Last week I got a call from the NRA. Before the Charlton Heston clone could start his spiel about the importance of gun ownership I told him, "The NRA doesn't want to be calling me." I told him if I had my way there would be no private ownership of hand guns. He asked what I would do if someone broke into my house and I told him I would call the police. "You mean if you had a gun you wouldn't use it to protect yourself?" he asked. I told him I might shoot the intruder in the kneecap but that if I shot and killed him I would be guilty of murder. "I have a son fighting in Iraq and I don't want to think he can't come home and protect himself" he went on. I don't see the connection and I told him I don't think Christians should serve in the military anyway.

The second amendment addresses the issue of state militias, not private ownership of guns. Militias were important to the people when the Constitution was written but law enforcement and the threat from foreign nations has changed in the last 200 years.

Christians get too attached to this life and some are willing to go against the word of God to preserve it. Paul said to die is gain. It is better to be killed and go heaven than to committ murder just so we can spend a few more years on this earth. Did Jesus pull out an Uzi when the soldiers came for him? Did he tell Peter "Cut a few more ears off so I get away?"

Should Christians own guns? If you are a hunter and eat what you kill or if you are a farmer and need a rifle to kill foxes getting into the chicken coop get a gun. If you are a private citizen and want a hand gun to protect yourself, get deadlocks for your doors, keep the number for the police station handy and live so that if today is your last day on earth you can meet your maker with a clean conscious. But don't buy a gun.

Interesting passage that may give insight...

"If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account."  Exodus 22:2

Nehemiah also called the people working on the wall to self-defense (Nehemiah 4)...

"15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us and that God had frustrated their plan, we all returned to the wall, each to his work. 16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail. And the leaders stood behind the whole house of Judah, 17 who were building on the wall. Those who carried burdens were loaded in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and held his weapon with the other. 18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me. 19 And I said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another. 20 In the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

21 So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from the break of dawn until the stars came out. 22 I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night within Jerusalem, that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.” 23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes; each kept his weapon at his right hand."

You still don't understand our culture at all.  Here, if more law abiding folks have guns, there is less crime.  If respect is taught for guns, things are fine.  My dad's .30-06 rifle was always just setting inside their closet.  His ammunition was in the sock drawer.  I knew not to touch it.  I went out with my dad to shoot at some deer at a very young age.  When I was 5 or 6 I had a pellet gun.

God said, "Thou shalt not murder."  There is a difference, or he would not have commanded capital punishment in the LoM.

The OT "Thou shalt not kill" is sometimes translated "Do not murder" and then a discussion ensues about the meaning of "murder.'

People like to use OT scripture to support warfare, executions and packing heat. We are not Jews and we are not under OT law. In OT times it was the nation of Israel against every one else. God spoke to the prophets who passed on his commands. Now we are to follow the teachings of Jesus, the Prince of Peace. All nations can come to Christ. God doesn't deliver a message to a prophet to go kill all the Canadians or all the North Koreans. We are to turn the other cheek, pray for those who abuse us and look forward to the time we will be in heaven. There is no place in all of this for shooting people who transgress earthly law. We do as we have been taught in scripture and the bad guys will get what's coming to them in judgment.

We are under the New Law,.....But that does not dismiss the Old Law....It is there for a reason.
The New Law is applied yes, but the new Laws do not break any of the Old Laws
For example:  The Old Law says "An Eye for an eye"  The New law says turn the other Cheek"
By turning the other cheek we have not broken the Old Law...Only added an amendment..

The Old Law still Applies