Self Defense

[Iryssa]

I don't think there is anything wrong with defending yourself. I had a guy come up to me in our Walmart parking lot one day and put his hand my shoulder. He wanted money. I told him if he didnt' get away I would drop him like yesterdays lunch. He left. I shook all the way home.

Did you ever think to share the gospel with him?

LT

Frankly, I would've been too scared and too ticked off to think of that. I'm sorry, but it's true. Besides, I sincerely doubt the guy would've been receptive.

Maybe YOU could've shared the gospel with him, but then, you're a guy, so he probably wouldn't have approached you in the first place, and if he had, he would have been a little more cautious with you.

Hi Iryssa,

What do the following verses have to deal with.

Ro 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

If you are born again why should you fear/be scared?

LT

So shoot me for fearing for my life if I'm approached by a guy twice my size who could easily

- Rape me

- Kill me

- Do other horrible things to me

You have taken those verse out of context. Context, context, context, people! It's the FIRST rule of interpretation.

In Romans 8, the surrounding verses are talking about fearing for SPIRITUAL LIFE, not about muggers.

In 2 Timothy 1, he's talking about being bold in his witness and in the laying on of hands.

In 1 John 4, what is being addressed--AGAIN--is spiritual fear.

Nope, I'm not afraid that I will die and then go to hell. I do, however, have a HEALTHY fear of being mugged, raped, shot, beaten, etc. etc. etc. by some random, wanton criminal on the streets. Does that make me crazy--or worse--faithless?? Not in the least. It makes me wise to my surroundings and it means I know what the outcome of such situations would be.

If I were to go out onto the city streets at night alone, in a bad part of town saying "God will protect me!" that's not faith, that's called playing Russian Roulette with your life...and I think God expects us to use our brains more than that.

[Iryssa]

I don't think there is anything wrong with defending yourself. I had a guy come up to me in our Walmart parking lot one day and put his hand my shoulder. He wanted money. I told him if he didnt' get away I would drop him like yesterdays lunch. He left. I shook all the way home.

Did you ever think to share the gospel with him?

LT

Frankly, I would've been too scared and too ticked off to think of that. I'm sorry, but it's true. Besides, I sincerely doubt the guy would've been receptive.

Maybe YOU could've shared the gospel with him, but then, you're a guy, so he probably wouldn't have approached you in the first place, and if he had, he would have been a little more cautious with you.

Hi Iryssa,

What do the following verses have to deal with.

Ro 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

If you are born again why should you fear/be scared?

LT

Because theres some sick sorry lowlifes out there that would attack a woman alone. thats what she has to fear. these same sick lowlifes don't care what God has to say. She had every reason to be scared with the way things happen now days.

so? there have have always been rapists and thieves. what do our lives amount to anyway compared to the cause of christ? seriosly. maybe he wouldn't have been receptive to the gospel then.. but years down the road, he could remember and who knows? I'd much rather get jacked while spreading the gospel than jacked while making pathetic protests that may not do any good at all.

I'd much rather not get jacked at all. And guess what...those "pathetic protests" (that I don't think were in any way pathetic), saved our friend Rusty here.

[methinkshe]

Do you not understand the glorious liberty you have in Christ? There is no wrong or right, there is only faith in the Lord Jesus or lack of faith in the Lord Jesus. Anything you do in faith is righteous and anything done without faith is sin. Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit that guides each one of us according to circumstances. What is sin for you, because it is done without faith, is righteousness for me, because I do it in faith, and vice versa. As Paul said about eating food sacrificed to idols: if it bothers your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) not a whit, then to you it is not sin. If your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) is troubled, then to you it IS sin.

In Jesus

Ruth

Edited May 8, 2007 by methinkshe

[rtwo]

Do you not understand the glorious liberty you have in Christ? There is no wrong or right, there is only faith in the Lord Jesus or lack of faith in the Lord Jesus. Anything you do in faith is righteous and anything done without faith is sin. Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit that guides each one of us according to circumstances. What is sin for you, because it is done without faith, is righteousness for me, because I do it in faith, and vice versa. As Paul said about eating food sacrificed to idols: if it bothers your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) not a whit, then to you it is not sin. If your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) is troubled, then to you it IS sin.

In Jesus

Ruth

I'm sure you didn't mean this, but your wording suggests that if I were to, say, kill someone in faith -- or even just spit in his face -- it's okay, so long as it doesn't bother my conscience?

