I understand he uses people in the Old Testament and the New Testament but there is a part this guy is ignoring that my Pastor brings up.
"In many areas the biblical text is limited so we must be careful to not take the text out of context or in making these topics more important than the Gospel.
Also, as you read know there are three levels of narratives in the Bible. Gordon Fee breaks them down this way:
• In the metanarrative of the Bible God is the protagonist, satan and evil people are the antagonists (the bringers of tension to the story) and there are others, agonists, who get involved in the struggle. This is the story of creation, the fall of man, the power of sin and the need for redemption. That Jesus is incarnate and was sacrificed to redeem mankind.
• 2nd level is God’s redeeming a people for His name. This comes in two covenants, the old one, The Law and the New Covenant in Christ. In the Old a man (Abram), then a nation is made to take the first level to the world. Out of that failure the 2ndcovenant is made, fulfilling the first.
• The 1st level is all the individual narratives we find. Each of these has to be read to find an understanding of how they fit into the meta and 2nd level story lines.
I don’t see any of the disciples using any acts of violence in the New Testament besides the Slave/servant of High Priest vs Peter."
My Pastor addresses it by all the following:
"First and foremost, the epistles which have the guidelines for our conduct as believers have NO guidance for possessing a weapon. The Gospels, do have examples of the apostles, who owned weapons. On the night Jesus was betrayed, He asked His followers to bring swords. In Luke 22:36 the disciples are told to sell a garment in order to obtain a dagger. When they told Jesus they had two Jesus said that was enough (Luke 22:37-39). As Jesus was being arrested, Peter sliced off the ear of one of the servants of the high priest (John 18:10). Jesus healed the man instantly (Luke 22:51) and commanded Peter to put away his weapon (John 18:11). Peter’s ownership of a sword was not condemned, only his particular use of it. In this instance, know Jesus was acting to fulfill prophecy and not giving a conceal carry or weapons use lesson. We must remember these are verses shaping a narrative, not one in which we should necessarily obtain doctrine from.
Also in the Gospels, soldiers came to be baptized by John the Baptist. When asked what to do to live for God, John told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages” (Luke 3:14). John stopped short of telling them to lay down their weapons. Again, a narrative story inside of the larger narrative of the Bible (see lesson one the three levels).
In the Palms David praised God “who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle” (Psalm 144:1). The Old Testament contains many other examples of godly men who owned and used weapons;however, this was usually in the context of warfare, but not in all cases. At the time Solomon took over the kingdom he had people executed for crimes committed in their lives, Joab, Adonijah and Shimei."
So these examples in their context does not give us a blanket justification of the mindset that conceal carry gives us today. The closest thing we have in the Epistles in 1 Thessalonians who endured heavy persecution, at the end of the letter Paul states: “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need. But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
1 Thessalonians 4:9-18 NASB1995
Paul is essentially saying keep up the work in faith, despite the persecution, those who have been persecuted will be with the Lord when He comes.
so this idea well if you let a criminal kill your family that means blood is on your hands- has to be a very careful statement when it comes to the faith.
