People who rely on religion rather than thinking for themselves are fine, I understand not everyone is cut out to take that responsibility for the big scary world out there.
Then people who feel the need to have guns to "protect themselves" just seem to me to be more scared than anything. I've thought about getting a gun a fair bit, and it's always related to fear of others having control over me and me having no power to do anything about it; so a gun is a form of at the very least an imagined sense of power and control. But so far I've lived without a gun (other than a.22 LR I used to shoot for fun on my dad's ranch) and managed not to be severely hurt or controlled by anyone.
A friend of mine once noted that a lot of rap music focuses on "having respect" and demanding that others respect them, and being upset about being disrespected. That carrying guns and flashing them, dressing to look scary, tattoos and piercings, etc. What they are really saying isn't "respect me", it's "fear me". Which is because they themselves are afraid and insecure. Having a gun "for protection" is a way of trying to chase away or manage that fear. Somewhat ironically, having a religion that gives you answers to scary questions like "what happens when we die?" is another way of dealing with fear of death, or the unknown, for example. Most people don't have the emotional or mental fortitude to deal with these fears without outside help from things like God or guns.
Just like artillery shells during WWII would have "To Adolph" written on them, people inscribe "With God's vengeance" on them. Some just say, "Kill them all and let God sort them out".
Whoever fools with us dies by the sword
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Anonymous
(25-29)
+1 y
Makes me wonder, if you have god on your side, what do you need a gun for? Is his not capable of protecting his followers?
The same reason God had the Israelites kill their, and God's, evil enemies. God could have done it himself, but he wanted the Israelites to learn to protect themselves against their enemies.
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With God and Gun phrase is derived from 2 places and evolve around Righteousnes💥 -The first being Bible and concept of Righteous War upon breaking YHWH/Israel Covenant Contract. When one violates contract then one is at odds with other Party and there will be LEGITIMATE Consequences from righteous struggle💥 -From Bible came Terms of Engagement in Warfare: War Criminal (Putin) violations are Cause for Righteous War or response💥
With GOD (righteous blessing) & GUN I will sustain and end the unrighteous behaviors that Hitler or Putin are committing. In essence any violation of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights, is Cause for Righteous Act to correct Unrighteousness. The Bill of Rights themselves, according to the Founders, are grounded upon the Bible and the 10 Commandments.-The Righteous Law of God, Almighty ‼️
Hypocrisy. I suppose it might be different in parts of the world where other religions predominate (I think that referring to Yahweh as "God" was thought up by the same people who decided to call the moon "Moon"), but there's no reasonable way a follower of Jesus "Blessed are the peacemakers"/"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends" Christ is going to be gung-ho for violence.
I'm an agnostic, but the Bible doesn't depict Jesus as being against self defense, just being against INITIATING violence or conflict. In other words, don't start fights, but defend yourself as necessary.
It strikes me as being against INITIATING violence. And INITIATING violence is exactly what professional swordsmen and private soldiers/mercenaries were paid to do. It's what criminals, drug-dealers, and gang-bangers do today.
Not that the Old Testament is directly applicable to Christians (Jesus essentially brought in new, simplified rules), but in the Ten Commandments, the one that we normally say as "Thou shalt not kill" is actually a mistranslation. The correct translation is "Thou shalt not MURDER." That's an important distinction. Murder is the killing of an innocent person. If you kill someone in self-defense, because they were attacking you and posed a deadly threat, that's not murder, it's a justifiable homicide. The person who attacked you was NOT innocent, therefore the death that resulted in you defending yourself is not murder.
@MrOracle The problem with "Legal 101" stuff is that Jesus was calling on people to go beyond that- to "go the extra mile" and "turn the other cheek". But my point actually goes a bit beyond that- even if self-defense (or open declarations of such; part of gun culture mentality is that openly possessing a gun means you're much less likely to have to use one) is acceptable, the typical "God and gun" folks argue WAY beyond the idea of being able to protect themselves.
You could be right about those specific folks taking it too far - I'm from California, so we don't often hear this phrase or people using it. I suspect that much of it is just bluster, and not an accurate depiction of their actual beliefs, though there's always going to be a few who DO believe every word.
You must also remember that a lot of those folks live a very rural life, and if you've never lived that life yourself, you may not realize that those folks have NO ONE to depend upon but themselves for their safety (and for a lot of other things as well), and having the constant pressure of having their self-defense tools (i. e., guns) taken away gets really old, and makes some people very cranky and belligerent. I have relatives in Oregon and Arkansas who have 911 response times of 30+ minutes, because they live in low-population counties that are very spread-out. If someone comes to harm them, the most the police can do is take a report of the aftermath - there is zero hope or expectation of any outside help, police or otherwise. As such, these folks tend to be armed at all times, and feel that attacks on their gun rights are an existential threat - and they're right. So it's a bit more understandable if they are overly strident about these things than you or I would be.
@MrOracle That's true; I life a more urban life, and it's important to remember that sometimes bluster, while more than bluster, is more about long-term than immediate intent.
At least in the United States, both men and women have the right to bear arms provided they can demonstrate the mental capacity to make good choices. When you need to weapon eyes a religion to justify initiating the use of force against another person or people, you have crossed the line into no longer being a religion.
I don't know but those are the two things I put my trust on, on God and my gun, I know at the right time, God is going to guide my bullets if I ever gotta use it.
Every gun toting Republican who's been saying "they're trying to take my guns away" for the past 100 years in the united states, when it is never going to happen.
341 opinions shared on Religion & Spirituality topic.
I have never heard that phrase before. I have no idea what that means.
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Anonymous
(36-45)
+1 y
An idiot that probably wants to storm the US capitol because they think they are oppressed and can overthrow a government with hella more resources. Not the brightest of dudes really.
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