When the NRA convention
was in Charlotte in 2000, I had an op-ed in The
Charlotte Observer that asked “Would Jesus join the NRA?” I did not answer the question – but as you
can imagine, I got hammered with intense criticism; threats were made on my
family and on me. For Christians, I
still contend, it’s a pretty important question. How do we think theologically about
guns? What are God’s feelings about
guns?
Guns loom large in politics in America, with
an intensity of feeling rivaling that of questions of who should be able to
marry. There’s something beyond
rationality for most in this discussion – that isn’t really a discussion at
all. We shout past one another, or
mutter as we turn away from one another.
As we’ve seen earlier in our series, most of the talk is about “rights,”
which isn’t a biblical category at all, and only adds to the shrillness in the
political arena.
I cannot begin to prescribe what would be
the right legislation or party or candidate on this thorny issue. But there are a couple of questions I do know
the answer to. One is “What would Jesus
do if he were watching TV, and people started shooting at other people?” Jesus would shudder, and then turn off the TV. To me, it is entirely clear that a reason we
have so many shootings, and so much violence, is because we absorb so much of
it over a lifetime. Seeing shooting doesn’t
make me shoot someone, but when shooting is normalized over the general
population, we need not be surprised when someone on the edge loses it and
starts firing, and no one knows how to settle a conflict except by force.
The second is this: Would Jesus shoot
someone? I would say No.
If I’m right, this doesn’t settle what public policy should be on guns,
as security in a fallen world seems to require the certain even if regrettable
deployment of weapons. But the Christian
is rightly moved and humbled by Jesus’ determination to love his enemies, to
turn the other cheek, which wasn’t just talk for him but reality. When he was being arrested, he didn’t fight
back; and when his disciples drew weapons to defend him, he said “Put away your
swords.”
Mind you, Jesus was and is our savior, which
involved his suffering; we can’t be saviors.
But can there be a holy, humble way of talking about gun rights? It was here in Charlotte that Charlton Heston
reinvigorated that stern slogan, “I’ll give you my gun when you pry it from my
cold, dead hands.” What got pried from
Jesus’ cold, dead hands were nails, driven through the hands that healed and
touched the people everybody else was afraid of. Could we at least learn to
talk peaceably, and listen charitably on this subject – and to do so in a
Christlike manner?
One of the loveliest men I’ve ever known
gave me a gun and took me hunting when I was a young pastor. He was humble, careful and respectful of guns
and people, and wanted no part of adamant, shrill campaigns for guns. He favored rational changes in gun
legislation, and never fretted for one moment any politician would take his
hunting rifles away from him.
I wonder what Jesus might say about
compromise on gun issues. Interestingly,
I have a friend who says No compromise
ever on guns – but then he is a pro-life advocate who is upset that America
is the lone nation with abortion on demand, and we can’t seem to garner support
for compromise legislation to limit certain kinds of abortions. We complain about gridlock in Washington, but
then we have our own as people. Could it
be God would be pleased by a bit of give and take on gun laws, and on abortion
laws, and on the rest of what politicians and people try to resolve, so we
might save a few more lives, and find ways to work together for a safer world
for people in cities, and those yet unborn?
