Jesus and Self Defense

As I have been writing on and discussing the Sermon on the Mount, the question of self defense has been ruminating within my mind. If Jesus says we should "turn the other cheek," "go the second mile," and "love our enemies," does this mean that we, as Christians have no right to fight off an attacker or defend our homes and families against a criminal? This is a very tough question to answer. I realize there are many Christians out there who hold differing views on the rights of a Christian to defend themselves. What I am offering here, is simply my opinion. I hope that it is helpful and that God will forgive me for where I get it wrong.

One thing I have discovered while studying the Sermon on the Mount is the context in which Jesus places his lessons. When he says "When someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also," what he is referring to is a back handed slap. In that context, according to William Barclay's commentary on Matthew, that was a very strong insult to someone. In the following verses, when Jesus says to give the man suing you both your cloak and your tunic, to give generously to all, and to love and pray for our persecutors, he is speaking within the same context. Notice, that none of these situations are extremely life-threatening or harmful to others. He does not say, "If someone has broken into your home and is trying to rape your daughter, let him have your wife as well." The context in which he is speaking these words is in the day to day life of his audience. As most of us realize, at our jobs, work, or social gatherings being insulted or mistreated is something that occurs quite often. Sometimes we are even the vessel for insults and bullying, sadly. However, what Jesus is saying, is don't retaliate to insults. As Christians, it ruins our witness if when someone insults us, we fly off the handle and respond with cursing, insults of our own, or physical retaliation. I believe this is part of what it means to deny ourselves and take up our cross. We must deny ourselves the enjoyment of repaying evil for evil, and instead try to be reconciled with our enemy. Our first and foremost priority is the Kingdom of God; we simply cannot afford to cause any sort of anger in someone against Christianity due to a personal dispute. Make peace with our enemies Christ says.

But what about in a life-threatening situation? Can we defend ourselves then? My personal belief is that we can. In Luke 22, Jesus urges his disciples to go out and buy swords. I do not imagine Jesus wanted his disciples to carry the swords around so they could chop weeds. It appears that Jesus was giving his disciples permission to defend themselves if they were attacked. Yet elsewhere, Jesus rebukes Peter for attacking the High Priest's servant, says that those who live by the sword will die by the sword, and says that his servants are not of this world and would not fight. What is he saying? Can we or can we not defend ourselves? I believe this is completely situational. While resorting to violence should always be our last resort, I believe we can use it when someone's life is at stake. If I am walking down the street and someone attacks me, I believe I can fight back rather than let them harm me. In the case of women especially, I believe they are justified in fending off an attacker. However, once again, this is situational. I would try to avoid a physical confrontation at all costs. If the attacker held a knife or gun to me and demanded my wallet, I would try to diffuse the situation by giving it to him. That's actually something they teach in martial arts; a few dollars isn't worth getting stabbed or shot over.

There is an excellent video on Youtube that John Piper does on this subject. He recounts the story of the martyrs in Ecuador during the 1950s who had the movie "End of the Spear" made about them. He says that when they were attacked by the natives, they had a gun with them, but fired it into the air to try to scare them away. They would not shoot their attackers because they knew those people did not know Jesus and would have gone to Hell if they died. The missionaries, Piper says, knew that they were ready to be with Christ if they died. That is one thing we need to remember when we need to defend ourselves. My attacker may not know Christ and will spend eternity in Hell if I kill him, whereas I will go to Heaven. When the attacker breaks into our home and threatens our family, we should make every effort possible to diffuse the situation without causing any bloodshed. I personally would make every effort to make the attacker lie down on the ground at gunpoint while I called the police, rather than shoot him.

There really is no cut and dry answer to this question. It is part of living in a world filled with violence and sin. We must do everything we can to work for peace and reconciliation, but this does not mean letting evil run rampant. Loving our enemies also includes stopping them from doing evil. We must be prepared at all times to sacrifice our lives for Christ and for others. We must also protect the innocent and the weak of this world. While we should do this through the means of Christ-like love and sacrifice, there may be a time when we need to physically fight off a mugger on the street or an intruder in our home. When doing this however, we must remember that our enemy is loved by a God who desires him or her to be saved. We must never relish any harm done to an oppressor, and only do what is necessary to avoid further bloodshed.

