Sun. Feb. 24, 2013 (Karl Brown)

Karl Brown spoke on "Fear, Faith, and Firepower". Fear concerns fear for our lives and for all that is precious to us. Faith is that the Lord our God will protect us and keep us true to him. Firepower results from our fear and our lack of faith causing us to take things into our own hands and try to protect ourselves with weapons since we do not really believe in God's protection. Our lectionary reading (Genesis 15.1) told of Abram trusting God so much that he referred to God as his "shield". Luke 13:31- told of even the Pharisees warning Jesus that Herod would kill him, but Jesus had faith that this would not happen until God willed it. "The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid" (Psalm 27) has been a source of strength to many Christians. But not all. North Americans (Americans far more than Canadians) believe that guns are our ultimate protection, not God, even though more Americans have died from domestic gun violence than from all of the wars Americans ever fought anywhere! This faulty assumption has led to a plethora of private handguns in the States, with there being c. 71 guns for every 100 living Americans of any age. When we think of gun control, we seldom think of keeping guns away from Olympic champions or spouses, we think of "the bad guys". Gun control is ultimately about self control. For Christians, particularly of our persuasion, our faith is in God and in God's will for us and for our lives. [JEK]

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