On Guns, Government and Godliness.
I remember when I finally decided I wanted to become qualified to own a handgun. I live in Maryland. I was thus warned about the arduous process it can be to check all of the boxes required as we are one of the most gun-controlled states in the Union. I didn’t mind.
I had to pay about $150 to have a Qualified Handgun Instructor come to my house and walk me through the Firearms Safety Training Course which took the better part of two hours as he carefully and expertly explained State Firearm Law, Home Firearm Safety, and Handgun Mechanisms and Operations as required by the State of Maryland.
Upon completing this classroom instruction, we then proceeded to the nearest shooting range—about half an hour away. I spent another couple of hours being trained in the proper operation and safety of using a handgun in a live setting, being corrected when needed. Once we fired through a hundred rounds or so to the satisfaction of my instructor, we wrapped up our training and headed back to the house.
Upon arriving, he signed a Maryland State form saying that I had passed the required training and informed me that he then needed to input this information to an online system run by the Maryland State Police (MSP) saying, again, that he did in fact instruct me. Once this was done, days later, I could then continue my journey through the process.
Truth be told, it wasn’t until many months later that I pursued the next step just because of the timing and fees that I didn’t prioritize at the time. Once I took up the initiative again, I went online to establish an account with the MSP and paid a $50 fee.
The next step required was a fingerprint-based background check. It didn’t matter that, as a federal employee, I had completed a ten-page background check already which even included identifying all of my immediate family members and their personal information. Alas, the federal background checks don’t talk to the state background checks. It is what it is; no big deal.
Come to find out, the MSP provides fingerprinting services and thankfully they were right down the street from where I live. Unfortunately, they only offer this service on Monday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. And the fee is another $50. Well, as you can imagine, it’s easy to either forget it’s only on Mondays, or to simply be unavailable on that one day during that two-hour bracket, so needless to say, it took me about a month to finally make it in.
Once this was submitted, I was officially done—on my end. Now the wait began for that letter in the mail from the MSP that issued me my Handgun Qualification License (HQL), which I did in fact receive about a month later if memory serves me correctly.
Now I can purchase a handgun.
That said, keep in mind that the Maryland HQL does not allow me to carry a handgun—only purchase one. Any type of carrying permit is nearly impossible in Maryland unless you’re someone who is constantly transporting large amounts of cash for a business, or driving an armored truck. Additionally, as an HQL holder I am still required to make sure that even in transportation I do not have a handgun that is loaded. In fact, the handgun has to be physically separated from the ammunition by another compartment (e.g. the gun is in the trunk and the ammunition is on the floor of the backseat). There are rules every step of the way and my mere possession of an HQL hardly gives me any freedom to do as I wish with a handgun.
Trust me, “gun control” is alive and well in Maryland—and I am okay with that. I did not feel that what I went through was extreme, though at times it was inconvenient. Ultimately, there needs to be order when so much evil abounds in a society. The extent to which "gun control" needs to go is subjective and requires careful discernment. Not every weapon or gun created is on the free market as it is. I have yet to see anyone clamoring for the right to own grenade launchers. Limits and guidelines for qualifications and purchases are established as it is. I have yet to see anyone clamoring for the right of convicted felons to continue purchasing weapons (hopefully no one proves me wrong on this).
For some, AR-15's are concerning. For other's, they may not raise their eyebrows until grenade launchers hit the market—I would certainly be one of them! Obviously, there is a point where the line must be drawn. What must American citizens have access to? Everyone must ask themselves: What is the most reasonable approach to overall national security?
The point is this: There already is a level of gun control in every state, so arguing for it or against it is a moot point in some respects. How far we take it, however, is a very valid conversation to be having. Wherever the government settles on this issue, however, is one we can certainly try to influence, but at the end of the day, I am a man under authority.
God has commanded me to obey the governing authorities and I am all too happy to do that because it contributes to an orderly society, which creates a safe society—something we all want.
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” –Romans 13:1
The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the Romans who were then under an oppressive government that persecuted the Christian faith. He himself was personally abused by the Romans even as a Roman citizen (Acts 16)! Yet, here he says in no unclear terms that their existence and authority is instituted by God.
