Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Biblical Justification - Luke 11:21

dedicated to Bob S. and all the other biblical justifiers.

This is what happens when gun-rights people try to use the Bible to justify that which cannot be justified.
According the Bible the Lord Jesus Christ says “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.”(Luke 11 verse 21) The second amendment states “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the rights of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (The Constitution of the United States) This is a right to every American Citizen. Therefore, the gun control legislation that takes away some American Citizens right to bear arms is in violation of the second amendment.
That sounds like a pretty good correlation. I mean, Jesus himself said it, right.

Here's how John Gill interprets this verse.

By the strong man, is meant the devil; (See Gill on Matthew 12:29) and who may be said to be "armed", both with his own temptations, which are as fiery darts, and which are thrown by him thick and fast, suddenly and swiftly, privily, and with great art and cunning, and with great strength, and are very injurious; and also with the sins and lusts of men, which are armour of unrighteousness, and which Satan turns upon them, and makes use of against them, to their great detriment; and who
keepeth his palace:
which is the corrupt heart of an unregenerate man, where he dwells as a king, has his throne, keeps his court, and has his courtiers, and attendants, the lusts of the flesh, and the desires of the will, and the carnal affections; and which, as filthy a palace as it is, is perfectly agreeable to his nature; and this is kept by a guard of devils, and worldly lusts, till its strong holds are demolished by the Gospel, and Christ the King of glory enters in; till such time,
his goods are in peace:
there is no concern in such an heart about sin, no uneasiness on that account, no sense of danger, nor inquiry after salvation; no dread upon the mind at the curses of the law, nor fears of hell, and damnation; but such a man lives in entire security, crying Peace, Peace, to himself.
Now who would have thought it meant that? Certainly not the author of that silly 2nd Amendment apology. It takes a theologian to do that.

Even reading the Latin Vulgate which was THE Bible for over a 1000 years, you might not get it.

cum fortis armatus custodit atrium suum in pace sunt ea quae possidet
"fortis armatus" sure looks like "strong man, armed."

From the Greek, it's no easier.

ὅταν ὁ ἰσχυρὸς καθωπλισμένος φυλάσσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ αὐλήν, ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐστὶ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ·

"ἰσχυρὸς καθωπλισμένος" also looks like "strong man, armed," except for the fact that this particular biblical use of "strong man" refers to "the devil."

What's your opinion?  Isn't it pretty silly when pro-gun guys get all pseudo-intellectual on us and try to quote the Bible?  Isn't it embarrassing when they get it so wrong?

Please leave a comment.

10 comments:

  1. "What's your opinion? Isn't it pretty silly when pro-gun guys get all pseudo-intellectual on us and try to quote the Bible? Isn't it embarrassing when they get it so wrong?"

    Your questions are always tinged with sarcasm and prejudice.

    But I can agree, I dislike anyone using versus of any religious belief to back up their views.
    I do not like the way the Westboro Baptist group interprets their reading of the bible, I don't like it when radical Muslims misread the Koran, I don't like it when the Protestant English attempted to use religion to exterminate millions of Catholic Irish.

    Now, all that being said, and understanding that I don't like it one bit, I can also step over and realize the have every RIGHT to say/believe it.

    The bible, IMHO, is full of contradictions, between the Old Testament and the new. It is one reason I stay away from recognizing any one religion.
    I believe in a higher power, just not any ones religions written description of it.

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  2. Mike, I had to get right back to you. I did a little cross checking and found stats and maps which co-relate almost exactly diabetes, pass port ownership, gun ownership and deaths by fire arms....
    You could over lay the maps and just get a deeper and deeper shade of BLACK! Thank you for the suggestion.

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  3. by the way, dannytheman, The Westboro Baptist Church is not a religion. They are a scam run by lawyers to deliberately piss people off into reacting so they can sue their asses. Police forces, towns and if they are lucky some one who just won the powerball lottery.
    Their only morality is sheer and utter GREED!

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  4. I'm and atheist and it's disconcerting that people would use the bible as their primary justification for public policy.

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  5. WBC is a government recognized religious institution, and is therefore tax exempt. The church describes itself as following Primitive Baptist and Calvinist principles.

    OK, they think they are a church group, and they are tax exempt as a church, so??

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  6. Danny, there are a couple of ways in which the Phelps family are deficient as a real church.

    Like not having any member who is actually a trained or ordained member of the faith they claim to practice.

    Or the fact they are widely classified not as a church, but as a hate group, regardless of tax status.

    Or the fact that the religion they claim to follow is not what they actually profess, and they are repudiated by the organizations that actually DO follow primitive Baptist and/or Calvinist doctrines.

    But of course, to know the difference, you have to first know what the doctrines are of primitive Baptists and Calvinists and other varieties of Christianity, both modern and historical.

    I don't know all that many people who can speak with any depth on their own religion, much less on any others. MikeB pointed that out here, brilliantly.

    You kinda underlined that for him, I think.

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  7. Sorry on the Westboro reference, I have to admit I only read the Wikpedia brief on them and him.
    My point is that I hate peoples personal interpretations of religion.

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  8. Westboro is what it is. A group of a-holes. They are not Baptist and they are not a church. They may meet a few qualifications in order to meet IRS standards but that makes them only more despicable.

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  9. So, can I take it that we all agree biblical justification for gun ownership is foolish?

    C'mon, I know there are others out there who are just champing at the bit to defend this crap. Where's Bob S. when we really need him?

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  10. Actually nothing in the original Greek says anything at all about the Devil. Gill was a Hyper-Calvinist. His Interpretation of this passage is utter nonsense. The word Devil or Satan is not found ANYWHERE in the original Greek text, the Devil is not even implied. Below is the original Greek followed by the word for word English translation.

    ὅταν ὁ ἰσχυρὸς καθωπλισμένος φυλάσσῃ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ αὐλήν, ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐστὶ τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτοῦ·

    ὅταν when
    ὁ the
    ἰσχυρὸς strong [man]
    καθωπλισμένος being armed
    φυλάσσῃ might keep
    τὴν the
    ἑαυτοῦ of himself
    αὐλήν house
    ἐν in
    εἰρήνῃ peace
    ἐστὶν are
    τὰ the
    ὑπάρχοντα possessions
    αὐτοῦ of him

    ReplyDelete