Beloved. I find the arguments from Pastor Idleman to be in good spirit but Scripturally inaccurate. I do not think he is a war monger based on this article. I think he tried to strike some common ground, primarily surrounding the notion of self defense. That does not change however that he is misapplying Scriptures - such as 1Timothy 5:8. C'mon Pastor Idleman, you know full well this Scripture is not dealing with shooting someone who breaks into your home. It is about materially and spiritually taking care of your family. It is the American carnality that has seeped into our thinking as Christians. If God wanted us to pack guns and shoot first and ask questions later He would have made it plainly obvious in His Word. You would not have to stretch Scripture beyond what they were intended for. Idleman continues:
"The Scriptures must be read in their totality. For example, when Jesus was slapped He didn't turn the other cheek. He said, "If I have spoken wrongly, testify of the wrong; but if rightly, why do you strike Me?" (John 18:23). Although we are to err on the side of grace and peace, there is a time and a place for confrontation and protection."
OK, let us first understand that when Jesus taught to turn the other cheek He was teaching to not retaliate or resist an evil person. In John 18 we are seeing a legal proceeding against Jesus and He asks a question. That question does not nullify His earlier teaching in the slightest. You can ask a question and still not retaliate or resist. After this question Jesus most certainly did turn the other cheek as He laid His life down, remember? As for Idleman's conclusion; yes there is a time for confrontation and according to the Gospel's that is when we see false teaching. Nowhere does the Bible teach that we should be confrontational with the world - in fact it teaches the opposite:
Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. - Colossians 4: 5-6 (ESV)
How can you make the argument with a straight face that you err on the side of grace and peace but if you step into my home I have an AR-15 waiting for you! We saw a story last year of a pastor who saw two criminals stealing copper wiring from his church so he went and got his semi automatic pistol and chased them through the streets, eventually shooting and killing one of them. Permanently assigning that person to everlasting punishment. As a pastor, what was his responsibility? To ensure he went to hell or to give him the opportunity to hear the Gospel and like the thief on the cross go to heaven? Don't hand me the self righteous nonsense about how the criminal here was in the wrong! That is a carnal argument! We were all in the wrong before we heard the Gospel and came to the cross! We were all stealing copper wiring. We were all breaking into someone's home. Thank God Jesus didn't have a concealed carry permit when I came to Him for forgiveness. Idleman begins to wrap up:
"Clearly understand that I'm not advocating violence or aggression; I'm advocating scriptural consistency and continuity. Context is the key factor here. Forgiving is not being passive, and granting grace is not being gullible."
I am sorry Pastor Idleman but you are advocating for violence and aggression. You have set up boundaries for that and I give you credit for doing so. Your boundaries appear to be related to protection and home invasion but let's be fair. If someone is pounding on your door at 3 AM, there is a good chance you will be violent and aggressive with them and they may end up dead. Maybe they deserved it from a carnal perspective but you are supposed to be a man of God - not of this world. There was a case last year where a home owner with a gun killed someone who was banging on his door at 3AM. Turned out she was drunk and had been in a car accident but hey, the gun has its place right? Wrong. Now that woman is dead and if unsaved is spending eternity in hell. Oh and the homeowner is going to jail. Things are not always as black and white as we think them out in our mind. Forgiving is not passive? What does that even mean? You forgive someone but all bets are off if they seem to pose a threat to you and yours? What life are you valuing there in that scenario? This one or the eternal? Granting grace is not being gullible? Do you think that is a biblical teaching? No one is asking you to be gullible just to be Christ-like. If you think Jesus would have a gun in His house and heaven forbid the thief who happened upon His house looking for trouble then I am afraid you have missed the point of the Gospels altogether.
To be fair, Idleman ends strong in this article. He makes solid points about how far the pro gun Christians have taken this debate. He correctly states our help should come from the Lord. He correctly states that our gun cabinets are full but our prayer closets empty. He correctly denounces Fox News and says we should spend more time in Scripture. It is almost a schizophrenic article in this sense because the conclusion fails to realize that the rest of the article was making the opposite argument. Perhaps deep down pastor Idleman felt the conflict within his own Spirit. I pray so because that would be a good sign. Beloved it is hard to navigate this world we live in with the beliefs and convictions we hold as Christians. They are at odds. The way God thinks is higher than how we think. I understand the pro gun arguments. I think they take a lot of it too far but I understand them and as I said, I do not think we want a nation where the government are the only ones with the weapons. I just refuse to use God and The Bible to prop up my carnal, worldly beliefs. I am not minimizing this either. These are the hardest things to learn as Christians but when God says He requires us to love mercy - this might be one of those things He was referring to. It is one thing to say you believe in mercy. It is one thing to be merciful. It is quite another to love mercy. To look upon the man threatening you and your family and realize how far apart he is from God and how desperately he needs the Gospel. To realize that Jesus died for Him too.
Don't get me wrong. You could shoot him. The world will tell you that you are justified. You could take his life and in all likelihood consign him to everlasting torment. Just do not pretend that is loving mercy. Do not pretend that is what Jesus would do. Do not pretend that is what the Bible instructs us to do. Remember the criminal on the cross deserved to be there yet Jesus still saved him. Let us also never forget that you, me, and Shane Idleman deserved to be there too; yet Jesus still saved us. He had to power to consign us to everlasting torment but He loved mercy. Let us strive to do no less. As the key verse says, we do not overcome evil with evil. Rather, we overcome it with good.
Reverend Anthony Wade - March 7, 2015
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