United Methodist Church 2008 Anti-Gun Resolution

[tourrider]

I'd be out of that church.

While I do not dictate where my offerings go, I would'nt want one penny of mine going to the ministry.

[MEH]

I've pretty much decided not to give offering in the general collection (I won't support their anti-gun agenda).

[MEH]

Originally Posted by WhiteFeather

Here are a couple of inconvenient articles of the so called leadership of the United Methodist Church LONG HISTORY of supporting gun control.

Thanks WhiteFeather!

[Skullz]

It's worse than that... Here is the UMC's gun violence resolution, passed in 2000 - this is for the national UMC conference - so it would seem the PA 2008 conference is redundant.

http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=937

I grew up in the UMC and my parents still attend. They like to bring my son, and reading the stance of the church caused me to write an email to my parents. I haven't sent it yet - think I'll sleep on it, but I'll post it here.

At this point, I do not want you to take Xxxxx to church with you. I understand that it is not your fault, and that there are many things that the church can teach him. However, when the policy of the United Methodist Church is as detailed as it is, and NOT ONCE mentions punishment for the criminal element, or enforcing exisiting laws and jail sentences, it rattles my cage enough to not want any association with it. The policy was adopted in 2000 and can be found here... http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=937

Here are a few sections from the policy that are a direct contradiction to the US Constitution - the same constitution that protects the church from being influenced by government.

In light of the increase of gun violence affecting the lives of children and youth, we call upon The United Methodist Church to:

4) develop advocacy groups within local congregations to advocate for the eventual reduction of the availability of guns in society with a particular emphasis upon handguns, handgun ammunition, assault weapons, automatic weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits, and guns that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal detection devices. These groups can be linked to community-based, state, and national organizations working on gun and violence issues;

(5) support federal legislation to regulate the importation, manufacturing, sale, and possession of guns and ammunition by the general public. Such legislation should include provisions for the registration and licensing of gun purchasers and owners, appropriate background investigation and waiting periods prior to gun purchase, and regulation of subsequent sale;

(6) call upon all governments of the world in which there is a United Methodist presence to establish national bans on ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapon conversion kits, and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal-detection devices;

(7) call upon the print, broadcasting, and electronic media, as well as the entertainment industry, to refrain from promoting gun usage to children;


Let me change some of it around a little, so that maybe it will strike a chord with you, and maybe even the church - What if you read something like the below text? Bold is changes by me.
In light of the increase of religion affiliated abuses affecting the lives of children and youth, we call upon The People to:

4) develop advocacy groups within local municipalities to advocate for the eventual reduction of the availability of churches and religious institutions in society with a particular emphasis upon Catholics, Muslims, Mormons and FLDSs that cannot be detected by traditionally used discovery practiices. These groups can be linked to community-based, state, and national organizations working on religious issues;

(5) support federal legislation to regulate the assembly, manufacturing, sale, and possession of bibles and and Korans by the general public. Such legislation should include provisions for the registration and licensing of congregation members and institution staff, appropriate background investigation and waiting periods prior to church attendance, and regulation of subsequent worship;

(6) call upon all governments of the world in which there is a People presence to establish national bans on worship by the general public of prayer, congregation, and baptism that cannot be monitored and approved by the government;

(7) call upon the print, broadcasting, and electronic media, as well as the entertainment industry, to refrain from promoting religion to children;


PS.. Religion has killed more people than my guns...

[MEH]

Originally Posted by Skullz

It's worse than that... Here is the UMC's gun violence resolution, passed in 2000 - this is for the national UMC conference - so it would seem the PA 2008 conference is redundant.

http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=937

I grew up in the UMC and my parents still attend. They like to bring my son, and reading the stance of the church caused me to write an email to my parents. I haven't sent it yet - think I'll sleep on it, but I'll post it here.

Unfortunately a lot of people just don't understand that infringing on our 2nd Amendment rights is just as bad as infringing on our 1st Amendment rights.

[jdlv4_0]

Getting back to the topic...

To the OP, check out this article: The Bible and Self-Defense.

There's also a pretty good LONG thread over on GlockTalk, Why Do Christians Carry Guns?.

As stated above, a Bible verse tit-for-tat won't do a whole lot of good, but there are some good points in the above links if you decide to go that route.

Hopefully the members that you may get into a debate with are just uneducated and not anti-gun.

[PocketProtector]

Originally Posted by jb12string

Also, 1 small point about the constitiuon, it does not say anything about a seperation of church and state. It says the state cannot establish an official religion. The root of the issue goes back to the anglican church being the state church of England. The B-O-R was meant to keep the state out of the church, not the church out of the state.

Finally someone got this right. Just like the 2A does not say anything about guns only for hunting. Both are myths based on the agendas of their opponents (Mostly the Media).

[Jelanen]

Originally Posted by PocketProtector

Finally someone got this right. Just like the 2A does not say anything about guns only for hunting. Both are myths based on the agendas of their opponents (Mostly the Media).

Actually, the concept of separation of church and state comes from none other than Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Danbury (CT) Baptists (http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html) who had written to him to ask his help in overcoming the discrimination by the CT government and church. Remember that the 1st A only prevents Congress (Federal govt.) from establishing a federal religion (ala Anglican church of England) and just about all states did have fully legal state religions (RI the exception, founded by Baptists). As you can read from the link, TJ couldn't help them. The phrase has been bastardized and taken completely out of context.