Should a Christian respond with force?

Yesterday, I looked at the church shootings from the perspective of Mathew Murray, the shooter. There is something else about this story that bothers me.

It was the churches response. I know that many won’t agree with this post, but I question the authority of the church to have armed security guards, and to shoot people who represent a threat to them.

I look to Scripture, especially to the New Testament, as a follower of Jesus Christ, for a model for this, and I don’t see it. If you can think of a passage that would shed some light on this, please leave a comment.

The only time I see anyone responding with force to protect themselves, it was Peter on the night of Jesus’ arrest. Peter pulled a sword on the guard that tried to arrest Jesus, and actually cut off his ear! Did Jesus congratulate Peter for his act of heroism? Did he commend this act of bravery? Not at all, Peter was harshly rebuked for that action, and the guard’s ear was healed.

Over and over I see passages that say that we will be persecuted for our faith. Are we told to protect ourselves? No! We are told not to fear those who only kill the body, but can’t harm the soul (Matthew 10:16). We are told to rejoice in our persecution (Acts 5:41). We are told that persecution is inevitable (Acts 20:17-24, 21:10-14, 2 Timothy 2:12). Over and over we are told that we will be persecuted, and that our correct response is actually to rejoice in being counted worthy.

Nowhere do I see that we should stand against those persecuting us. Nowhere do I see the early church, that was persecuted so relentlessly by the Jews, and later the Romans, standing up against those who persecuted them. Instead I see the command to love our enemies and to pray for them. That may be the hardest thing we have to accept. But that is the command I see.

The early church certainly took precautions to avoid those that were persecuting them. They didn’t witness in the streets when they knew there was imminent danger. They stayed in upper rooms, moved locations for their meetings, and stayed as low key as possible. But they didn’t use force to fight back.

I also see Scripture passages that tell us that we are to stand out from the rest of society. Our faith should make us very different from those around us who do not have faith. Yet, wasn’t the response by the church to have armed security guards a human response to the threat of danger, not a righteous act of faith?

I know that her act saved hundreds of lives. I know that as tragic as it was, it could have been so much worse. But I ask, was it an act of faith? Was she (the security guard) acting in the image of Christ? And the age old question, what would Jesus have done?

As always, I appreciate your comments…