Blog – Out of the Closet

Say I am thinking of getting an iphone and someone at church has one. At fellowship after the service, I might ask the person about their iphone. We might look at it, see what it does, how it works, etc. If I was thinking about buying a Nissan Versa and someone at church had a Versa, we might go out to the parking lot after church and look at the car. Say I was thinking about taking a vacation to Hawaii and someone I know at church had been there. We might sit over coffee after the service looking at the person’s photo album of the trip to Hawaii. These are normal, natural things that we would feel entirely comfortable doing out in the open.

Several weeks ago, after a church service, three men went into a closet to look at a gun because one of them was thinking of buying himself a gun for his 21st birthday. In the course of things, the gun went off, penetrated the closet wall, and entered the head of the pastor’s daughter, the fiance of one of the men in the closet. Tragically, Hannah Grace Kelley died. Yes, this incident is heartbreakingly sad. We feel grief and compassion for all those involved: The men in the closet, Hannah’s family and friends, the church. It is a horrific story.

But let’s go back to the closet. Why were the men in the closet with the gun? As I cited earlier, people sharing things with each other at church is nothing to hide. Unless it is something that is morally wrong or against Christian teaching. The teachings of Jesus in the New Testament are decidedly anti violent: Not only non violent, but markedly anti violent. Jesus teaches love of enemies. The tradition remembers him telling his followers to pray for those who persecute them. In the story of the garden of Gethsemane, the crowd comes to arrest Jesus with swords and clubs. One of Jesus’ followers draws a sword and Jesus responds, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” [Matthew 26:52] Jesus never lived by the sword. He never used violence and he taught his followers to confront evil with transforming love and kindness, not violence of any kind. There are no teachings of Jesus in the New Testament that promote the use of violence or even defend the use of force, violence, or weaponry.

Our church has a policy that guns are not allowed on the church property and that policy is visibly posted on the church building. No one can come to church or to an AA meeting or do repair work on the church or in any other circumstance have a gun on the church property, with the exception of law enforcement officials. Why do we have this policy? Because this is an important core tenet of the Christian faith and we are a Christian church. No violence. No weapons.

Given the context in which we live, we accept that law enforcement officials bear arms, but we do not pretend that the use of guns is consistent with the teachings of Jesus or the Christian faith. The use of a gun may be justified in an agricultural setting, say to put an injured animal out of its misery. And use of guns may be morally justified for hunting purposes. But to use a gun for self defense or protection against another person is in direct conflict with the teachings of Jesus. Jesus had his opponents, his enemies, and he knew it. He never suggested or sanctioned the use of violence against them, even in self defense.

It is well past time for the Christian church to promote Jesus’ teachings of anti violence. Again and again he counseled that the use of violence was not consistent with the will of God. I think that is why the three men at the church were in the closet. In their hearts they knew that what they were doing was not consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Deep down, they knew it was wrong. That’s why they were behind closed doors, hidden, and not out in the open. If the church were boldly and courageously out of the closet about Jesus‘ teachings against violence, Hannah might still be alive today.