2. A Right To Defense

Welcome to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 2 a right to defense

Introduction Civil wars are a lot like pots of boiling water. They are not instantaneous and they are certainly not accidental for instance

If you walked into a steam -filled room with a soaking wet floor and a scalded kettle

Sitting red hot atop a blistering stove You would be wrong to conclude that these events just caused themselves

You would know with very little mental effort at all that an intelligent agent had grabbed a pot poured the water turned on the burner

And placed the liquid above the flame letting its temperature soar and for some reason abandoning their post which

Unleashed the entire mess upon the floor Sadly, this is where we are at in America today and the

Kyle Rittenhouse fiasco demonstrates it perfectly And while my goal in this post is not to recount all of the details of that awful night

It is clear that a decades old pot of well stirred Racism was filled with the noxious rhetoric of the

American left placed on the media's gas lit oven and was left to agitate the mobs until they boiled out onto the streets setting everything on fire in The wake of that tragedy in Kenosha young men like Kyle Rittenhouse felt especially emboldened to enter into that war zone of a city to protect private property administer first aid and Were nearly killed by the mobs for his efforts

Rittenhouse shot and wounded one attacker killing two and then successfully proved in court that his shots were fired in textbook self -defense

All of this has got me thinking What is the biblical view of self -defense?

And what does the Bible actually say about the topic because there's a lot of verses in the

Bible that seem to be pointing in The exact opposite direction of what mr Rittenhouse actually chose to do verses that tell us not to murder or to turn the other cheek verses that extol

Peacemakers as God's true children and tell us how the meek are going to inherit the earth

So for a moment instead of looking at all the details of the Rittenhouse trial and the night of the shootings occurred and and Things that other people have already covered

Online what I would like to do is take this occasion to look at what the Bible says is self -defense biblical

That's what I want to look at. So let us begin with God's design for what a human is part one defining personhood

The Bible begins with our Creator fashioning human beings with dignity value and worth that's

Genesis 126 That value was not intrinsic to our nature, but it was

Extrinsic to his he ascribed value upon us because we were made in his image and in his likeness

Genesis 128 This means whatever value that we possess as a human being it is a value that derives entirely external to ourselves and entirely from him we do have sacredness dignity value and worth because God says that we does that's it and Because God as the

Creator ascribes human value or value to our human life We are not in a position to take human life regardless of our opinions about it to bring an untimely end to any life of any person of Any developmental status is not just killing it is cold -blooded murder

Cain faced that awful covenantal fury of God for just such a discovery now

What happens though when? Someone is threatening our life or the life of someone that we love because it seems clear in the

Bible That we must not perpetrate murder upon another person We must not unjustly kill another human being but what should we do if we're in written houses shoes?

staring down the barrel of a gun or being pursued by violent attackers What should we do if the life of someone that we love is being legitimately threatened?

What should we do if someone that we don't love? Their life is being threatened

Should we close our eyes and wish for the best? Should we stand idly by permitting evil or Is the image of God That God himself a doubt endowed upon our person worth protecting

Let us look at a couple of biblical examples Part two

Defending life and property in Exodus 22 2 through 3 the law of God states this

If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies there will be no blood guiltiness on his account

But if the Sun has risen on him, there will be blood guiltiness on his account He shall surely make restitution if he owes nothing then he shall be sold for his theft in this situation

God grants a homeowner the right to not only defend himself from a thief

But to also fatally wound an intruder if that event happens in the dark of night This is because there's no way for a homeowner to perform a sort of risk assessment in the pitch -black darkness of night

He would not be able to see whether the intruder was armed or had a weapon And he would think he would need to make a decision without the aid of light

You'll have to remember when this text was written a man could not simply flip the light switch on or dawn his night -vision goggles

If he was cool like that and determine whether a thief was actually armed He would have to assume the very worst case scenario

Taking the criminals life because to assume the best in that person could end up an awful tragedy

Not just for him, but also for his family Imagine if the criminal actually did have weapons and imagine that the homeowner was frozen in a sort of moral quandary pondering about the morality of killing a potentially unarmed man and while that Sheepish fool was quibbling about in the darkness over his flawed moral reasoning the thief could simply move right past him

Murdering his entire family and that would obviously be an incredible tragedy in a significant loss of life

The homeowner though would be guilty in that situation for letting such a man live

To protect against those kind of grave and extreme outcomes God in his law

Allowed all of the Israelite homeowners to exercise maximum level of self -defense at night when they could not make such assessments when they couldn't see whether someone was armed or whether they were dangerous, but God also held the homeowner guilty and responsible if they unjustly

Struck the criminal dead by day Unjust is the key word there

You see during the day a proper assessment could be made the homeowner could look at the criminal right in the eyes

He could look at the criminals body. He could look at the criminals belt He could look at the criminals hands and he could see that there was no

Ammunition or weapons or anything like that? He could see under the midday Sun that the man was unarmed.

