Professor, Can I Get a Gun?

Last updated on: July 16, 2018 at 6:14 am by Gerald McDermott

Professor, Can I Get a Gun? 2018-07-16T06:14:08-04:00 Gerald McDermott

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I was asked this question at a training center for pastors.

The young man is earnest and wants to be faithful to the Word of God. Does it allow me to protect my family? From being killed and burned alive? Or does God forbid us from using weapons to prevent our extermination by Muslim terrorists?

An Anglican priest who was trained at Oxford gathers scores of pastors together secretly to help answer their desperate questions. What do I tell my flock? How are we to think about a government that stands by idly while we are being burned alive and hacked into pieces–like this little girl in the picture? A Muslim president who lies to the international media, saying that we Christians are exaggerating or bringing it on ourselves? Why would God allow this?Several generations of Christian pastors here have suggested that the gospel has little or nothing to do with society or politics. They have focused either on the prosperity gospel or a pietism that eschews the public square. As a result Christians have tended to be politically passive. Now they are governed by Muslims who shelter terrorists.

This Anglican leader and his helpers never announce a meeting place until one hour before, and only by texting to cellphones, for security reasons. Pastors are not invited unless they are recommended by one or two other reliable pastors. Even though these pastors are gathered to discuss theology and how to help their flocks, informers could suggest otherwise to radicals.

This Oxford-trained leader took me on a tour of dangerous sections of Jos today. We passed one street of Muslims where he said Christian evangelists had entered and disappeared, never to be seen again. He pointed out three churches that had been bombed or burned, only to be rebuilt by determined Christians. We rode through a No Man’s Land which, my friend said, is like the Wild West. “Anything goes here, and Christians would never dare walk this street.”

This man is a brave leader. He regularly subsists on three or four hours sleep because he is often called in the middle of the night by a call from Christians who have been attacked. Like the vast majority of Nigerians, he and his family have one or two meals a day. The first is a breakfast of tea and bread, the second of corn or rice and beans. Meat is rare because it is so expensive.

He told me that most of his friends expect civil war. Most Nigerians are Christians and live in the south or in this Middle Belt centered in Jos, yet the government and police and army are everywhere run by Muslims. The only people who believe in a unified Nigeria are Western leaders and Nigerian politicians who are enriched by the status quo.

Two days ago crowds of Christians gathered outside a government office here to protest the inaction of the government. Hundreds of Christians are being killed and still no one has been arrested. Yesterday the government detained pastors who led the protest. Within the hour my new friend was called. He mobilized Christian lawyers to try to get the pastors released. An Anglican bishop warned the police and governor that they were risking new violence. Vigilantes might strike back at Muslims.

Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of Christians here in the Middle Belt pray for God’s protection. And they wonder if God would permit them to use weapons to defend themselves.

I told the young seminarian yesterday, and the other young men and women training for ministry with him, that there is a long Christian tradition of Just War theory that argues that Jesus was not a pacifist. I told them that the great African theologian Augustine–and other great Christian thinkers like Aquinas and Luther and Edwards—used Romans 13 and other biblical passages (including the Old Testament) to argue that Christians may use force to defend themselves against extermination.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 28, 2018

Sleepless in Jos

Next Post

June 30, 2018 Attack on the Archbishop

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month March 2023 November 2022 October 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 November 2021 October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 July 2020 June 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

In Revelation, what is the correct order of the first four seals opened by the Lamb?

Select your answer to see how you score.

White horse, red horse, black horse, pale horse White horse, black horse, red horse, pale horse Red horse, white horse, pale horse, black horse Pale horse, red horse, white horse, black horse

Related posts from The Northampton Seminar