Friday, April 6, 2012

Christianity and "Stand Your Ground"


I wanted to reflect on a passage from the Gospels in comparison to the "Stand your ground" law in Florida and other States.  First, the passage from the arrest of Jesus after he and the Disciples had celebrated the Passover meal on the night he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot.

From the Gospel of Matthew Chapter 26: 47-52

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.  Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. 

Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”

 Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.  With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword..."

Hardly an endorsement for defending yourself against a lawless mob with violence.  Compare this passage to the Florida State law commonly referred to as "Stand Your Ground" 
Chapter 776.013 Justifiable Use of Force


(3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
Granted, the laws are not intended to promote any sacred scriptures or religious views so the people of Florida don't have any requirement to make sure their laws conform to the Gospels.  But please, don't try to apply pretzel logic to try to convince anyone that this law isn't a direct rebuttal of the words Jesus uttered.

Read through the posts and comments in this thread at Christian Forums, a site where very Christian folks discuss news and politics and bless each other for espousing and following the teachings of Christ.  These are some very confused people, just like millions of other Christians who routinely avow hatred in the name of God.  A decent humble human who never heard of Christ would be closer to him than some of these haters who proudly display the number of blessings they have received from each other.  Here is the post that kicks off the party.

Christian Forums:  George Zimmerman Had Cause



Hypocrisy defined, Gun toting Christians who applaud homicide while proudly displaying their devotion to Jesus.  So busy reading their NRA pamphlets and posting on Christian websites that they forgot to actually read the Gospels to get a sense of what Jesus might say on the subject.  If Jesus were to walk into their house of worship today, they would pull their pistols and take aim at the dark skinned, long haired, socialist who didn't belong.

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