So the homeowner could not just kill that man guiltlessly This is where the thief in the ancient world has rights

Because his life although ruined through through sin and profligate living is worth protecting because of the image of God Yet if the robber was to be armed and threatening the homeowner's life or the life of his family

Then the homeowner would have the right whether it was daytime or nighttime To defend himself even to the point of taking that person's life to defend himself

And the ones he loves The image of God is worth protecting This example clearly demonstrates that there are some occasions in the

Bible where God allows human beings to defend themselves Even to the point of taking another human beings life

Now we may not face this exact same situation today with the invention of flashlights and cell phones and everything else but the principle remains the same if we are in a situation where Adequate risk assessment is impossible.

Meaning we cannot discern the threat level and the dangers we must assume the worst and If we sincerely fear that our lives are in imminent danger

Then we may exert the force necessary to end the threat and to spare our life

We are not only morally obligated to protect what God has called valuable But we would be held morally culpable if we are cowardly and allowed precious human blood to be shed needlessly section 3 defending personhood

Now before we set forward a positive argument for defending human life, let us endeavor just a moment for a thought experiment.

I Want you to imagine that Cain lifts up his stone in the air in order to murder his brother

Abel just as the scripture Tells us but now I want us to deviate a little bit from the original telling of the story and I want us to imagine that Abel Suspects that there is foul play afoot

Instead of receiving a deadly blow upon his crown. He actually leaps out of the way in the nick of time

Avoiding certain calamity now. It's in this moment that Abel would be faced with a very important decision

Abel will need to decide if he is morally obligated to allow his brother to kill him

Would God won't Abel to be peaceful to the bitter end?

literally Because odds are that Cain is not going to come to his senses anytime soon

It's only gonna be a moment or two before he stands up and he grabs another jacket stone and he's lunging toward him again

So the question Abel's got to answer is should he dawn some cut some kind of misguided philosophy of do -gooder pacifism and let

Cain Unleash his wicked worst, which would be absolutely absurd Or should he do something different?

You see once Abel turns around in our little thought world that we've been creating here He's now capable of making an assessment.

He notices his brother's murderous intent He sees the rock in his hand at that moment

Abel has a moral obligation to protect his own life and any innocent life around him

If Cain were to actually relent and repent of his sin, then Abel would need to forgive him

Let's say Cain dropped his rock Abel would need to forgive him make peace with him and probably sleep with one eye open because of him

You know trust has been broken, but if Cain kept on charging at him like a rabid dog

Then Abel would need to be responsible to put him down He would have to defend himself and protect the image of God that was bestowed upon him

That is consistent with the heart of God I want you to consider for a moment what God says in the flesh to his disciples in Luke 22 35 through 38

He says and he said to them when I sent you out with no money bags or knapsacks or sandals

Did you lack anything and they said of course nothing then he said to them But now let the one who has a money bag take it and likewise a knapsack and let the one who has no sword sell

His cloak and buy one for I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me

That he was numbered with the transgressors for what is written about me has its fulfillment and they said look

Lord Here are two swords and he said to them it is enough on The night that Jesus died he sanctioned his disciples to go out and purchase swords so that they could practice first century open carry

The reason Jesus told them to purchase these swords can mean for no other reason than to defend themselves

Many wicked and unscrupulous people at this point were already seeking to kill Jesus and his disciples

So Jesus instructs them to purchase the first century equivalent of a 45 magnum

Furthermore if Jesus actually wanted to forbid self -defense, this would have been a great opportunity to do it, but he doesn't

He affirms the value of human life and the responsibility that humans have for defending that human life right here in this passage

I want you to also remember how Jesus handles Peter in the Gospel of Matthew after this event

Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus who's the high priest soldier, which causes Jesus to rebuke

Peter sharply But I want you to notice that Jesus does not say in Matthew 26 52 that Peter's not allowed to defend himself

He's this is what he says put your sword back in its place for all those who take up the sword shall perish with the sword

Jesus is not forbidding the wearing of swords or condemning Peter's Approach of self -defense.

He does not tell Peter to discard the weapon as being entirely unchristian but he tells him to put it back in its sheath for future use

It seems that Jesus whenever he had a viable opportunity to condemn self -defense.

