Whether one is aware of it or not, everyone sees the world through a particular set of lenses. These lenses are one's worldview, and Christian lenses view the world differently than everyone else's. Worldviews are formed by many things: religion, personal opinions, social influences, and so on. People's worldviews also differ between various topics; one such topic being the Second Amendment of the Constitution.
There is a sizeable disagreement in the United States today about the interpretation and meaning of the Second Amendment, which reads as follows: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." (LII / Legal Information Institute). Regarding …show more content…
From this fact stem two main opposing viewpoints: the Second Amendment was intended to provide individuals with the unalienable right to own guns, and the Second Amendment intended for the government to remain in control of guns and gun distribution rather than the people. Generally speaking, the first is a Republican perspective, while the second is Democratic. In most cases, Christians oppose the Democratic approach—which is also known as the “collective rights theory”— and adhere to the Republican view on this issue (Whitney). On June 26, 2008 the Supreme Court decision in the District of Columbia v. Heller was handed down in favor of the Republican view: “The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, declared that, yes, the Second Amendment does secure an individual right to bear arms” (Doherty). Although this was a formal decision, it sparked controversy and debate rather than unity between the two different …show more content…
The Bible clearly states that even the thought of violence is a sin, and although there were no guns in Jesus’ time, I believe that this falls under the category of what He was talking about. Unfortunately, there is no definite answer to this issue, and there probably never will be until Christ returns because until then evil will always be trying to circumvent God’s law. But until that occurs, it is our duty as Christians to represent the Bible in our culture today in every way possible, including the Second Amendment debate. Personally, the way I believe we can best achieve this is to support the Supreme Court in its 2008 ruling of individual’s rights to protect themselves, but to also be advocates for thorough vetting processes required to purchase guns in order to best avoid religiously motivated shootings (such as Columbine). As stated previously, there is no perfect answer to this debate. However, we serve a perfect God, and while this earth will always have issues and conflicts without resolutions, I trust that everything is in His hands and He will provide the resolution He wants for us in His own timing. Until He chooses to do so, I need to remain faithful in my application of my worldview to the Second Amendment of the Constitution