Pastor says gun ownership has a biblical basis
June 20, 2000
BY JUDY TARJANYI
TOLEDO BLADE RELIGION EDITOR
With a wall-sized American flag as his backdrop, the Rev. Bryan Sharp used the book that Christians call their sword last night to defend the right to keep and bear arms.
Speaking at a Patriotic Rally at Northwest Baptist Church on Alexis Road that drew a full house of 420 people, Dr. Sharp, a pastor and Bible scholar, said he trusts in the Lord to defend him. But he said, "It's not God that I'm worried about. It's those people who don't believe in God and do not recognize God and have no wholesome respect for God."
Using more than 50 verses from the Bible, more from the New Testament than the Old Testament, Dr. Sharp supported his belief that it is proper to use arms to defend one's family, the defenseless, one's home, one's person, and one's country.
"God wants you to use what's in your hand," he said. "Don't be so naive as to think that everybody is good."
Dr. Sharp said peace-loving people bear arms for defensive purposes to protect their liberty, security, safety, and to retain what is rightfully theirs. These, he said, produce peace.
However, he said there are those who possess arms for wrong purposes. "Christians must realize there are evil spoilers in this world. Nowhere in the Bible does it say everyone is a child of God. Jesus said of some, 'Ye are of your father the devil.' We must realize there is good and evil in our society. Again, one arms for defense against evil."
Dr. Sharp interspersed his Bible teaching last
night with statistics on gun use and anecdotal evidence he said
supports the value of an armed citizenry.
He quoted the FBI Uniform Crime Statistics as saying that 1.5
million violent crimes are stopped each year by citizens using
handguns, with no deaths resulting.
Dr. Sharp also took issue with the Clinton administration for its failure to prosecute criminals attempting to buy guns in gun shops, saying the Justice Department had prosecuted less than 1 per cent of the 400,000 criminals turned in by gun dealers.
And, he cited several nations, including Nazi
Germany, in which arrests and executions of certain people
followed national gun registration.
He urged fathers to teach their children proper use of a gun and
shared the story of Aikens's Volunteers, a group of 17 young
boys, none old enough to be called into military service, who
held off the British at the battle of Plattsburg in the War of
1812 and forced them up the river to where their fathers were
fighting. All had been trained in the use of firearms and knew
what to do when the occasion called for it, he said.
Dr. Sharp agreed with those who interpret the word "sword" in some New Testament passages as referring to the word of God.
But, he said, "Our offensive weapon is the word of God and our defensive weapon is a weapon you can hold in your hand and defend your person with." He said a gun is a tool that only is as evil as the hand that holds it. "When the good people refuse or relinquish the right to keep and bear arms, then the bad people will come to have control."
"Just as a pen or a camera is allowed in the hands of a responsible reporter, so should a gun be allowed in the hands of a responsible citizenry."
Dr. Sharp said when Jesus told Peter in the Garden of Gethsemane to put his sword away, he did so because he knew it was his time to die. "Drawing the sword to prevent death was out of the will of God and not in the word of God," he said. "He did not tell Peter to surrender the sword. He did not tell the disciples to give the sword to the Roman soldiers. He did not say register the sword. He did not say drop the sword. He did not say put a lock on the sword. He said put it in its place. This is not the right time."
Finally, Dr. Sharp cautioned his audience that, despite their value in defending families and homes, guns cannot save families, marriages, or children spiritually. "For some of you, the Second Amendment has become your religion. You have put it ahead of the First Commandment. And in that case, 'They that take the sword shall perish by the sword.'
"It's your responsibility to teach your
children the word of God. It's your responsibility to lead your
family to the local church. I don't know who told you that people
who go to church are a bunch of pacifist sissies. You heard that
from somebody else, but not from Jesus."