Vine & Fig Tree defends "Theonomic anarcho-pacifism."
Theonomy, a word coming from the two Greek words meaning "God's Law," stands for the proposition that the whole Bible, including the Old Testament (not just a neoplatonic misuse of the New Testament), is God's standard for civilization. Vine & Fig Tree defends the idea of applying the Bible to current issues. We believe the Bible is a textbook of political science, as well as natural science, economics, education, and all other fields of human action. Every area of life, every profession, every nation is accountable to observe God's Law as revealed in the Bible.
Anarchism is commanded by Christ. Christ forbids His followers from being "archists." Vine & Fig Tree goes beyond "Christian Libertarianism," and embraces "anarcho-capitalism."
Christ is the Prince of Peace, and "pacifism" comes from the Latin word for "peace." Pacifism does not mean that no action whatsoever is to be taken in the face of violence. It means that just as Christ gave His life rather than take the lives of His attackers, we are to follow in His footsteps (1 Peter 2:21). It is insane to contend that the Bible gives me the right to take the life of someone who threatens to seize my property. The life of the attacker is more valuable than my property. Nor is lethal force a proper response to a threat against one's own life, just as capital punishment would not be an appropriate response to attempted murder. A Theonomic pacifist will physically place his body between a victim and an attacker, or a physically disabling, neutralizing or tranquilizing personal safety device or self-defense method would be employed to prevent imminent harm. A Theonomic pacifist is not motivated by revenge, retaliation, or vengeance. "'Vengeance is Mine,' saith the Lord." Rather, a Theonomic pacifist is motivated to prevent crime -- in the least violent manner.
The Anarcho-Pacifist believes that the State is the institutionalization of vengeance and violence, and the greatest threat to peace in the world.
The Theonomic Pacifist is vitally engaged in the socio-political process to make sure that God's Law is taught and practiced. The Theonomic pacifist does not wait until he is confronted by muggers in a dark alley before getting involved in the lives of delinquent youths (and then only to blow them away). The Theonomic Anarcho-Pacifist works to abolish the myth of "separation of church and state," which is at war with a Godly, peaceful, Theonomic society.
Vine & Fig Tree opposes violence and the killing of human beings, and since guns are designed to kill human beings, it stands to reason that Vine & Fig Tree opposes gun control laws, since such laws can only be enforced by guns (which encourages such violent acts as the killing of human beings in Waco, Texas), and such laws monopolize gun possession in the hands of the greatest known killers (the State and those who do not obey gun control laws).
Pacifists are usually caricatured as gutless and essentially amoral self-absorbed wimps, who are not morally outraged at crime and injustice, and are concerned only with their own self-righteous "holiness" or "purity" which they think they protect by inaction in the face of oppression of the innocent. This caricature is about as valid as the caricature of Second Amendment proponents as
uneducated, paranoid rednecks fascinated by and prone to violence, i.e., exactly the type of person who opposes the liberal agenda and whose moral and social "re-education" is the object of liberal social policies. Typical of such bigotry is New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's famous characterization of gun-owners as "hunters who drink beer, don't vote, and lie to their wives about where they were all weekend." Similar vituperation is rained upon the NRA, characterized by Sen. Edward Kennedy as the "pusher's best friend," lampooned in political cartoons as standing for the right of children to carry firearms to school and, in general, portrayed as standing for an individual's God-given right to blow people away at will.
Jeff Snyder, "A Nation of Cowards," reprinted and analyzed here.
There really are people who are self-righteous amoral wimps.
There really are ignorant rednecks.
And too many opponents of Gun Control laws -- even the best of them -- sound
like ignorant rednecks when they attack pacifists using hackneyed stereotypes
and see-through straw men. In the end, these redneck-sounding opponents of the
State actually do more to buttress the power of the State.
The links below are designed to defend pacifism, oppose gun control laws, and provoke clear thinking on both sides.
What Does the Bible Say About Gun Control?
by Larry Pratt
A Nation of Cowards
by Jeff Snyder
Vine & Fig Tree
12314 Palm Dr. #107
Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240
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