US Pastor encourages his congregation to carry guns? Whaaat?

so, anyone up for completely ignoring the separation of church and state?

So much for “thou shall not kill”.

Haha, you’re surprised. Clearly you haven’t spent time in Kentucky. Ahhhhhhhhh, oh dear, it’s a crazy world we live in….

maybe they’ll use it on each other

Wooooo ALRIGHT!!! I WANNA SEE SATAN TAKE OVER NOW!!! OH YEA!!! PRAISE BE FAITH!! SEE THE POWER OF FAITH AND RELIGION PREVAILS AGAINST ALL ELSE!!

Thou shall not kill… there is a time to kill. Both from the same book, right? I guess everyone gets to interpret it however they see fit for their own purposes.

I don’t think more guns is the solution, but I also don’t think no guns is the solution, because there’s no such thing as “no guns”. People are still going to find a way to get them.

I know, I managed to get my hands on an M4 carbine.

@DominicX True. There will always be those who’ll somehow get their hands on guns. But by banning guns completely, you’ll be able to at least dramatically reduce the amount of gun-related violence around. It’s something like what’s happening in the UK right now with the government putting tighter restrictions on knife-carrying.

@Saturated_Brain

I always cite the fact that Australia has strict gun rules. They’re not banned or anything, but they’re strict about it. Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting in 13 years. Yet we seem to have those all too often in America. I posted a question with my other account about whether stricter gun laws would lower the amount of mass shootings.

Whoa! Leave it to teadrinkers to kill fun…I carry a Bowie with me everywhere I go

I live in a state where it’s legal to carry an un concealed firearm and so far, I haven’t seen any shoot outs or gun waving freak outs.

@hungryhungryhortence that’s probably because you can shoot better than most of them….

I saw that. Jesus always packed a piece. The right to bear arms and defend oneself was a big part of his ministry so what’s the big problem?

Thats becuz I’m not there.

Jesus, yup he always favored a henry repeater.

@TheWatcher This is not a chatroom for back and forth banter.

@eponymoushipster: I am working on it. Just in case.

@augustlan Really, what’s so bad about back and forth banter? On occasion? You all let the question stand as is, there’s not a whole lot to be done with it besides back and forth banter. It’s hardly even a question, is it? And if it is I’m sure the issue has been dealt with before, more than once.

Argueing and expressing opinions is a form of back and forth banter.

@lillycoyote @TheWatcher 5 posts, none of them combined into one, and only one that was actually on topic is a little excessive. Let’s get back to the topic at hand, please.

Am I supposed to be surprised by this?

I have a permit to carry a concealed pistol (I actually use a Smith and Wesson revolver, which is not, technically, a pistol) and I still think that asking a bunch of people to bring their guns to church, or any other place, for the purposes of protest is asinine. I only have the permit because I enjoy target shooting, and it is a lot easier to just get the permit for transporting my revolver than try to comply with all the rules for carrying a pistol if you don’t have a permit. I’ve never actually concealed it, and don’t have any reason to. There are good reasons and bad reasons to carry weapons… carrying weapons for the purpose of protest is among the worst reasons I’ve ever heard.

@augustlan And what exactly is the topic? Gun control? Guns as a form of worship in Christian churches? The Biblical basis for the 2nd amendment?

I see no one else complaining. Ever since I got here. You’ve had it in for me. I don’t take well to intimidation nor being ordered about, I’m on topic, sure I have smartass moments but Its not like I get waaay of topic. I’ll focus on me. And you can focus on reprimanding other newbies.

@TheWatcher – I’m with @augustlan on this one… there has been bantering all evening, and it is quite distracting. I guess that’s someone else complaining.

@TheWatcher: People have flagged your answers. @augustlan is a moderator. She’s doing her job.

[mod says] To be clear about it, TheWatcher’s posts have been flagged by several Flutherites throughout the day.

[mod says] Off-topic remarks removed.

claps oh by the way, speaking of churches there are some churches in my town where it’s required to bring a firearm. Something to do with freedom of expression, and fighting temptation.

@TheWatcher
the temptation to shoot your neighbour in church?
i wonder how long this will go without a massacre.

