{"id":12912,"date":"2013-10-21T08:43:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-21T08:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobaptist.tv\/pathwaysample1\/?p=12912"},"modified":"2019-07-29T14:47:06","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T19:47:06","slug":"guns-in-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbcpathway.com\/2013\/10\/21\/guns-in-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Guns in church"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fbcnorwoodcouple\"<\/a>Norwood \u2013 Pastor Stephen Fugitt believes that churches have the right to arm themselves for the day when a gunman enters their buildings to do harm. Yet no one had time to open fire against a gunman who aimed his .357 magnum revolver at Fugitt as he preached to his congregation at the First Baptist Church of Norwood, July 21.<\/p>\n

Instead, one church member grabbed the gunman\u2019s arm, causing his first shot to hit the ceiling, while other men helped to wrestle him to the ground. They held him there until police arrived, and no one was seriously injured.<\/p>\n

According to a Christianity Today report, 115 instances of such church violence occurred in the United States in 2012, compared to only 10 a decade earlier. Church shootings, the report added, remain less likely than a person being struck by a bolt of lightning. Even so, when church violence strikes, people have no time to think, but only to react.<\/p>\n

For this reason, Fugitt urges Southern Baptists to plan how they will respond if a gunman enters their buildings, and they must decide now whether they will respond with deadly force.<\/p>\n

\u201cMissouri law allows churches to make these kinds of decisions,\u201d Fugitt said. \u201cInitially, I would say that if a person is considering the use of armed protection, they should be trained. I believe it\u2019s biblically defensible to protect members and others attending our services and events. In my view, it\u2019s one thing if God calls us to martyrdom, but if we can defend innocent lives, we should.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen someone walks into your church and starts shooting,\u201d he added, \u201cyou don\u2019t have time in that moment to develop a theory on the matter. It\u2019s better to have processed your thoughts about this ahead of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Various Christians, however, have developed conflicting theories about the use of weapons in church security, said Vaughn Baker, president of Strategos International and lay leader at Abundant Life Baptist Church, Lee\u2019s Summit. Baker said that Strategos International always defends the right of churches to protect their members and visitors from violence. In fact, the group will discuss the biblical foundations of church security as part of a one-day seminar for Missouri Baptists at First Baptist Church, Fulton, Nov. 19 (To learn more, visit www.mobaptist.org\/churchsecurity).<\/p>\n

Yet Baker has heard from Christian leaders who oppose the mission of Strategos International and the use, especially, of armed security in churches. He recalled that, in one email, a Christian leader said, \u201cListen, I\u2019ve read what you guys do, and I am really glad that you guys weren\u2019t around in the Garden of Gethsemane to protect Jesus from being taken to the cross. And I\u2019m really glad you weren\u2019t around to protect the early Christians when they were being persecuted by the Romans. And I\u2019m really glad you weren\u2019t around to protect the disciples when they were being martyred for their faith. Otherwise, Christianity wouldn\u2019t be what it is today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a big difference,\u201d Baker responded, \u201cbetween being a martyr and being a victim.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such a difference indeed exists, according to church historian and pastor John Mark Yeats. Christians in the United States, he said, face church violence in a context that differs greatly from what many Christians have faced throughout history and, currently, throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cContext, context\u2014that makes a huge difference,\u201d said Yeats, who served as a church history professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary before accepting his current position as pastor of Normandale Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our environment and where we are in America,\u201d he said, \u201cI don\u2019t see a problem for a church to have well-trained individuals who are there to protect people in their congregation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the United States, Yeats explained, Christians are able to think of church violence primarily as a safety issue, whereas persecuted churches throughout history and around the world have been forced to think about church violence primarily in light of their Christian witness. Within these different contexts, Christians must respond to church violence in different ways, although every church should attempt to respond in a way that brings glory to Christ.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary goal has to remain that the gospel is for all,\u201d Yeats said, adding that Southern Baptists should also strive as much as possible \u201cto preserve life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sanctity of human life, in fact, should serve as bedrock for Southern Baptists\u2019 church security plans, ethicists J. Alan Branch and Matthew Arbo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a right\u2014in fact, I think a mandate\u2014to defend innocent human life,\u201d said Branch, professor of Christian ethics at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and chaplain in the United States Army Reserves. \u201cIf someone comes to me and they are trying to assault my family, I have a moral obligation to try to stop that person and defend innocent humans\u2014namely, my family. I have a mandate from God \u2026 to protect my wife and my children, up to using physical force when necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, church members \u201chave the right to live,\u201d and no one has the right to take their lives, Branch said. \u201cIf someone is breaking into the church and is there to hurt and kill and maim innocent people\u2014little boys and girls and men and women who are coming there to study about Jesus\u2014you have got to stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although churches have a right to defend innocent humans, Christians can by no means pursue vigilante justice, Branch added. According to Romans 13, God has instituted the government to administer such justice.<\/p>\n

