Will you defend your family against attack or let them be killed?

is not that what the apostle peter did in the garden of Gethsemane? he did not stand idle while his master that he loved more then everything, he left his family and father and work to follow him, and his natural instinct was to defend the Lord Jesus. What did Jesus command him and tell him?

First we need to consider if someone attacks us, that God has allowed them to, just like God allowed satan to kill all of Jobs children God may allow something to happened to us that is beyond our understanding. but his ways are over our ways.

I think it may be not wise to set up a absolute law for this scenario.

But i have always said to muslims, why they need to defend their faith with the sword if their God is so mighty? I guess it is the same for us.

I cant remember what sermon Keith Daniel shares he was attacked by two men with a large knife, and as they cut into him and the blood started flowing, he started to pray for them and they where amazed and stopped, and he screamed after them "I want to see you in heaven" , i miss a lot, maybe someone can post the link if they remember the name of the sermon?

maybe in some cases God lead someone to defend themselves, i cant find any NT examples in my memory, but there may be anyway :-)

anyhow, it is not wise to give absolutes here i think, to say a man that will trust God with his family in all things is doing evil for not raising his hand against an enemy is not good either, and vice versa.

As i understand my bible we should not use violence ever, except when chasing out the moneychangers from our churches.

other then that i cant find Jesus doing it so i will not either. But the test still stands since i have not been in the situation myself, if it where to happened it may be so i will react with my natural man and in a moment raise up and do otherwise. But i pray that i would be in Gods will in all things.

Why the questiion?

In the OT, we find the law saying, "Thou shalt not kill." Although the term râtsach could mean both premeditated, unpremeditated, or accidental killing, its use in the Bible is almost always indicative of premeditated killing which we call murder. Warfare (or protecting your family for that matter) was treated as another thing entirely. Remember, the same God who told Israel not to murder also commanded them to go to war for the land that He was giving them. Not only that, but they were told to leave nothing alive of the people they were replacing.

But we live under the new covenant right? Some would say that the standard is now higher than under the old covenant, as though the old law has been replaced by a more comprehensive law that now judges motive along with action. The book of Hebrews is very plain on the matter. The old covenant has not been amended or revised, it has been abolished. Did you know that the law that said we should not wear clothing that was a blend of two fabrics (i.e. wool/cotton blend) and the law that said we should not eat pork are equally part of the law that says we should not commit murder. The ten commandments do not hold some kind of special status in the law that prevented their abolishment as well. The law is the law, all of it.

So that means we can kill right? What did Paul say in Romans? Since we are free from the law, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we who are dead to sin, free from sin, live any longer therein? What is sin? Well, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. All other falls under this category. Disobedience is sin. We are to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh. We do this by being obedient to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and to the written Word. If the Holy Spirit prompts us to go speak to a neighbor and we disobey, it is sin unto us. The new covenant is NOT the law plus a further addendum that raises the bar. The New covenant is absolute abolishment and nullification of the old covenant, including the ten commandments. Is the "standard" higher under the new covenant? The problem with this question is that is starts with a faulty premise, that being that we are still trying to be right with God by keeping a "standard" at all. We are to live by the spirit, not by a "standard" of godliness written down in rules, regulations, thou shalts, and thou shalt nots. We walk in the spirit, not in the flesh. Israel could not do that. Their entire relationship with God was bound up in keeping ordinances. Praise God I am free from ordinances.

Praise God that my sin was forgiven and dealt with 2000 years ago. Praise God that 1 John 1:9 applies to me as a believer. Praise God that if I forget to confess a sin, my spirit which has been perfected forever (Hebrews 10:14) does not become "un-born again". Praise God I live under grace.

God has given me a family and ordained that I be the head of that family. In that, I am called to serve my family, teach my family, lead my family, and protect my family. I made a vow on my wedding day to protect my wife. I personally would not think twice about pulling out my firearm and using it to protect my wife or children were a "meth crazed" intruder to come through my door trying to harm them. I am believing God actively that this scenario never happen. I see this as different entirely from my wife giving her life as a martyr from Christ, or myself for that matter.

Hope I have explained my opinion clearly. There is a lot of explanation involved that is a bit difficult to verbalize.

much wisdom you have shared brothers, my mind do caught something you shared, we all i believe would like to if nessacary die as a martyr for our faith to Christ, not that we would concider ourselves worthy to such a great honor. But if needed i hope i could be faithful to him.

