Jim Taylor
Faith and Firearms
Saturday, February 16, 2019, 11:03

David Livingstone, pioneer missionary and explorer, who first landed in Africa in 1840, was well equipped with some of the most advanced weapons then available, including a 6-barrelled revolver. On occasion, Livingstone was compelled to use his weapons for protection from wild beasts and to persuade slave traders to set captives free. At one point, when criticised, Livingstone responded: "I love peace as much as any mortal man. In fact, I go quite beyond you, for I love it so much I would fight for it." Blessed are the peacemakers not the pacifists. To make peace requires resolution, courage and action.

Firearms in the hands of pastors or missionaries seems to have become a controversial subject. There is no doubt that the primary weapons for missionaries and pastors are spiritual - the Bible and prayer. However, does God require full-time Christian workers to ignore Biblical commands, which require self-defence and mandate the protection of one's family? (See: Exodus 22:2; Nehemiah 4: 14; Luke 22: 36; 1 Timothy 5:18).

Sometime ago, while a friend was engaged in a mission trip to Sudan, he was taking the picture of 4 pastors, each in their clerical collars, and each holding an AK-47 assault rifle. He requested them to put their rifles to one side for the picture. They laughed. "Christians in the West will not understand pastors carrying firearms" he explained to them. They laughed even more. He put his camera down and explained: "pastors in the West do not carry rifles."

The response of one was: "Why not?"

.... many Churches in America in the 17th Century fined men if they came to Church without a rifle! 1 Timothy 5:8 requires men to make provision for their family, and declares that any who fail to do so deny the Faith and are worse than an infidel! Churches penalised members who showed such irresponsibility as to fail to carry a weapon for the defence of their family members.

Pacifism is in defiance of historic Christian teaching. The 39 Articles, the foundational statement of the Church of England, states clearly in Article 37: “It is lawful for Christian men to carry weapons.”

The Westminster Catechism, considered the finest expression of Biblical teaching, states under the 6th Commandment that the prohibition against murder requires as our duty: “All careful studies and lawful endeavours to preserve the life of ourselves and others by resisting, by just defence, against violence, protecting and defending the innocent.” (Q135).