Some Thoughts on the Sermon on the Mount

Reading the Sermon on the Mount never ceases to impact me. Yesterday morning I read through Matthew 5-7 once again, and as usually happens, began to examine myself in light of what Jesus was saying. I always struggle with the commands to "turn the other cheek," "go the second mile," "love your enemies," "repay no-one evil for evil," etc. I guess the reason for this is that it runs so contrary to my nature as a human being, and especially as a male. In all of our entertainment, the guy we admire and root for is the one with all the combat skills, guns, power, and "don't mess with me attitude." We see that as a great strength. When John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson, or Harrison Ford is slighted in a movie, we don't expect to see them turn the other cheek and forgive the sin of the offender, we know there's going to be some butt-kicking! In our own personal lives, when someone offends us, the thing we want to do is strike back, either verbally or physically. When someone has attacked someone in our family, circle of friends, job, or country, we view them as "the enemy" and create this wall of hate between us and them. We relish in making offensive jokes about them, gossiping, or rejoice in their injuries and deaths (in the case of an international enemy, especially). All of this flies in direct opposition to the message of Jesus.

The thing that I do not like about the Sermon on the Mount is that it unequivocally calls the Christian to a life of forgiveness and peace-making. It requires that we empty ourselves of our pride and selfishness. It demands that we make that terrifying leap of releasing our grudges and hate. It means forgiving people who have slighted us. It means not retaliating when we are harmed by others, but absorbing the sin and violence of the world in Christ-like love. It means taking seriously Christ's call to love our enemies, both at home and in other countries. How often at church or in our own prayers do we pray for the love of Christ to reach the terrorists that they might be saved and the fighting cease? If we are to take seriously the message of Jesus to love our enemies, that is something we must be doing. These uncomfortable commands mean I can wish no harm to any man, but only desire that they be saved and brought into the fellowship of Christ in peace.

What Jesus requires of us is so contrary to what we know to be "right." I am so often convicted by the way we try to rationalize the commands of Jesus in this area. "He didn't really mean it literally. He was just using hyperbole. Of course if someone hits you on one cheek you should hit them back. He was just saying we should be patient people." Why, if he did not really mean "love your enemies" did he not say something different. Why did he not say, "try to be patient with your friends and family, but as for those guys out there who hate you or would really like to kill you, it's alright to continue to dislike them and hope for their destruction." Jesus really meant what he said. He proved that he meant his sermon because he really lived it out! Jesus reached out to his enemies, rebuked Peter for violently defending Jesus in the garden, "opened not his mouth" when he was reviled and beaten, and he prayed for the forgiveness of those who harmed him. If we are to follow in the footsteps of Christ, we must also be prepared to meet violence, hatred, and oppression with love. This irritates me because I want to be the man that nobody will mess with. As a human being I want power, I want people to fear and respect me. We all want this. However, if we are to call ourselves Christians, we must throw away all of those desires and, as Paul says, make our attitudes to be the same as Christ who humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

I have to believe that in the attitude and example of Christ is true strength. It is so terrifying to think that being a Christian may mean being violently attacked and persecuted and not retaliating. It is scary to turn the other cheek, to love my enemies, to forgive sins against me, to release my grudges. It runs the risk of appearing weak to the world. The world will mock us because of it. However, it is what Christ has commanded us to do. All we can do is obey.

The Begining of Sorrows

This morning I had a very disturbing article sent to me. I encourage you to read it at http://www.californiafamilycouncil.org/PeopleGetReady. This article recounts how a preacher speaking in Canada was made to sign a pledge that he would not speak out against the practice of homosexuality or the religion of Islam in his sermon. While I am completely against hate speech in any form, what I see here is a violation of the right to freedom of expression. This is something that we in the west have long valued. It is one of the things that distinguishes us. Silencing one's ability to speak freely on whatever he or she may desire is something we have all long associated with totalitarianism. In our minds, it is something that occurs in Iran or Soviet Russsia, not in western Europe, Canada, or the United States. Yet what we have in this case, is a totalitarian policy being enacted next door. The state is telling a preacher what he or she cannot say.

