Okay, so this question is sparked by the movie "End of the Spear."
If you were on a missions trip and you were violently attacked, would you defend yourself with deadly force? Could you knowingly end the life of a person who did not know Jesus?
Now, you may be jumping out of your skin at me even suggesting that, but - what if you were at the mall? Would it matter? Would you be able to defend yourself with deadly force if you were not on a missions trip?
What if it were not you, but your child/parent/spouse/sibling/friend in any of the above situations?
Commence Discussion! :)
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26 replies on this topic
Lex - 4/17/11 @ 12:48 PM
Someone is trying to start a full out brawl here :3
Lex - 4/17/11 @ 12:51 PM
lol, personally, in all honesty, in a missionary field, I would say that I would not do it and let myself be killed, which is strange, because that is easy to say in the comfort of my own room. But I honestly think I would fall dependent on whether or not He would let me survive this.
However, let's say someone breaks into my own home five, ten years from now. Well I don't think I would kill them, but I would very badly hurt them in the intent of making sure my family was safe first.
Stephanie - 4/17/11 @ 1:10 PM
Haha, no brawls!! haha, no, I really just want everyone's opinion. until I saw that movie I had never thought about how self-defense may or may not be wrong for a Christian. I agree, I think that I would use self defense here, but probably not on the mission field; but like you said, its easy to say that now.
But then, there is the scripture about turning the other cheek? lol, I need to read some commentaries probably - haha!
asfaffa - 4/17/11 @ 1:25 PM
I'm not sure... All I know is, is that Jesus could've fought back and He didn't, and all of His disciples did for Him and Simon Peter cut an ear off the high priest's servant but Jesus healed him and told His disciples to stop fighting... And yeah, it says to turn the other cheek. Lol
Lex - 4/17/11 @ 1:49 PM
Well He said those who live by the sword, die by the sword. I noticed that anytime violence was a-ok'd by God in the Bible was when.... He a-ok'd it 8O
I think it does make sense for a believer to lay their life before a non-believer, because our death may be what was needed to open the eyes of a non-believer and in the long-run, though as much as I like living, knowing that I will be going up there after this life anyways, it would be a duh answer to go with. That and knowing that my death will allow another to experience that joy as well would be a duh choice as well. I think it was Peter or Paul who couldn't wait to die too lol
Alex - 4/17/11 @ 2:37 PM
If it came to my family and my wife and myself, I hate to say it but I have a different view on this, letting someone kill you and your family or injure you would be just as bad as killing yourself,.... When it comes to my family,...I'm sorry but I would have to say I would kill.. I know its not "Christian" like but I have my reasons as to why I believe it is right to defend yourself and all that you love.
I believe that God doesn't want you to stand there and do nothing just because someone isn't saved... thats pretty much suicide knowing you will die and let it happen. Because if they are forcing this death upon themselves means their time is over and that they had their chances to turn to God and still refuse. I wouldn't necessarily kill that person, or I wouldn't mean to, I would just be defending myself and those whom I love.
Thats of course if they won't listen to reason first...I would try to talk them out of it of course but if they refused, I would have to defend
Jordan Dean - 4/17/11 @ 3:30 PM
If it were just my life at stake then I'd be fine with dying because death is something I am patiently waiting for and I honestly can't wait to be in Heaven (not suicidal here) but if my family's lives were at risk then I'd do anything to protect them including murdering someone saved or unsaved.
Vanessa - 4/17/11 @ 4:08 PM
In theory, I would defend myself but not to the point of killing the other person. If the life of a non-Christian was at stake, it becomes a bit tougher to say. If my family was at risk, I would hope that I would defend them as best I could without killing the attacker, but as they are all Christians, I don't think it would be right of me to kill to save them (not that i don't love my family, because i really do). However, all that is far easier said than done and I'd probably end up just acting on instinct.
Alyssa Faith Mark. Rep - 4/17/11 @ 5:39 PM
I would defend my self, If I had to. Im very much about self-defense. Every person should take a self-defense course. Especially women! :)
Godschild - 4/20/11 @ 11:09 AM
I would ask God to give me the strength to defend myself, because in the end if God wanted you to die your going to die you know ? I guess I would rather go down fighting for what I believed in than just take it .
Redemption - 4/20/11 @ 11:17 AM
If every Christian let every non-Christian kill them; there'd be no one left to spread Jesus' love. Thus, defeating the purpose of Christianity as a whole.
Jon - 4/20/11 @ 11:27 AM
I would defend myself. I would try my best not to kill them however.
Japlace - 4/20/11 @ 1:09 PM
If it was my family, I defend them with the intentions of saving their lives, not ending others. I would definitely try to defend with OUT using deadly force, but I would not willingly stand by and watch my family die.
Now in the case of End of the Spear, I certainly pray that I would be as heroic and understanding as those men were. They had faith and trust in God beyond what I know. It is hard to truly put yourself in that situation and BE HONEST. Of course you do not want to kill, but do you wanna die? That is the question. Are you ready to die?
And @Brink. But defending Christianity by committing murder (against God) just to protect it isnt right. God works beyond our minds, and so any type of defense we can muster up does not matter at all. ALL of our strength and might and power comes by God, not one bit of our own, all God.
just a perspective to look from.
SheepAmongWolves - 4/20/11 @ 3:15 PM
I have to agree with Alex. Allowing yourself to simply be killed wen you don't have to is basically the same as suicide. We are to preserve life whenever possible which includes our own. I can't imagine many situations when the only defense option is deadly force. I've never seen that movie so I don't know the particular scenario that sparked this thought, but you usually have quite a few options other than murder when you're attacked. It would seem to me that in any situation where you have the opportunity to save yourself using deadly force, then you could also use that same force in a non lethal way. Unless you're some kind of mutant and kill people with one punch or have some sort of pistol that fires nuclear warheads lol. At my MMA gym, they teach us what is basically an order of operations for situations in which we're attacked.
Run rather than hurt,
hurt rather than maim,
maim rather than kill,
kill or be killed
Zombie Pickles - 4/20/11 @ 4:09 PM
Jesus sent his disciples out with swords. I don't know if that applies here. But I just thought I throw it out there.
Redemption - 4/21/11 @ 6:04 AM
Zombie- exactly.
God doesn't want us to stand around. He wants us to fight for Him. Right?
I think it's one of those situations where you just have to decide what's right for the moment. If someone's bashing you mentally- it's probably more Godly to hold our tongues. If someone's physically hurting you, you need to guard yourself.
Sandi - 4/21/11 @ 4:38 PM
I was on a missions trip and this guy tried to kidnap me. It wasn't all that violent at all, but I was prepared to defend myself, and the other missionaries came to my aid. It was instinctual. We didn't think twice. They saw I was in trouble and they immediately surrounded me, and took him away. He then tried to steal my passport... it was just all odd..
Redemption - 4/22/11 @ 11:25 AM
Sandi- that does sound odd... wow. Was it at the airport or actually in the country where you were doing missions? That's crazy. I can't imagine being in that situation.
Zombie Pickles - 4/23/11 @ 8:03 AM
Yeah, God gave us teh self defense instinct. So why wouldn't we use it.
Stephanie - 4/23/11 @ 8:36 AM
Self defense and lethal force are two very different things. I dont know that I could end the life of someone who wasnt a Christian...and especially if I was on the mission field.