By Doug Newman

Posted at Liberty Post.

April 19, 2007

So much has been said about Monday’s orgy of lead and blood on the campus at Virginia Tech that I could go on for hours addressing all the different issues. Neither you nor I have time for this, so I will keep things brief.

Whenever there is a show stopping event like all the usual people come forth with all the predictable responses. The responses we hear almost always revolve around laws, regulations, programs and policies. You cannot go five minutes without hearing someone ask: “What can we, as a society, do…?”

America already has more laws, regulations, programs and policies than any other society on earth. None of them prevented Monday’s carnage. The answer is not in politics.

We need to mourn the dead, and to pray for the injured and their loved ones. Indeed, we need to pray for the entire Hokie community that they may have courage and strength in the days ahead. (1)

And while we are praying, let every Christian look at the Bible and see what it has to say about the 20,000 gun laws in America and, more specifically, on the Virginia Tech campus.

Luke 22:36 states: “He said to them, "But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”

Jesus commanded His followers to be armed! There is no Scriptural indication that Caesar should limit this in any way! There is no Scriptural indication that the ownership of an inanimate object should be limited, or that any such limitations would produce any good result. Our Second Amendment echoes this: "... the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." (Italics mine.)

Proverbs 25:26 states: “Like a muddied spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked.”

Gun control forces good people to give way to better armed wicked people. Those 32 unfortunate souls who were in the line of fire on the Virginia Tech campus last Monday had no choice but to give way to the wicked.

Time and again, I hear that “we need gun control because you just can’t allow crazy people to have guns.” Well, crazy people are undeterred by your frivolous little – and unbiblical – gun laws. Cho Seung-Hui, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are cases in point. Virginia Tech and Columbine were “gun-free zones.” Indeed, we did not have school shootings until schools became "gun-free."

(I don’t buy the official story on 9/11. However, I did in the beginning. Even then, I was quick to point out that disarming airplane passengers left them defenseless against those 19 box cutter-wielding Islamo-psychopaths. If crazy people can't use guns they will find some other weapon. And when good people are disarmed, bad things happen.)

Gregory Boyd is the senior pastor of the Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is, to understate, a profound thinker. In 2004, he delivered an extremely powerful series of six sermons entitled “The Cross and the Sword.” He discussed the radical differences between the kingdom of man and the Kingdom of God. He eloquently implores both right- and left- wing Christians to resist the temptations of fixing society through the forced conformity that characterizes the kingdom of man.

The deaths of 32 innocent people on Monday bear witness to the failure of the kingdom of man and the need for faith in the Kingdom of God. The end of Matthew 6:28-33 tells us that it is pagans who fuss and fret endlessly over their needs for food, drink and shelter. What we need more than anything, Jesus tells us, is God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness.

Likewise, 2000 years later, we carry on like pagans when we clamor for Caesar to lead us to safety. The Bible must serve as our guide not only for personal and spiritual affairs, but also for social and political affairs. Faith that the state can provide safety and security is misplaced faith.

May the deaths of 32 innocents at Virginia Tech not have been in vain. May the lessons we learn be the right lessons.

(1) The Hokies are Virginia Tech's sports teams. What is a Hokie?

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Freely Speaking: Essays by Doug Newman

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