While their conduct may not be right in the eyes of God at every turn, the existence of their rule was sovereignly orchestrated by God Himself, thus to rebel against that order was to rebel against God. Only in matters where a government would attempt to force someone to deny God, or to sin against God, would one be forced to say with all the respect they could muster, “We must obey God rather than men” as Peter and the apostles had to say (Acts 5:29). The principle here is obvious: God is the highest authority and governments should rule accordingly. When they do not, then the people certainly suffer, but rebellious anarchy is never justified.
It cannot be missed that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, warning of the abomination of desolation, was essentially warning of future oppressive governments that would severely persecute Christians. His answer was not to fight back with your rights to weaponry, but this: “Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter” (Matt 24:19–20). This is flight—not fight.
“My kingdom,” the Lord Jesus said, “is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting” (Jn 18:36).
“The weapons of our warfare,” the Apostle Paul explains, “are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ” (2 Cor 10:4–5).
In other words, our “weapon” is the Word of God (Eph 6:17), which cuts to the heart. When this weapon is wielded with love, patience and gentleness (2 Tim 2:24–25), then it will cut to the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb 4:12) and drive a convicted sinner to their knees in repentance and faith. This is why the apostles spend so much time exhorting the church in letter after letter to teach what accords with sound doctrine (1 Tim 6:3; Tit 1:9, 2:1).
The fruit of the Holy Spirit of God that will result from His presence in believers will be palpable to the wicked world around them. Thus, Peter exhorts us to be holy as God is holy, “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame (1 Pet 3:15–16) (emphasis mine).
When those who call themselves Christian stray from pursuing sound doctrine that accords with godliness and instead take up a pragmatic, political position that reeks more of rebellion and narcissism, then they bear the brunt of Paul’s indictment: “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you” (Rom 2:24).
The application, here, is that no Christian should be willing to actually engage in a bloody fight for their rights to guns. I have heard the sentiments from professing Christians who have espoused their belief in turning their house into a bunker, if it came down to it, in order to fight for their Constitutional right to bear arms. This is antithetical to Scripture.
Our authority at the end of the day is Christ, not the Constitution.
Our only avenue for avoiding that situation is to take as much advantage as we can in the legislative processes and voting processes that have been afforded us by the government that has been instituted by God. This is such an incredible blessing in the world! The oppressive governments that the apostles lived in still exist in various forms around the world today. There are Christians in Communist countries and closed countries trying to survive Bible studies in the middle of the night in the middle of the woods. It would be wrong for them to rise up in arms and attack their leaders simply because their kingdom is ultimately not of this world.
There is another aspect to this, though, that cannot go unheeded. In complying with the laws of the land we understand that not everyone does, hence the need for justice that punishes the evil doer.
Continuing in Romans 13: “Whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection” (Rom 13:2–5).
“The sword” is the government’s rightful tool for executing justice. This gets back to what their responsibility is—to keep citizens safe. Where there is no justice, there is no peace. They go hand in hand.
Isaiah prophesied of Christ’s kingdom: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (9:7) (emphasis mine). This government—this divine monarchy—will only be perfectly realized at the creation of the New Heaven and New Earth, yet the concept is clear.
With that said, for some to major on the rules of society while minoring on justice in society, they unwittingly strike blows at one of the very pillars of peace in a society. It is not "either/or," but "both/and."
If the Bible makes anything clear from beginning to end, it is that “evil people . . . will go on from bad to worse” (2 Tim 3:13).
Sadly, there is a spreading belief that morality can be legislated. Make no mistake, laws must be established, but it does not cure evil, it only exposes it. The only way to help keep evil at bay is to execute justice on the evil doer, just as Paul said above. If a government continues to increase its laws on one end without ensuring justice is served on the other end, then they are self-defeated. The government should not bear the sword in vain, which is an obvious recognition of the just nature of capital punishment.
When Peter resisted the government's attempt to arrest Jesus, Jesus rebuked him, saying, “All who live by the sword will die by the sword” (Matt 26:52). Peter's actions did not qualify as self-defense. An arrest, as wrong as it was in Jesus' case, did not justify violence. Even though Jesus had said to them earlier, "let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one," presumably for self-defense, it was never meant to assault anyone (Lk 22:36). In fact, when the disciples said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." Jesus replied, "It is enough," (vs. 38) which suggests there is no practical need for any more than what we need for basic self-defense.
God told Noah, “For your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (Gen 9:5–6).
