Paul's Passing Thoughts

I really have bigger fish to fry in my little space of humanity, but the debate came flaming into my mind last night as I was minding my own business and going about it in a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. As I walked by two men on my way to an office to conduct some TANC business, a very large individual looked right at me and announced to his friend that he would love to get into a fight with someone, “That would be &%#@^*$ Awesome!” Of course, the wise thing to do in such a case is to keep walking and ignore the individual, but that is no guarantee that the situation will not escalate to the next level. While I was waiting to see if a “soft answer turns away wrath,” I can tell you that I felt very vulnerable.

As we have learned in the book of Romans, the unregenerate are controlled by their desires and passions which are at times restrained by fear and conscience. These desires are a mixed bag and manifest themselves in the souls of men in a variety of ways. This particular individual had a desire to get into a fight with someone. Other desires can be: seeing things burn, sex with animals, control, killing things, etc.

Sin is warped; these desires can be strange and often unexplainable. However, killing can certainly be connected with the desire for power, revenge associated with other desires, and to remove another person who is hindering the realization of another desire. One of the keys to being a Christian is the fact that these desires can make a strong case to us that they can control us, but they can’t, and the strength of the desire can be put to death through right thinking, right doing, and right prayer. Unfortunately, many Christians live like the devil because they think they are still enslaved to those passions. They want to be free, but they believe the lie being told to them by the desire. Desires preach, you can be sure of that.

The question is: should Christians defend themselves? Is self-defense a manifestation of not accepting God’s will? The whole problem with the discussion of God’s will is: how much? To what degree do we accept “God’s will” for evil in the world? And if I had decided to pull out a gun and shoot this guy in self-defense, is that God’s will? It happened, no? Why is the discussion of God’s will always in regard to sheep being led to the slaughter? And when I make a choice not to defend myself, I am also making that choice for all who love me. Why should a family be put through grief untold because some guy had a desire?

Well, obviously, I have too much time on my hands this morning. Perhaps it wasn’t God’s will that I wrote this.

paul