No Gun at Church Anymore

[Marc]

tell your pastor to consider thy rod and staff... he will know what you meen

 

[dom1104]

Open Carry makes your life better. Sorry, had to jab at ATM on that one

I cant relate, I am on the security team at my church.

Frankly tho dude, people take carrying a firearm to heart like it IS a religion. The important thing is that you are ready, and ABLE, to defend yourself and those around you.

Heres a shocker, you should be able to do that, without a gun. There ARE other tools. There IS more training you could get. There is not ONE WAY and if you cant carry EVERYWHERE you are just a little boy a the whim of bad men.

Something to think about.

Something else to think about, if you have been carrying a gun for 4 months, and havent been trained, and practiced, and tested on how to use it effectively...

You arent armed now. You are just a guy with a gun.

Not much difference between that and a guy with a knife, or a guy with a can of OC.

Your church is <edit: should be> more important to you than your "right" to carry a gun.

If it isnt, you are in the wrong church to begin with. Your pastor is your spiritual leader, but he is also in charge of a orginization, and if he says "no guns allowed here" thats... pretty much how it goes. If you DO use your gun, and the police find out you were not permitted, and in fact told not too carry on their premises.....

Not sure how that would go.

My suggestion to you is, let the security team do their job, leave the gun in the car during services. Criminals who bust into congregations, and shoot the place up are.....pretty darned rare.

You probably have a better chance of choking on beef jerky.

Just sayin.

 

[dwp9mm]

Just tell him nicely that its your right and look for another church.

 

[Marc]

Just tell him nicely that its your right and look for another church.

yup

 

[ElsiePeaRN]

i politely informed him that if he did return to the church with his gun, after telling me that the church would not allow it, that i would have to arrest him for having a gun in the building.

Arrest him for what? Carrying in most churches, unless a school is on the grounds, is not illegal. If there is a school on the grounds, no one is allowed to carry, so I doubt that's the case. Sounds like nothing more than a pissing contest to me... ?

 

[IncendiaryGunner]

Just tell him nicely that its your right and look for another church.

^^

He put thought into this before he talked to you - it likely was not an instant decision.

I would find a new church... that is just my though

 

[chicken89]

wasn't a pissing match. we are good friends. i was just showing he wouldn't be allowed either based upon his own words

 

[ATM]

ATM concealed? The world is comming to an end faster then I thought...

earthquakes...

famines...

pestilences in various places...

ATM concealed...

uh-oh

 

[redneckmedic]

I think keep this simple, if you go at him with tons of wordage and legal/biblical script he will be overwhelmed and frustrated, he will feel threatened and lock up. Don't ambush him. I would go to him and offer a compromise. If you decide to carry, concealed means concealed. Explain to him your credntials for carrying, (Rights, training, & protection) appologize for scaring the flock and that you didn't think about the reprocusions of advertising in a family enviroment. (This is called keeping your enemies closer, even though we know its not a reason to be scared around familys, many folks do... play into it) Lastly your side of the compromise other than CC, if there are anymore complaints you will reconsider your being armed.

DO NOT LIE, this will have a terrible outcome... what if you actually had to use it?!?

The words "bible" and "g-d" are not banned on INGO, nor is Christianity, contrary to what many seem to believe.

As he says with the big dash between the G and D

 

[ATM]

The words "bible" and "g-d" are not banned on INGO...

As he says with the big dash between the G and D

Attempting to bypass the vanity filter will not be tolerated.

 

[Regionnus Rattis]

You might ask him about the previously mentioned Bible verses in relation to carrying a weapon for protection. Even Jesus himself, while talking about Love, he never once told his apostles, even Peter when he cut off the high priest's servant's ear, to go make his sword into a plowshare.

Love as He taught, is to Love your neighbor as you love yourself. So first and foremost to this then, is a question of how can you love someone else, if you don't love your own being? You are morally obligated (because of your ability to love yourself) and have the legal right to defend your life, from an aggressor. That would also mean that you should defend someone else's life, if an aggressor were to threaten his or her life and he or she had no means of fending off that aggressor. Clearly, that means you would only present your weapon in the case of a life threatening situation. As was pointed out, if there is robbery or theft, they can have it. If they got physical, then it will get ugly...fast, but according to the church (the Body of Christ), you are morally obligated to defend your life.

 

[Scutter01]

As he says with the big dash between the G and D

I self-censored out of respect for the members of this board who consider spelling the name out to be blasphemy. I don't have to tell you how personally some members take the topic in general.