Justice is served when the perpetrator is executed. Justice is not served when the perpetrator gets admonished and more laws are established in the hopes that they follow the added amount of laws next time. In order to contribute to a peaceful union, both laws and justice must prevail.
Recently, in Washington D.C., gun control activists laid down 7,000 pairs of shoes on the U.S. Capitol lawn to commemorate those killed in schools, post-Sandy Hook Elementary. It is indeed a heart-wrenching and sobering reminder of sin's presence in the world. Some have lamented about how many shoes would be there if it were to represent all of the children killed in the abortion industry. Since Roe V. Wade in 1973, there are estimates now exceeding 60 million abortions! Friends, you would not be able to see the U.S. Capitol were all of the shoes there to represent them. This should, as all wrongful deaths should, leave us with groanings too deep for words.
To the shame of some professing Christians, however, some have responded with comments tantamount to: “whether we like it or not, abortion is legal, so we can’t be upset about that. School killings, though, are illegal, so we should be upset about that—and make more gun laws.”
This is a tragic display of unrighteousness thinking, overconfidence in one’s own mind and a gross misunderstanding of the holiness and righteousness of God. To make light of the murderous, government-sponsored abortion industry simply because it is legal is to take a stand of defiance before the living God who created all men and women in His image as well as to confound the principles of law and order in His eyes. There will be a reckoning one day for every drop of blood that was spilled in the abortion industry as well as in every school shooting. No matter the level of acceptance that any given government may allow, murder will always be an abominable affront to Him.
To argue, as some have above, that legalizing contexts for murder makes murder acceptable would logically allow for an argument that says we simply make school zones a legal place to assault people. This way, whether we like it or not, no laws are broken. Of course, this would be absurd. Arguing from man-made laws as an end to justice in itself misses the point of the higher authority that all laws should be reflective of—the Word of God. All murder is evil and thus, the murderous perpetrator should be put to death.
Abortion should be considered just as wrong as any other murder because that is exactly what it is. In fact, in the Israelite's day, if a pregnant woman was abused, causing the premature birth of the child, then there were severe punishments. If the child died, the life of the killer was required, "life for life" (Ex 21:22–23).
Again, this is not about legislating morality. It is about defining the laws which one will be punished by should someone break them. Since God is the ultimate standard for justice, any nation would do well to emulate the spirit of His law. Yet, since we live in the tension of an unrighteous world with unrighteous governments ruling over unrighteous people, we can expect a lapse in justice due to an unwillingness to acknowledge Him. The snowball only picks up speed as unrighteousness is not only ignored in a society, but applauded and legalized.
“Woe to those,” Isaiah the prophet pronounced, “who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (5:20).
The Apostle Paul said “since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them (Rom 1:28–32) (emphasis mine).
Sadly, this is seen in our world of politics today.
Paul, however, gives us the most amazing picture of the Gospel in this excerpt from 1 Corinthians: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (6:9–11) (emphasis mine).
It is no wonder that Paul declared he was “not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom 1:16). This gives hope to all sinners for full forgiveness when they seek it in humble repentance.
When we are not actively engaged in evangelization, or ministerial work, let us simply, as Paul encouraged, "aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one" (1 Thess 4:11–12).
Finally, we must be careful not to place our own arbitrary passions above the all-wise counsel of the Word of God by slamming one another with rhetoric that pushes for more gun control, less control, or anything else in between. Belittling valid concerns is not the type of attitude God has called us to in Christ.
Are there leaders with hidden agendas? I don't doubt it. However, while we try to influence national politics in our democratic system, let's not dismiss any and all concerns from friends and family about the levels of gun control as illegitimate. Obviously, since controls are already in place and there is violence that exists, then real conversations about reasonable controls and a reasonable understanding of the sinful nature of mankind is in order. While the Bible gives us the answers for the problem of sin and the redemption of sin through Christ, the gun control debate has not a single weight of influence on the kingdom of God.
It is true that without sin we would need no form of self-defense, thus we would need no control of that self-defense mechanism. But sin is a reality that inflicts every one of us from the inside out and only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change those sinful desires—something that no amount of laws will accomplish.
Let us "love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor" (Rom 12:10). Most of all, we need to endeavor to glorify our God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ in word and in deed.
In Christ Alone,