This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Hitler's totalitarian government made every effort to silence men who preached against the moral corruption of Nazism. Men like Karl Barth, Paul Tillich, Martin Niemoller, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer were among those targeted by the state for their preaching. Barth and Tillich, while continuing to oppose Nazism, were forced to flee to Switzerland and America, respectively. Niemoller and Bonhoeffer were imprisoned because they stayed and continued to fight the injustice that was prevalent in that country. Bonhoeffer was hanged for his opposition to Nazism, while Niemoller survived his imprisonment.

What then, are we as Christians to do? We have two options. Either sit back in our respective countries and try to not say anything the state would disapprove of, or vehemently voice our opposition to such injustices. It is my personal belief, that what I see happening in Canada could soon be a reality in my own country. When that happens, it will be up to the Christians to peacefully oppose that law. We can say, just like the apostles did when told to refrain from speaking the truth, "We ought to obey God rather than men." The Christians in Canada should not be silenced by this legislation. They must continue to speak the truth of God, even if it means fines or imprisonment. Those of us in America, where we still have the right to speak freely should support our brothers and sisters to the north, helping them and equipping them in every way possible. We must also ready ourselves for the possibility that someday soon, those of us who speak out against sin will be persecuted as well. Are we going to sit back and comply with the laws of man, or are we going to obey the law of God and continue to call sin what it is in hopes of bringing the good news of the gospel to those who need it?

Living in the World

While entire books could be written on the relationship of the Christian to his or her life in the world, I would like to share a few thoughts that I have been considering lately. I have been thinking about how we, as Christians, view the world in which we live. I see that there can be a general trend among us to think of this world as just something we must endure until Christ calls us up to Heaven where we can sit around for the rest of eternity playing harps like the cherubs on Precious Moments greeting cards. I have been subject to this temptation and mode of thought as well. However, lately I have been reading several works by N.T. Wright and Dietrich Bonhoeffer and comparing what they have to say with the message of scripture. I am becoming more and more convinced that the "Precious Moments" theology I just described is something that needs to go.

When Jesus is praying for his disciples, he prays "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world" (John 17:15-16). This prayer is in continuation with a constant theme that runs throughout John's gospel; Jesus came to save the world. The world Christ made is good, but broken. Christ has come to fix it. Read the first chapters of Genesis and then read the last chapters of Revelation and take note of how everything that went wrong at the beginning is ultimately rectified and restored. The world is important to God. He made it and loves it. Why then, do we often speak of how much we hate living in the world? The world is full of sin and evil, but we know how the story ends. Christ will return and fix it all. Christ has come to us in the flesh and through his resurrection has become the first glimpse of what this new creation will look like. God's work in the world is in progress and we are invited to participate in it! In the establishment of God's Kingdom on earth, we are God's "Special Forces." Just like the Navy Seals or British SAS might be the first to spearhead an invasion by going into the target zone and softening up the defenses, we are supposed to be preparing the world for the culmination of the new creation. Christ has won, but there is still resistance that needs to be overcome as much as is possible. That is why Christ prays that God will not take us out of the world. We are citizens of God's country; that is where our loyalties lie. However, we are in the world to spread God's Kingdom, not simply to just wait life out until we die. That means getting involved as much as we can, not just in our churches and in specific ministries, but in the secular realms as well. The Special Forces do not spend all their time working on their base, but in the midst of the enemy's territory. The mission Christ began and commanded us to fulfill, is one that is carried out by living as God's agents in our workplaces, schools, volunteer organizations, and governments. By infiltrating the day to day life of the world with our training in righteousness and our weapons of love, sacrifice, and reconciliation, we open up doors to tell the world Christ is king and has made available membership in his kingdom.

We are called to living within a paradox. On the one hand, we are commanded not to "love the world" (1 John 2:15). On the other hand, we hear that God has loved the world and is committed to saving it (John 3:16). How then do we do this? The "world" can mean to things in the Biblical text. In some cases it means it in a general sense of the creation and the people within it. In the other sense, it means the structure of evil within creation that is opposed to God's rule. When it says "Do not love the world," it means do not love and enjoy the sin and evil that is active and at work to oppose God. In our existence in the world, we are to remember we are of God's Kingdom and should live as God's citizens. However, we are to love the world in the way that Christ did. We are to bring the good news to it and pray for the salvation of everyone we meet. We are not called to despise our present state of being, but we are not to indulge the sinful nature either. Despise the evil and wickedness that is at work right now, but fight for the good and keep in mind the hope of the coming restoration of all that has gone wrong.