Rev. Brian M. Abshire
The increasing paganization of America has led to an epidemic of violence as rebellious men act consistently with their godless natures. Our legal system, once based on Biblical principles has now become thoroughly humanistic and no longer acts as a deterrent against crime. Americans are rightly fearful of becoming the victims of assault, robbery, rape and murder as the media constantly informs us of some latest horrendous tragedy befalling some poor unfortunate individual. Statistics show that the more one watches television, the more one fears being the victim of a violent crime and thus our PERCEPTION of the danger can be actually quite different from the reality of the danger. Never-the-less, the fear is real, the crimes are real and that fear influences every aspect of our lives.
In a large church in Los Angeles where I served as an intern for year, an elder mentioned at a home group meeting that one out of every ten women was raped in our community every year (and this was in a “nice” suburb). I questioned that statistic until two of the twenty women present admitted that they had been the victims of violent sexual assault in the parking lot of a nearby mall; the same mall my wife and I went to every Saturday!
The danger is there, but the proper Christian response is sometimes more difficult to discern. Should we just trust God and go about our lives as some suggest? Should we buy a gun? But if we do, are we not putting our children in danger? What about all those studies that show that having a gun in the house is MORE likely to lead to someone be murdered in that home? Can Christians lawfully resist evil with violence, even taking another person’s life if necessary to protect their own, or their families?Read More >>>
