What Would Jesus Shoot?

[MineralMan]

Today, millions of kids are marching out there about gun control and safety in their schools. Some of them are Christians. Others are essentially non-religious. The numbers of non-religious young people are growing.

So, they're all out there marching. What message are religious organizations sending out about this. In some parts of the country, the dominant Christian denominations are populated with the same people who support the NRA and encourage firearms as a solutions to all sorts of problems.

But, what would their Jesus say about their obsession with devices designed to kill people? Well, here's something he was supposed to have said when soldiers came for him:

Matthew 26:52-54 ESV
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?”

There were no firearms when Jesus was supposed to have lived. Just swords. Those were the killing machines of the day.

So, what would Jesus shoot, if he lived today? Nothing. He'd have told his followers to put their guns away. Same message.

Are Christians listening to these marching kids? Probably not, which is why more and more of them are rejecting religion altogether.

The time has come.

[safeinOhio]

1. About as close as he ever got to violence

was turning over the tables of the money changers.

[MineralMan]

2. So it is written, anyhow.

It's a good story, true or not.

[Pope George Ringo II]

3. A nail gun?

Has to be a nail gun.

[MineralMan]

4. There you go. I'm pretty sure I saw him on a roof the other day.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Three nails per shingle, as fast as you can pull the trigger.

[Pope George Ringo II]

5. Little known fact:

Despite being described as a Carpenter, he never actually sang on any of their albums.

[MineralMan]

6. I heard that Karen had a huge crush on him, though.

[Permanut]

7. Precisely..

My understanding of Christianity, based on having read the entire Bible page by page three times, is that today's Christians should be leading the marches. One of the many reasons I have pulled away from my Christian roots.

[MineralMan]

10. "Blessed are the peacemakers"

It doesn't read, "Blessed are the gunowners."

[Angry Dragon]

8. and spears

[struggle4progress]

9. ... The most basic principle of Catholic social thought is that every human person is endowed by God

The most basic principle of Catholic social thought is that every human person is endowed by God with life and dignity, and the degree to which life is protected and dignity is enhanced is the exact measure of justice in a society. The fact that the United States, alone among the large industrialized nations, suffers from these repeated mass shootings is an affront to human life and dignity of the most basic and obvious sort ...

while families and communities can and should take the lead in efforts to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental health issues, and generally provide care for such individuals beyond merely keeping them away from guns, it is only at the federal level that gun control legislation is possible.

Conservatives and National Rifle Association flunkies cite the high levels of gun violence in cities like Chicago, which has strict gun control laws, as evidence that such laws are not effective. But unless the state of Illinois wants to turn its borders with other states into a series of Checkpoint Charlies of the kind that marked the border between East and West Berlin during the Cold War, guns from states with lax laws can easily be transported to states with stiff laws.

Subsidiarity demands action at the only level of government that will be efficacious, the federal level ...

Catholic social doctrine sheds light on how to combat gun violence
Feb 28, 2018
by Michael Sean Winters
https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/catholic-social-doctrine-sheds-light-how-combat-gun-violence