[methinkshe]

Do you not understand the glorious liberty you have in Christ? There is no wrong or right, there is only faith in the Lord Jesus or lack of faith in the Lord Jesus. Anything you do in faith is righteous and anything done without faith is sin. Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit that guides each one of us according to circumstances. What is sin for you, because it is done without faith, is righteousness for me, because I do it in faith, and vice versa. As Paul said about eating food sacrificed to idols: if it bothers your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) not a whit, then to you it is not sin. If your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) is troubled, then to you it IS sin.

In Jesus

Ruth

I'm sure you didn't mean this, but your wording suggests that if I were to, say, kill someone in faith -- or even just spit in his face -- it's okay, so long as it doesn't bother my conscience?

No. that's not what I am saying, but only because if one is truly IN CHRIST one couldn't do it. Liberty doen't automatically allow licence, although there is the potential for licence to be taken. But Paul talks about that in Romans 7, or is it 8? What you are worried about is everyone else's response to the liberty that is in Jesus. You know for yourself that you won't take licence from such a liberty - but you cannot quite trust others enough to believe that they would not, too.

In Jesus,

Ruth

Edited May 8, 2007 by methinkshe

[Eliyahuw]

I don't think there is anything wrong with defending yourself. I had a guy come up to me in our Walmart parking lot one day and put his hand my shoulder. He wanted money. I told him if he didnt' get away I would drop him like yesterdays lunch. He left. I shook all the way home.

Did you ever think to share the gospel with him?

LT

Frankly, I would've been too scared and too ticked off to think of that. I'm sorry, but it's true. Besides, I sincerely doubt the guy would've been receptive.

Maybe YOU could've shared the gospel with him, but then, you're a guy, so he probably wouldn't have approached you in the first place, and if he had, he would have been a little more cautious with you.

Hi Iryssa,

What do the following verses have to deal with.

Ro 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

2Ti 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

If you are born again why should you fear/be scared?

LT

Because theres some sick sorry lowlifes out there that would attack a woman alone. thats what she has to fear. these same sick lowlifes don't care what God has to say. She had every reason to be scared with the way things happen now days.

so? there have have always been rapists and thieves. what do our lives amount to anyway compared to the cause of christ? seriosly. maybe he wouldn't have been receptive to the gospel then.. but years down the road, he could remember and who knows? I'd much rather get jacked while spreading the gospel than jacked while making pathetic protests that may not do any good at all.

I prefer not to get jacked at all. Not while protesting nor while spreading Gospel. And theres no shame in preventing it from happening.

[Iryssa]

Do you not understand the glorious liberty you have in Christ? There is no wrong or right, there is only faith in the Lord Jesus or lack of faith in the Lord Jesus. Anything you do in faith is righteous and anything done without faith is sin. Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit that guides each one of us according to circumstances. What is sin for you, because it is done without faith, is righteousness for me, because I do it in faith, and vice versa. As Paul said about eating food sacrificed to idols: if it bothers your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) not a whit, then to you it is not sin. If your conscience (the Holy Spirit in you) is troubled, then to you it IS sin.

In Jesus

Ruth

confused.

Are you saying you can commit adultery 'in faith' and therefore it is 'righteous' ?

The food thing may or may not be defined as 'sin' innately, so it may or may not be related to other acts that ARE defined as sin in His word....such as adultery.

Methinkshe is talking about matters which are disputable in nature. Adultery is obviously wrong, there's a clear commandment about it. Things like what food and drink are allowable are more disputable issues.

[Smalcald]

I do think it does come down to the heart.

Are you angry or scared when you are defending yourself? When is defense really needed and when is walking away the right path (which is 95% of the time for a Christian). Are we being tough are we afraid we will be seen as weak and is that the reason we are using violence? If it is we are not in Christ. Remember we are to be seen as a gentle people, blameless and harmless; we are to love our enemies. Christians will often be called weak because we don

[Guest LadyC]

sorry smalclad, but i have a very difficult time trying to picture anyone, whether Christian or not, taking pleasure at having to defend their life.

[MK202002]

sorry smalclad, but i have a very difficult time trying to picture anyone, whether Christian or not, taking pleasure at having to defend their life.

I think maybe what he meant was (correct me if I'm wrong, smalcald) taking pleasure in the idea, not the act. The idea of being in control, and being more powerful.