so. He was exposed to the worst in people, so he suspected the worst every time he dealt with people. He had to turn off his skepticism and looking for the bad because it wasn’t in the best interest of the ward or himself. To his credit he was able to do this.
When I pass someone on the street I have to make a quick judgement. Now the circumstances make all the difference. Did I just pass them on a crowded street at 1 in the afternoon with traffic and people everywhere? Or was it 2 A.M. on a dark street in a not-so-good neighborhood with no one around?
Being a protector is sometimes a difficult job for a civilian. But if I could prevent someone from getting killed when I have the tool, the training, and the mindset, how could I live with that? I don’t go looking for a fight.
Being a follower of Christ does not mean you shun violence. It means you choose violence only when you must. You don’t look for revenge but to protect. Turning the other cheek does not mean if someone were to kill your child to offer them your other child to be killed also. I don’t think that was the lesson. And if it was, then how do we account for Christ asking His apostles to sell their cloak for a sword when they were going to the garden of Gethsemane? I don’t think Christ would have us give our lives just because evil wants to take it. I think under certain circumstances we should give our lives for our beliefs as many martyrs have done. As we also learn from Christs teaching it is a great honor and it is an ultimate showing of love to lay down your life for others. To me that means we should try and defend ourselves.
God has given us plenty of wonderful freedoms, including, in the United States, the right to bear arms. But there are also plenty of biblical exhortations to give up that right when love obliges us to do so.
It’s all in your attitude. Do you train to fight or train to defend? Are you “men of blood?”
Alma 44:1-23
1 And it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew a pace from them. And Moroni said unto Zerahemnah: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do not desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you.
2 Behold, we have not come out to battle against you that we might shed your blood for power; neither do we desire to bring any one to the yoke of bondage. But this is the very cause for which ye have come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our religion.
3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.
4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.
5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us—
6 Yea, and this is not all; I command you by all the desires which ye have for life, that ye deliver up your weapons of war unto us, and we will seek not your blood, but we will spare your lives, if ye will go your way and come not again to war against us.
7 And now, if ye do not this, behold, ye are in our hands, and I will command my men that they shall fall upon you, and inflict the wounds of death in your bodies, that ye may become extinct; and then we will see who shall have power over this people; yea, we will see who shall be brought into bondage.
8 And now it came to pass that when Zerahemnah had heard these sayings he came forth and delivered up his sword and his cimeter, and his bow into the hands of Moroni, and said unto him: Behold, here are our weapons of war; we will deliver them up unto you, but we will not suffer ourselves to take an oath unto you, which we know that we shall break, and also our children; but take our weapons of war, and suffer that we may depart into the wilderness; otherwise we will retain our swords, and we will perish or conquer.
9 Behold, we are not of your faith; we do not believe that it is God that has delivered us into your hands; but we believe that it is your cunning that has preserved you from our swords. Behold, it is your breastplates and your shields that have preserved you.
10 And now when Zerahemnah had made an end of speaking these words, Moroni returned the sword and the weapons of war, which he had received, unto Zerahemnah, saying: Behold, we will end the conflict.
11 Now I cannot recall the words which I have spoken, therefore as the Lord liveth, ye shall not depart except ye depart with an oath that ye will not return again against us to war. Now as ye are in our hands we will spill your blood upon the ground, or ye shall submit to the conditions which I have proposed.
12 And now when Moroni had said these words, Zerahemnah retained his sword, and he was angry with Moroni, and he rushed forward that he might slay Moroni; but as he raised his sword, behold, one of Moroni’s soldiers smote it even to the earth, and it broke by the hilt; and he also smote Zerahemnah that he took off his scalp and it fell to the earth. And Zerahemnah withdrew from before them into the midst of his soldiers.
13 And it came to pass that the soldier who stood by, who smote off the scalp of Zerahemnah, took up the scalp from off the ground by the hair, and laid it upon the point of his sword, and stretched it forth unto them, saying unto them with a loud voice:
14 Even as this scalp has fallen to the earth, which is the scalp of your chief, so shall ye fall to the earth except ye will deliver up your weapons of war and depart with a covenant of peace.
15 Now there were many, when they heard these words and saw the scalp which was upon the sword, that were struck with fear; and many came forth and threw down their weapons of war at the feet of Moroni, and entered into a covenant of peace. And as many as entered into a covenant they suffered to depart into the wilderness.
16 Now it came to pass that Zerahemnah was exceedingly wroth, and he did stir up the remainder of his soldiers to anger, to contend more powerfully against the Nephites.
17 And now Moroni was angry, because of the stubbornness of the Lamanites; therefore he commanded his people that they should fall upon them and slay them. And it came to pass that they began to slay them; yea, and the Lamanites did contend with their swords and their might.
18 But behold, their naked skins and their bare heads were exposed to the sharp swords of the Nephites; yea, behold they were pierced and smitten, yea, and did fall exceedingly fast before the swords of the Nephites; and they began to be swept down, even as the soldier of Moroni had prophesied.
19 Now Zerahemnah, when he saw that they were all about to be destroyed, cried mightily unto Moroni, promising that he would covenant and also his people with them, if they would spare the remainder of their lives, that they never would come to war again against them.
20 And it came to pass that Moroni caused that the work of death should cease again among the people. And he took the weapons of war from the Lamanites; and after they had entered into a covenant with him of peace they were suffered to depart into the wilderness.
21 Now the number of their dead was not numbered because of the greatness of the number; yea, the number of their dead was exceedingly great, both on the Nephites and on the Lamanites.
22 And it came to pass that they did cast their dead into the waters of Sidon, and they have gone forth and are buried in the depths of the sea.
23 And the armies of the Nephites, or of Moroni, returned and came to their houses and their lands.
I apologize for the long scriptural reference. But the story is one example of good people using violence and God is good with it. Take out the anger and the greed, and the lust for power or to enslave someone, and you probably have a justification for defense. War is not good. There is not much that can come from it, but sometimes violence is needed to rid ourselves of evil influence. This is not the teaching of Christ. He taught us to love our enemies. But if your enemies only respond with violence then theoretically, evil will take out good until only evil is left. I can remember the anxiety I had when I made my first jump from an aircraft. The fear of what was to come was so much worse than the experience itself. Violence gives me the same anxiety except the urge to run is much stronger! I also don’t like that anger is tied to violence so closely. I don’t want to be a “man of blood”. I don’t want anger to be a big part of my life. But I don’t want evil to win. As followers of Christ, we can only build up the kingdom of God on earth if we are here. So I will continue to carry a weapon and train with it. I will continue to encourage others to fight evil in every way. I will continue to defend against evil and I say as did Moroni:
“…then we will see who shall have power over this people; yea, we will see who shall be brought into bondage.”
Yes, we shall see…
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn
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