North Carolina Council of Churches Pits 2nd Commandment vs. 2nd Amendment

[InTheLight]

The amount of eye-rolling this article induced has really strengthened my extraocular muscles.
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N.C. churches erect billboard opposing gun violence



MEBANE, N.C. — “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” says the Second Commandment.

That quote, along with a giant photograph of a pile of guns and ammunition, is splashed across a new billboard that has gone up along the interstate highway near Mebane, N.C.

The billboard is from the North Carolina Council of Churches, a statewide organization representing 18 Christian denominations in the state and 6,200 individual congregations. About 1.5 million North Carolinians are members of congregations under the council’s umbrella, the council says.

The goal is to “guide the conversation” over gun safety, which now is too often linked to the U.S. Constitution’s second amendment permitting the right to bear arms, said Council Executive Director Jennifer Copeland.

Christians need to think about the Second Commandment, too, she said.

“God commands the people not to have any idols,” said Copeland. “Idols can assume a lot of guises in our world that we don’t immediately understand as idolatry.

“For many of us, guns have become the symbol of safety, the idol we turn to because we believe in them to keep us safe,” she said.

 

[Baptist Believer]

Certainly, some people have made their guns idols -- believing that simply having a gun is a guarantee of safety or power. But human beings are quite capable of making just about anything an idol.

I think it is fair to ask the question as to whether or not guns or a certain view of the Second Amendment have become the guiding force and/or the things we serve with our lives. If that is the case, then people should repent of their idolatry and put aside their guns.

But I doubt most gun owners are in that position, so the message of the bulletin board is a non-starter.

It kind of reminds me of times where I am told of a crime where someone is "killed by a gun." I also ask will all earnestness, "Did the gun do it alone or did it have an accomplice?" I am opposed to guns going around killing people according to their own will, but that doesn't seem to be the nature of the problem.

If people don't act with hostility to my question, we can have a rational conversation about the role of guns in society. If not, then we probably weren't going to have a meaningful conversation anyway. Good and meaningful conversations about guns are few and far between these days.

 

[InTheLight]

People do not worship guns. That act of worship is a necessary element of idolatry. The billboard is silly.

 

[Rob_BW]

Never heard of them.

 

[just-want-peace]

Desperation & desperate people create some really weird "STUFF"!
Just consider the current suit against Trump et al by the DESPERATE left!!

 

[carpro]

Idiotic ad.

 

[ChrisTheSaved]

Liberals infect any easy job, that includes many para church orgs. Para church orgs hurt more than they ever help.

 

[Alcott]

What other idols ought to be there? Door locks? Insurance cards? Surgical tools? Cell phones? Shrinks' couches? Irons doors? Cannabis joints? Statues of ML King? The Lincoln Memorial? The Statue of Liberty? Food stamps?...........................

 

[1689Dave]

I think fear of death drives gun sales. And guns can be an idol we trust in, thinking that it will circumvent God's appointed time for us to die. But not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father, nor does one hair of our head perish without him.

“And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27) (NET)

Once we overcome the fear of death, we will not need a gun. But will see any means of death God sends as a blessing, and as our passage into heaven.

“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) (NET)

 

[Aaron]

I think fear of death drives gun sales. And guns can be an idol we trust in, thinking that it will circumvent God's appointed time for us to die. But not a sparrow falls to the ground without the Father, nor does one hair of our head perish without him.

“And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life?” (Matthew 6:27) (NET)

Once we overcome the fear of death, we will not need a gun. But will see any means of death God sends as a blessing, and as our passage into heaven.

“For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” (Philippians 1:21) (NET)

Is that you, Crabtownboy?

Anyway. I think love drives gun sales. Love for freedom. Love for one's neighbor. A hatred of violence.

 

[1689Dave]

Is that you, Crabtownboy?

Anyway. I think love drives gun sales. Love for freedom. Love for one's neighbor. A hatred of violence.

Do you believe God's word? Or prefer the carnal mindset of paganism?

 

[Rob_BW]

Do you believe God's word? Or prefer the carnal mindset of paganism?

There's a third choice: false dichotomies.

 

[1689Dave]

There's a third choice: false dichotomies.

Do you think everyone has an appointed time of death according to scripture?

 

[Rob_BW]

Was it fear of death tht drove my decision to buy my deer rifle, or the shotgun I use to hunt dove? Was it fear of death that drove my decision to add a Japanese Type 99 rifle to my collection of WWII rifles? Was it a fear of death that drove my decision to pick up a Bulgarian AKM clone, a weapon that I already had a bayonet from Iraq for, at a gunshow years ago? Was it fear of death that drove my decision to buy a heavy barreled AR-15 so that I could compete in local matches?

Don't throw out broad generalizations about about gun ownership based on your uninformed characterization of gun owners without expecting some disagreement.

 

[1689Dave]

Was it fear of death tht drove my decision to buy my deer rifle, or the shotgun I use to hunt dove? Was it fear of death that drove my decision to add a Japanese Type 99 rifle to my collection of WWII rifles? Was it a fear of death that drove my decision to pick up a Bulgarian AKM clone, a weapon that I already had a bayonet from Iraq for, at a gunshow years ago? Was it fear of death that drove my decision to buy a heavy barreled AR-15 so that I could compete in local matches?

Don't throw out broad generalizations about about gun ownership based on your uninformed characterization of gun owners without expecting some disagreement.

Only if you were afraid of starving to death......

 

[Rob_BW]

Only if you were afraid of starving to death......

I'm pretty sure if I calculated my expenses per pound of dove, caviar would probably be cheaper...

 

[1689Dave]

I'm pretty sure if I calculated my expenses per pound of dove, caviar would probably be cheaper...

That is great. But I think the gist of the article and my reply to it centered on gun violence using human beings as targets and prey.

 

[Rob_BW]

Do you think everyone has an appointed time of death according to scripture?

I'll go back to your point above, when Matthew Murray was murdering churchgoers in Colorado, did Jeaane Assam thwart God's will by ending his life?

 

[1689Dave]

I'll go back to your point above, when Matthew Murray was murdering churchgoers in Colorado, did Jeaane Assam thwart God's will by ending his life?

It was God's will or it would not have taken place. “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:” (Ephesians 1:11) (KJV 1900)

 

[Rob_BW]

Well, then we should leave it to the individual to discern whether it's their day to be a martyr or a protector.