 

[ElsiePeaRN]

wasn't a pissing match. we are good friends. i was just showing he wouldn't be allowed either based upon his own words

I've had pissing matches with a friend before But my point is- his church, he gets to make the rules, and even if he said you couldn't carry in the church, he'd be breaking no laws by carrying himself, so you couldn't arrest him. But I imagine you already know that.

 

[sadclownwp]

Find a really good engraver and have a cross engraved into the grip, and another cross engraved on the side of the slide. Then explain to the pastor that should you ever have to use it in church if some crazy guy comes in and starts shooting, that the good lord above can always turn the bullets into sand. And then tell him that sometimes a real shepherd not only tends to his flock but at times must defend it.

 

[ElsiePeaRN]

Find a really good engraver and have a cross engraved into the grip, and another cross engraved on the side of the slide.

Or you could get Uncle George to make one of these...

Holy Holster

 

[Cru]

I didn't read the whole thread, so this may have been covered, but I thought I would post my thoughts.

I OC everywhere EXCEPT church. I carry at church, but I cc there. Here's why.

Church is a place of worship. Being at church is about worshiping God, and there are LOTs of little things that can easily distract people. I know that guns makes some people nervous, so I conceal, because I do not want to be the reason someone else is distracted from the purpose of being there.

I think it's a little crappy on the part of the preacher to say "look, you can't do this job in service to God if you carry a gun." Helping with the service is an offering from you to the lord, not a "privilege" for him to take away. I can respect if he said "Conceal it if you are going to be where others might see you" but

GL with your decision, and as always, just pray about it and you'll come to the right choice.

 

[Loopie159753]

I hope I can cover everyones questions and concerns with my answer and decision.

My pastor did say that there is no law in the book for our assembly so it’s not that. This was his decision because I specifically asked him. He said that he did NOT want any guns in church so concealed is out of the question. Even if he didn't know that I was CC'ing I would and I also know that I would be watched like a hawk. Someone would soon discover that I was CC'ing.

I want to also say about the "are you a cop?" question. I don't believe that he asked because he didn't know me I think he has that mindset that the only way I could have a gun was if I was cop.

I thought hard about this and decided that this a right I have to practice. If I don't or anyone for that matter, were going to lose it. I felt that I couldn't have been that big of a distraction because like I said I was by myself in an enclosed room. I called and talked to him and basically told him that I could not continue doing my job and not have my weapon with me. He said that he respected my decision and that there was no hard feelings. There was also never a question about me not being trained or responsible enough. He said that he knew I was mature enough but still didn’t feel comfortable. Before I got my license I did a lot of training and practice before I started carrying. I pray every day that I won’t have to use my gun, but I thank God that I have that right and if need be he helps me make the right decision. I went today and removed all of my equipment and returned my keys. I have no hard feelings with what his decision was and because I respected it I decided what I decided. I will probably go back to my original church where I know people who carry and continue whatever it is I need to. Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. Most of them I thought about and took in to consideration.

 

[Coach]

I hope I can cover everyones questions and concerns with my answer and decision.

My pastor did say that there is no law in the book for our assembly so it’s not that. This was his decision because I specifically asked him. He said that he did NOT want any guns in church so concealed is out of the question. Even if he didn't know that I was CC'ing I would and I also know that I would be watched like a hawk. Someone would soon discover that I was CC'ing.

I want to also say about the "are you a cop?" question. I don't believe that he asked because he didn't know me I think he has that mindset that the only way I could have a gun was if I was cop.

I thought hard about this and decided that this a right I have to practice. If I don't or anyone for that matter, were going to lose it. I felt that I couldn't have been that big of a distraction because like I said I was by myself in an enclosed room. I called and talked to him and basically told him that I could not continue doing my job and not have my weapon with me. He said that he respected my decision and that there was no hard feelings. There was also never a question about me not being trained or responsible enough. He said that he knew I was mature enough but still didn’t feel comfortable. Before I got my license I did a lot of training and practice before I started carrying. I pray every day that I won’t have to use my gun, but I thank God that I have that right and if need be he helps me make the right decision. I went today and removed all of my equipment and returned my keys. I have no hard feelings with what his decision was and because I respected it I decided what I decided. I will probably go back to my original church where I know people who carry and continue whatever it is I need to. Thanks for all of your comments and suggestions. Most of them I thought about and took in to consideration.

'
Good decision.

 

[Bummer]

Personally, I find that being armed makes it a whole lot easier to turn the other cheek.

 

[Love the 1911]

I know how difficult it can be to find your place in a new congregation. Perhaps you can start a gun owners ministry at your new place of worship. Open some eyes and prove that you can honor the Lord and carrry a gun at the same time. Good decision and remember to pray often for your old church, it helps heal any deep down hurt that you may not realize is there.