Quote of the Week
Brought to you by…
Adam Kotsko & Mark Lockard
Ok, technically two quotes this week but they come from the same article so we’ll let it slide. Most of you already know how I feel about guns but I read this piece by Mark Lockard on Sojourners yesterday and it struck me for two reasons. First, I have always left some wiggle room in my mind for an argument of self-defense. To address that argument, Lockard quoted Professor Adam Kotsko…
“Guns are devices for causing grave bodily injury, up to and including death. That’s their express purpose. Pretending that the purpose of a gun is to “defend yourself” is euphemism and sophistry. You cannot directly “defend yourself” using a gun. It’s not a shield or a barricade. Nor can you shoot bullets that will intercept or deflect those being shot at you. You “defend yourself” with a gun only indirectly by threatening to kill someone — or actually wounding or killing them.”
Second, Lockard speaks specifically to a Christian audience. His article is mostly moot if you are not a follower of Christ.
Guns are made for dealing death. And if they’re not made for the death of an animal, that means they’re made for the death of a human. And given that reality, I see no way to reconcile owning handguns, assault rifles, and the like with the reality of Christ, which is fundamentally about dealing life. Not death… The Christ I know is one of life and peace, even in the face of death. Christ shows us that even if we can’t avoid death, much as we might like to because we are human and a fear of death is natural, we know that life wins out. This is what we’re asked to affirm when faced with the empty tomb.
You can read the full article here.
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Photo details: St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD. Each shirt represents one of the people killed by firearms in the Washington area in 2013 (176, btw).