I don’t know, I bet 36 secs

All I know is that I wish that everyone who views the 2nd amendment with such reverence viewed the 1st amendment to be just, if not more, sacred.

? what is the first again?

Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression

Let me google that for you!

Ah of course.

@DominicX And how would you propose to enforce these stricter gun rules then? The government where I live can be said to be quite “excessive” in its rulings, and yet because of them, there’s very little crime about. Sure, perhaps a small population helps a lot too, but just because we want freedom, why should we allow people to purchase something which can be used so easily to take away another person’s freedom so violently?

it’s a touchy matter. The right to bear arms was put into the constitution for a different reason than many suspect. It was put there so if the government ever became tyrannical or attempted to take the people’s rights away, they’d have the ability to revolt and raise a well equipped army.
That said, this purpose only earned it’s keep once, the Civil War. Since then, the people by and large haven’t needed to resort to violence to change the government. So is this law needed for it’s original purpose? not now, and not in the foreseeable future. But to protect one’s home from criminals and the like? it’s a fine line that really can’t be measured.
One one hand you have instances where a gun toting house owner kept their family from being murdered, on the other there are a plethora of instances where people were murdered because of loose gun laws. To be honest, I think there should be insanely strict gun laws at all facets of the process. from manufacturing to back ground checks to selling to carrying to using. all the way done the line should be an enormous hassle and inconvenience to own a gun and extraordinarily difficult to purchase.

@ABoyNamedBoobs03 Aye. I’m with you on that one, except that I’d perhaps go a little more ‘over-the-edge’ and make it illegal to own guns except for those who really need them (eg police officers and bank vault security guards)

@ABoyNamedBoobs03
and even if the gov ever became a dictatorship, you can bet your arse that the propagandists would have made sure that the population supports the fuhrer.

@Saturated_Brain I’d be fine with that, except I think keeping a responsible, non-bat-shit-crazy portion of the populace armed in respect to the initial purpose of the right to bear arms. As unfortunate as it is to say, one can not trust one’s government. To quote, “The People should not fear their Government, the Government, should fear their People…”

@ABoyNamedBoobs03 But then that’s the problem isn’t it? If you allow a certain group (and we haven’t even got to the problem of the criteria which’ll allow someone to bear arms) of people to carry arms, then there’s always that chance that if they’re unhappy with the government for whatever reason they’ll act up. They may not even represent the will of the whole populace.

As of right now I think that the only real defence we have against stupid governments is the voting process whereby you can get rid of them. Unfortunately it can still be manipulated (just look at the hoohah going over in Iran right now)..

Plus, if I were the government, to be honest, I’d feel kinda disturbed to know that there’s a very real, violent threat to my power if they feel that I’m not doing things correctly. It’s almost like having a bat-wielding thug lurking behind you everywhere you go just to make sure that you don’t need a mistake. If I were the head of the government, I would say, “Why should this be in place? Don’t my people trust me?”

It’s quite a messy issue ain’t it?

Not all pastors are good pastors..or even good people for that matter

@Saturated_Brain I’m not saying specifically label some sort of militia, I’m saying still allow the purchasing and ownership of firearms but seal the process up and make it so you have to have an immaculet record and pass a psych screening before you’re even allowed to purchase one.

So a pastor thinks criminals shouldn’t be the only civilians allowed to own guns. What’s the problem? Religion and common sense aren’t incompatible afaik.

To answer the question Should people carry guns to keep them safe? Or should we have laws to ban guns altogether? I’m more for the latter (in my head, prevention is better than cure).

If the country would be capable of banning guns altogether I would be for that. Without guns we would be forced into sword fights, which would just be cool. The problem is that the government in its capacity, can in no way eliminate guns from this country. Do you think thieves/murderers would willingly hand over their guns? No, only law abiding citizens would (you know those who only carry a gun for protection from those thieves/murderers). Think about how the government made pot illegal and how not so hard it is to get pot. And think about how much of our tax dollars goes to this pathetic war on drugs. Banning guns will never work. Let the people carry their weapon and let the criminals think twice before they come into my house.

edit: Oh and I agree with Aboynamedboobs. The fact that it’s easier to purchase a gun than to get your drivers license is obsurd.

I think this has more to do with American culture than religion. There is the Second Amendment.