Christians and weapons
There are people who think that Christians should not bear or use weapons. In this passage of John's gospel it is evident that Saint Peter bore weapons with the consent of Jesus Christ. Let's read:
"Then said Jesus unto Peter: Put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" ( Lk 18: 11 )
In this verse we see that Jesus ordered Peter to put his sword back into the sheath. This means that Peter had his sword hanging from his body in a visible way. It was not a dagger that he could hide among his clothes, it was a sword in its sheath. If Jesus were against bearing weapons he surely wouldn't have permitted Peter to carry his weapon. This demonstrates to us that the Lord didn't oppose having weapons, neither did he preach against it.
In Lk 22: 35-36 we can see again that Jesus didn't oppose the possession of weapons, because he even told his disciples to buy swords.
"And he said unto them: When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said: Nothing. Then said he unto them: But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one." ( Lk 22: 35-36 )
John the Baptist taught in a similar way as Jesus. He didn't tell the Romans to quit being soldiers, but to be honest. John was not going to preach a doctrine in opposition to Christ's, but according to the will of the Lord.
"And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying: And what shall we do? And he said unto them: Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages" ( Lk 3: 14 )
Both, John and Jesus, never told the soldiers to quit the militia, but they did tell prostitutes to quit sinning. It is evident that bearing weapons was not a sin, but fornication was. If bearing weapons or being in the military were a sin, for sure both, John and Jesus, would have clearly said so, because they were never afraid of teaching what was right.
Before Jesus
was born, during the Hellenic period, many brethren thought it was a sin to
fight in self defense on Saturdays. They arrived at this wrong conclusion
by reading random sections of the Scripture. They believed it was preferable to
let the enemy kill them on Saturdays, rather than fighting. If instead of
believing what was taught to them by their foolish teachers, they would have
read the book of Joshua, they would have seen that this great man of God
fought war on Saturdays. Sure enough, during the siege of
"Now
Just as those brothers of the Hellenic epoch were wrong in respect to defending themselves on Saturdays, there are millions of Christians now that are wrong in respect to bearing arms to defend their wives and children. Satan always pushes Christians to one extreme or the other.