But if the intruders come and before we can do anything they would say i am here to kill you for your faith in Christ, would we lower our firearm then and let them kill our families?

i know this is kind of ignorant question, and maybe should not be asked? but i find the whole starting question to be somewhat fussy when we start out with a "what if". Anyway, to me it seem strange we would not do any resistance when they kill us for the Lord but if any other reason we would.

Cant really phrase it that well, it just dont sit quite right in my spirit. But i thank you for sharing your thoughts, i have somethings to ponder.

Gods grace and peace.

Strange how we say we would give our lives without resistance as a martyr for Christ.
Yet we go to war and destroy countless numbers of lives to prevent the possibility of such a thing from ever happening.
Just a thought,

lee

DeepThinker wrote:
Depending on the circumstances. But I would probably do a spin or a cartwheel and really do some damage. My policy would be to shoot first and ask questions later.

you should really ask first if he is there to kill you as a christian or just a normal killing, if a christian you cant kill him since Jesus told us not to, rather when we are persucuted then we are blessed. But if no then shoot him by all means.

Hi chapel...

Yet we go to war and destroy countless numbers of lives to prevent the possibility of such a thing from ever happening.

For instance, in regard to the question in this thread, we might lament the potential loss of an attacker who might not have another opportunity to come to Christ. Yet, what about the lives of those who are in the home? Since each person is called to "work out their own salvation with fear and trembling," then those individuals in our home might deserve the same sort of sympathy.

I agree with Krispy that this topic can cause debate. At the same time, it is very similar to those countless "non-resistance" threads that extend a particular view of non-resistance toward these sort of possible scenarios. While this particular question may be hypothetical scenario, it is just as hypothetical as a scenario regarding potential martyrdom. I have yet to meet a physical martyr; although, I have met men and women who have died while working in foreign lands, and even some who have been imprisoned for the work of the Lord. Yet I have met several individuals who have been attacked for reasons other than their faith.

I also agree with Krispy and others that a man has a duty to take care of the needs of his family. I believe that if a man's family is attacked, he should react accordingly -- whether they are attacked by a lion, a bear or an attacker. Of course, I don't think that any believing man will premeditatedly kill an intruder or an attacker. The goal is not to kill, but to stop the attack and protect the lives of those within your care.

Another opinion in answer to your question,
Can Christians Use Violence to Protect their Family?

This response to is from pages 70-74 of The Kingdom that Turned the World Upside Down © David Bercot. Used by permission.

http://loveyourenemies.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/can-christians-use-violence-to-protect-their-family-2/

KrispyKrittr wrote:
6,000,000 people were exterminated by the Nazi's in WWII. I guess as good Christians we should have done nothing.

Krispy

If i am not mistaken, i may be, did not Hitler offer both Great Brittan and America to take all the jews and he would ship them first class? did not some coutries even send back boats fully loaded with jews back to germany? So yes it could have been avoided even before the extermination, but then again, we have a sovereign God who is in controll. It is he who gives nations and stop wars, gives victories etc. True God may used those who did something, late but better late then never. He may have stirred their hearts of nations leaders or something, i do not know. And in regards to this issue i dont have all the answers, but the cowboy spirit of "ill shot first ask later" is not the spirit of Jesus, Jesus did not walk like that, myself is not perfect, i am not forcing people to adopt my beliefs or convictions either, but to me scripture points me to the Lord Jesus, he is love, he is the one we follow, and if in some area I act or speak in a way unlike Him, i want to repent of that. To live by those heavenly principals he lived by.

I just have a very hard time seeing Jesus shooting someone, let say some robber entered his house when he was young and lived with joseph and mary, would Jesus pick up the carpenter hammer and smash the robbers brain out on the floor, shot first ask later?

I dont see that Jesus in scripture, since i only can speculate i cant give an answer, but maybe he would have said something that the spirit prompted him to say that the robber would have stopped?

maybe that is the answer? not having a loaded gun ready, but having a loaded spirit ready to say what the Lord would have said?

anyway, i may be wrong, but i am glad this lady in this video did not shot first.

http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=35545ad0157361011735