He either affirmed its validity or He admonished its abuses as he does here with Peter Peter obviously went overboard

But he doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater and get rid of self -defense entirely Jesus affirms it

So with that, let us draw our thoughts together in a sort of closing paradigm to help us

Understand and remember what we need to be thinking through when it comes to self -defense

Section 4 determining a paradigm First if we as we've seen humans have been made in the image of God and have a clear right to defend themselves from being murdered that's your right as an image -bearing

Christian as it as an image -bearing person as Exodus 22 clarifies

The right to protect oneself is predicated upon an accurate assessment of the situation if a person feels

Legitimately threatened and that their life is in danger. Then they have biblical merit to defend themselves

That's the first thing if you feel threatened you have the right to defend yourself second

When employing self -defense it is important to consider that the least deadly method available for saving a life and ending the threat is the right method

Sometimes that's going to involve shooting the aggressor as Kyle Rittenhouse did in Kenosha in that case

You'd be biblically justified for defending yourself with lethal force because the threat to your life was imminent but in Many other cases less deadly options are available and will actually in the threat our goal should not be to become trigger -happy vigilantes and We don't seek to employ full measures when lesser measures would actually accomplish the same result

Our goal is to be biblical and to get out of the situation alive protecting the image of God within us.

So We have to not only assess the threat, but we also need to assess our response.

That's the second thing the third The time to respond with self -defense is always during the moment.

Your life is in danger. That's it If you escape the threat and the danger level subsides

You cannot go home and start planning a coordinated all -out response from the safety of your living room

That is called vengeance and Christians are not allowed to participate in that because Romans 12 19 says that vengeance is mine declares the

Lord Lethal self -defense is reserved for immediate and imminent life -saving measures

When no other option is available in that moment That's third fourth

We must remember that God does not look on the outward appearances, but on the heart Kyle Rittenhouse, for example was acquitted because the physical evidence was shown in court

He was given the not guilty verdict on five counts because his outward actions were Consistent with how the state of Wisconsin had defined self -defense

They were looking at the external evidence, but God doesn't do that. He looks at the internal evidence.

He looks at the heart You may be doing everything right on the outside But God looks down into the inside of your heart for Samuel 16 7

Jeremiah 17 10 This means that when you employ self -defense as a

Christian Your emotions can just as easily condemn you as your body

If you respond to an attacker with anger revenge malice jealousy pride or any other sinful motivation your self -defense was employed in Sin and at a minimum needing to be repented of fifth as A Christian we also have the right to exercise whatever additional rights that our states have conferred upon us

But also to be limited by any rights our states have taken away from us So long as those laws and privileges do not permit what the

Bible forbids or forbid what the Bible permits This is because secular governments were established by God and for God Romans 13 1 so that God's people would live peaceful lives in the world first Timothy 2 2 if A government gives an additional right or limits a particular right to self -defense that the

Bible does not condemn and our conscience does Not forbid Romans 14 23, then we would do well to understand the law and live within its bounds when thinking about self -defense

Christians are not lawless people and as long as what the government has mandated for us to obey doesn't conflict with Scripture We must obey sixth

Self -defense does not just apply to individuals Our self -defense is meant to defend all of the selves who are made in God's image and that means everybody

Think about it this way if we stand idly by watching an abortion and make no effort to stop it

We share in the guilt of that murder if we notice a gang beating a member a man in the streets without calling the police then we share in the culpability if We know that someone is abusing another person

Then we have an obligation to come to their aid the biblical vision of self -defense is that we would protect all

Image -bearing humans from all senseless attacks upon God's image

That applies to us and that applies to the people around us because the image of God is worth protecting

Conclusion There is no way to cover everything on this topic without writing a book and I'm Certainly sure that if I did set out to write such a book

I would be faced with the exact same problem that I'm faced with now and I would probably need to apologize for it in the preface my goal in Communicating this to you right now is not to be exhaustive

My goal was to demonstrate from the Bible that self -defense is biblically appropriate under certain conditions

Human life has God wrought value and God expects us to protect it He expects us to protect our life protect the life of the victim and he expects us to do everything possible

To protect the life of the oppressor so long is as so long as that is possible In some situations

God expects us to wield the sword in the defense of life We do not seek out these opportunities nor do we shy away from them either in other situations

When we're totally defenseless God has called his beloved people to make the ultimate sacrifice for their faith

Submitting to the will of God joyfully facing death dying to be with Christ and this has happened all throughout church history

And Whatever situation the Lord calls you to Whether it's peace whether it's war or whether it's death live with courage live with love compassion and conviction and faith in Christ The world that we live in is changing politicians are calling for police departments to be defunded and for prison cells to be emptied

Violent crime is on the rise, and this apparent era of Pax Americana is soon coming to an end.

The world that we and our children currently occupy is more dangerous than in previous generations, and it's growing more unkind to Christians than in previous generations, and will sadly present more opportunities for biblical self -defense in the future.

With that, I do not write to you about something that you will never face, but concerning something that you will need to wrestle through as you prepare to navigate this brave new world.

Again, I say, whatever station that the Lord has called you into, live with courage, live with love, compassion, conviction, and faith in Christ until Jesus Christ returns.

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