In keeping with Romans 13, Southern Baptists should call upon legal authorities to help them implement armed security in their churches, said Arbo, assistant professor of Christian ethics at Midwestern Seminary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if you have an option to choose a legitimate officer of the law that has been appointed by the state, you should choose that option\u2014over against a civilian carrying their own firearms,\u201d Arbo said. \u201cNow the law allows (citizens) to do that, but I think the church should go above and beyond to show good faith. Civilians oftentimes haven\u2019t been trained in the kinds of tactics that police officers have, so they could make hasty decisions or just be nervous and actually cause more destruction than they remedy. It is possible for that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even if churches that want to use armed security do not have access to officers of the law, they must appoint only those who are well trained and committed, said Rob Quillin, pastor of First Baptist Church, Kahoka, and a retired Kansas City police officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere need to be specific requirements for those who are protecting us,\u201d he said. \u201cAre they levelheaded? What kind of reaction skills do they have? What kind of training do they have? And what is their commitment?\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Members of a church\u2019s security team should train at least monthly, recognizing that \u201cshooting is a perishable skill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you from being involved in shootings that you may be a 100 percent shooter on a range, but when somebody is shooting at you, you may immediately turn into a 30 percent shooter or a 40 percent shooter,\u201d he said, adding that when church violence occurs, it will come suddenly in a confined space filled with confused and scared bystanders.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the best option, even if you have a gun, is not to use that gun,\u201d Quillin said. \u201cIf there is any way, whatsoever, to retreat, to get out, to avoid it, to run away, then run away. Don\u2019t engage a threat if you don\u2019t have to. That is why we pay our men and women in law enforcement. God bless them\u2014they are so brave in going into something where everybody else is running away. But let them handle it if at all possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Quillin added, \u201cthe best fight in the world is the one you don\u2019t have to have,\u201d and if churches allow people to see that they have security, they may in fact discourage violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cCriminals will take the path of least resistance,\u201d said Al Meredith, pastor of Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. For this reason, church security plans may prevent violence or criminal activity. Nevertheless, he said, Christians should take care lest their concerns for safety hinder ministry.<\/p>\n

Meredith admits that he is concerned by the surge of violence that has struck churches since 1999, when a gunman opened fire during a youth worship service at his church, killing seven people and injuring several others before taking his own life. Even so, he refuses to neglect \u201cthe ragamuffins and the outcasts that Jesus came to seek and to save.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the attempt to implement security plans, churches must not \u201cbuild an ark and seal it off while the rest of the world drowns,\u201d Meredith said. \u201cYou have to be balanced. Be reasonable. Take reasonable precautions. And refuse to develop a fortress mentality.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of retreating to the fortress, while the world goes to hell in a handbag, we need to be out there where they are at, winning them to Christ and bringing them in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Norwood \u2013 Pastor Stephen Fugitt believes that churches have the right to arm themselves for the day when a gunman enters their buildings to do harm. Yet no one had time to open fire against a gunman who aimed his .357 magnum revolver at Fugitt as he preached to his congregation at the First Baptist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":11979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[41,42,7,12,17,19,98,27,236,293],"tags":[198],"yoast_head":"\nGuns in church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Norwood \u2013 Pastor Stephen Fugitt believes that churches have the right to arm themselves for the day when a gunman enters their buildings to do harm. 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