One of the primary tenets of American conservatism is the right to bear arms. Historically, it has served as a hedge against the influx of a tyrannical government that would otherwise turn our nation into a police state similar to most European nations and Australia where its citizens are enslaved to the political elite class.
But the right to bear arms doesn’t just serve to protect a nation against government—bearing arms is a biblical commandment that applies to all believers who are to obey God and protect themselves and their families against attacks (Luke 22:36, Luke 11:21, Exodus 22:2-3, 1 Timothy 5:8).
Yet, the progressive Evangelicals have been slowly attempting to manipulate the Church into accepting gun control as a noble and necessary objective. The Gospel Coalition, which has pretty much abandoned the gospel altogether in favor of social justice, has been pushing this objective in recent days.
In a recent “debate” published by TGC, Andrew Wilson argues that “gun violence is a massive and tragic problem which afflicts America far more than comparable nations and disadvantaged Americans significantly worse than anybody else” and that it is a “grievous injustice.” What Wilson fails to acknowledge, however, is that the gun violence affecting disadvantaged Americans significantly worse than others is actually a result of gun control.
Look at Chicago; there is no other large city in the nation with more gun control than Chicago. Yet, Chicago’s murder rate ranks in the top ten most violent cities per capita in the nation. In fact, all of the cities that made the top 20 list are Democrat-controlled cities with strict gun control laws. The reason the disadvantaged are affected by gun violence is that only criminals obey gun control laws—the peasants in these disadvantaged towns then become victims to these absurd leftist dictates.
As JD Hall wrote in an article a few years ago responding to similar arguments by John Piper, “Vengeance is expo facto while self-defense is in the moment. No one in their right mind would accuse someone who was stopping a rapist in the act, dead in his tracks, of enacting vengeance. No, he was stopping a crime in progress. That is more than just the job of the magistrate. That’s what anyone who truly loves their neighbor would do. If one would not stop a rape-in-progress using deadly force (if necessary), they do not love their neighbor as their own self.”
Wilson goes on to argue a bunch of leftist talking points against the right to bear arms, but, of course, none of his rhetoric is new. It’s all been debunked by rational thinking and logical reasoning. But to even suggest that there is a debate to be had, as The Gospel Coalition is doing, is to cede our morality and polity to unbiblical thinking. There is no biblical reason to support gun control.
This is nothing more than an excuse to advance progressivism and liberalism in the Church.
