I fully intended to stay out of this, but i will offer three quotes.

"An armed society is a polite society."

"When you are 'carrying', you have a duty to be nice."

"GOD made man, Samuel Colt made them equal."


GOD gave me life, and I don't intend to give it up with out a fight.


May THE LORD Bless you all, as you preserve what HE has given you.


Charlie

I'm in Michigan currently

And super glad a young person is even reading Scripture!!!!!!

Blessings,
Mark

Amen Mark.

That was my thought too… not just reading, but learning and seeking to live them !

I think you did a fine job on proving your point. Very respectful in your replies too. Had me paging through my bible last night. Amen brother!

Chris

Thanks!

John 15:13

Mike

Can't disagree with you necessarily.

Reminds me of a story. There were heavy rains. A man sat on his roof because the water covered the entire lower part of his house.

A man in a boat came by.. He told the man on the roof, "Jump in my boat."

But, the man on the roof said, "Thanks, but I'm waiting for God to save me."

The water rose higher and was half way up the roof forcing the man to move higher.

Then another person in a boat came by and said to the man, "Slide down into my boat and I'll take you to high ground."

"No thanks," the man said. "I trust God will save me."

Now, the water is up to the peak of the roof. The man is straddling the peak.

A helicopter hovers and drops a basket. "Get in the basket and we'll hoist you up!"

But, once again the man declines the offer and eventually the water swallows the entire house and the man drowns.

He gets to heaven where he meets St Peter. "I'm so disappointed. God didn't save me from drowning."

St Peter said, "What are you talking about? He sent you two boats and a helicopter!"

^^^^That's a good one!^^^^

Chris

The ten commandments were delivered to Moses fairly early in the Old Testament, in Exodus. That is where God decreed that you should not commit murder. But after giving that commandment, God led his people into battle again and again... even getting mad when they chose to spare women and children instead of killing them. So I think it's pretty safe to say that, in God's opinion, killing and murder is NOT the same thing.

Here is God commanding his chosen people in Deuteronomy 20: 16-18

16 But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee:

18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God.

Good post Yote. Had Joshua followed God's order, I don't think we would be anywhere near the mess we are in now. I think the same holds true for each and every one of our lives.

Pacifists roots run deep, some having their start with the Essene's lost gospels. The Essene's were a large group that existed a couple hundred years at the BCE-CE cross over. They are not made note of in the bible as are the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The historian Josephus does make note of them.
Many people give them credibility because of their part in the affiliation with having saved the scrolls in the Dead Sea Scrolls. While they are not in the bible as we know it, they did or do have their own gospels and people still adhere to some of their notions, even tho they won't admit it. But when they are in conflict with the standards I go by, then what am I to think?
My wife and I have had encounters with them at church and entertained them in our home. The ones we knew were vegetarians and against violence of any kind. I knew before hand they were anti-gun so I moved my guns from the kitchen and living area to a back bedroom so as not to offend anyone. I did however over look a K-bar knife on the windowsill and the second time they came, the guy noticed it and asked me what that was for, as if maybe it was a weapon. I said it was for skinning deer. I guess he reasoned I skinned deer before I ate them, therefore must have killed them also.
After they left I told my wife I thought he could use some anger management, because I thought I saw steam coming out his ears! That was their last time at our place, I asked them not to come back.

During that encounter we learned they knew a lot of Greek and explained how wine was grape juice, and any type of alcohol was sin. Jesus did not sin, therefore he never drank wine nor would he have made it. Also since Jesus was not violent he would not have killed a fish nor eaten one. Thus Jesus fed the multitude with grapes and bread, not fish and bread.

They told some others we weren't teachable, lol. While I may have offended the weak with my meat, they never offended me because I didn't want their sour grapes anyway.

Good post Foxpaw.

No honest person can read the Bible (no matter which version) and come away with that line of thinking. Its not the the Truth, but rather a religion...man's attempt to reconcile himself with a Holy God.

If the OT is not relevant in our lives, then why does Jesus quote from it constantly?

Great post