A Brief Response to John Piper’s Post on Guns and Martyrdom

John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis and the head of Desiring God Ministries has published an article entitled Guns and Martyrdom. I love Dr. Piper’s writings, theology, and passion for the supremacy of God. His ministry and books have had a profound influence on my life, and I’m thankful to God for such a servant and thinker that has been given to the church today in John Piper.

However, in the post listed above, I must disagree with Dr. Piper. Here is a comment I left on my good friend’s blog Cross on My Back:

I read Piper’s posting on this. On one hand, I agree with his reasoning. On the other, I think he is WAY off. If I am in the jungle, spreading the gospel to a potentially hostile group of people, then I have accepted the risk I could be killed. It is TOTALLY different if I am in my house and someone breaks in trying to harm me or my family. The former example is intentional exposure to potential danger. The latter is me performing my God-given duty to defend my family. I have wrestled with this question a good bit having studied the martial arts for 13 years. But, I have made up my mind on one thing: if a person tries to harm my family while we are at home or performing normal daily activity, I’ll defend them with whatever means necessary. I think Piper is falling into extreme passivism on this one.

.

It’s funny because I was discussing this very issue yesterday with an academic friend of mine who has a Ph.D. in Theology. He challenged me to present to him a formal paper of my findings regarding a Biblical view on self defense. Ironically, my friend is also an international worker and could face persecution for his work for the gospel. I accepted the “assignment”, but I have no time frame when I’ll have this finished. If/when it is done, I’ll post it here. Until next time!

Blessings to you all.