Posted on 11/03/2013 5:05:29 AM PST by NYer
From Jihad Watch by Robert Spencer:
Kenyan pastors ask for AK-47s to counter Islamic jihad attacks
Christianity has never opposed self-defense. “Kenyan Pastors Ask for AK-47s Amid Radical Muslim Persecution,” by Fredrick Nzwili for RNS, November 1 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
As attacks on Christians mount in Kenya’s coastal region, some evangelical pastors in the Mombasa area may no longer be willing to turn the other cheek.Worried about attacks against their churches and congregations, some pastors are asking for rifles to protect themselves from suspected Islamic extremists.
The violence intensified on Oct. 20 and 21, when two evangelical church pastors were killed inside their churches. Pastor Charles Mathole, 41, was killed Oct. 20 as he prayed inside his Vikwatani Redeemed Gospel Church. The following day, East African Pentecostal Church pastor Ibrahim Kithaka was found dead in Kilifi, about 35 miles north of Mombasa.
Christian leaders blame the attacks on increased radicalization of Muslim youth. The attacks have occurred amid protests by Muslims that they were being targeted in Nairobi’s war against terrorism.
“Our many churches are not under any protection. They do not have walls or gates. The government should issue AK-47 rifles to every church so that we can stop them from being burnt, our property from being looted and our pastors and Christians from being killed,” said Lambert Mbela, a pastor at Mathole’s church, during his funeral.
Three weeks before the latest murders, Muslim youth torched a Salvation Army church in the Majengo area in Mombasa to protest the killing of the popular Sheikh Ibrahim “Rogo” Omar and three others by unknown gunmen on Oct.4. The same church was torched last year after the murder of another prominent Muslim cleric, Sheikh Aboud Rogo Mohammed.
Some church officials say the request for arms reflects a growing frustration with the rising insecurity, but others say the move contradicts traditional biblical teachings on nonviolence, [non-violence doesn't mean that we are obliged to let our loved one's be killed...] or could put churches and congregations at more risk. [?!?]
“I don’t think arming Kenyan (clerics) will ensure security,” said the Rev. Peter Karanja, the general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Kenya, at a news conference in Limuru, near Nairobi, on Wednesday (Oct. 30). [Perhaps he should go out to Vikwatani to take over for the pastor who was killed.]
[...]
Interfaith initiatives in the coastal region have allowed different faiths to live in relative calm, but the attacks are threatening decades of peaceful coexistence, according to the Rev. Wilybard Lagho, vicar general of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa.
“I think we need to restrengthen interreligious dialogue. The problem is in the minds, and we need to win them back,” said Lagho, calling the request for guns a shallow solution to a complex problem.
Yes, dialogue will certainly fix the problem. It always has before, right?
Some Muslim leaders, meanwhile, have backed the pastors’ call for arms but said there should be a thorough vetting of who gets a gun.“It is a good idea, but not all clerics should get the guns. Some are rogue clerics and may pose more danger to other religious leaders,” said Sheikh Juma Ngao, chairman of the Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council.
Yes, of course. It’s the Christian clerics who are the problem, not the innumerable Muslim clerics preaching jihad and hatred of the kuffar.
The storm is rising more quickly in Africa than elsewhere, but it is rising everywhere.
God expects us to protect life, that is why we defend other people, our countries, and most of all the helpless unborn baby. When it comes to our personal lives, well, that’s when it gets harder. I believe that He won’t hold it against a person who kills to defend himself, but that doesn’t mean that was the ideal response. Matt 16:25 —> “whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Two caveats: his life (not somebody else’s) and for My sake (not because of your race, nationality...)
If that is your belief and attitude, that is good for you.
For myself, I prefer to live up to one's responsibility to protect oneself and one's family.
I prefer the General Patton approach.
"It's not your job to die for your country". "It's your job to make that other poor bastard die for his."
I would add on the words "family", "religion", etc.
If you want to Bible thump, there are many passages in the bible stating you obligation to self and family defense.
Do you hold God in so little regard that you refuse to defend the body He was kind enough to give you?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.