THEOLOGY: Denouncing Self-Defense Isn’t Peacemaking
Christ never forbade us from preserving our lives, but He did forbid us from giving false testimony
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Matthew 5:9 ESV
Christians today would rather see a child die than bless true peacemaking, for they plead the cause of men who break the peace and claim that any resistance to them obstructs peace.
Late last summer, three men verbally and physically threatened a 17-year-old boy who was carrying a rifle, chased him, two tried to exert physical control over him and his person, one of those beat him over the head with a skateboard while he was on the ground, the third approached and aimed a handgun at him. The boy shot each of those attackers only when they invaded his personal space, killing two, and a jury of his peers found him not guilty of any crime Friday afternoon. But that hasn’t stopped prominent Christians from condemning the boy in the court of public opinion.
Christ’s Beatitude for peacemakers does not mean that defending one’s life is a sin. If God forbade people from defending their lives, that would imply that one’s life has no value and should be forfeited at someone else’s desire. Peace is the abiding presence of justice, not merely the refusal of physical violence. Kyle Rittenhouse was being a peacemaker by correcting injustice.
Moments after Christ gives the Beatitudes to open His first sermon, He proclaims, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them.” Christ gives a double assurance that not a dot or iota will pass from the Law before He returns in glory, then He even issues a warning that “whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments … will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” Those statements are the foundation for all the commands Christ gives afterward, indicating that nothing He says will invalidate the words God gave to the Prophets of old.
It is written in the Law, “If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him.” Anyone who suffers threat to life or property from another person has permission from God to eliminate that threat, even if it means killing the offender when required.
When Christ says later in His sermon, “Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also,” the meaning cannot contradict the ancient Law or the words He just spoke. Christ’s example is of physical discipline, or corporal punishment, not lethal threat; the instruction would not be for someone to quietly expose his front to one who had swung a weapon at his back.
Christ says next, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” The first half of the phrase He quotes is from the Book of Leviticus, but the second half never appears in the Law. This means that it is possible to perform any aspect of the Law without hating one’s enemy, specifically that a man can justifiably kill his attacker without hating him. (The soldiers at the Christmas Truce of 1914 likely found that out.) Indeed, it is written in Proverbs, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.”
Rittenhouse testified multiple times that he never intended or wanted to kill anyone during his night in Kenosha, and his behavior on the witness stand showed his sadness at needing death to neutralize threats to his person and property. He clearly did not hate his enemies or rejoice with their harm.
Despite those things, the Law and godly wisdom often demand that escaping a threat is a better way to be a peacemaker than returning it. When King Saul of Israel sought the life of his servant David, the young David fled to other countries rather than threaten his king. Christ Himself fled from Jews who sought to arrest him instead of directly resisting them.
Rittenhouse took that same course of action; he tried running away from the crowd and their threats while shouting, “Friendly! Friendly!” His first attacker, Joseph Rosenbaum continued pursuing him and reached for his weapon. Rittenhouse continued running from the crowd after defending himself from Rosenbaum when he was attacked from behind by multiple other pursuers. Those attacks made him fall to the ground and kept him there; he could no longer flee. Rittenhouse only used his rifle once he no longer had the ability to escape.
God also commands people through the Prophet Jeremiah, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.” Peacemakers will look to serve their communities and countrymen; they will not lie in wait to for a threat to arise simply to eliminate it. For God tells Moses, “Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall be put to death. But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.” (God shows His wisdom when He sees that it will often be unsafe for a man who committed justified homicide to remain in his hometown; Rittenhouse will likely relocate to a new city.)
Rittenhouse testified that he went to the protests in Kenosha—the city of his employment and father’s residence—to protect local businesses and provide first aid, which is why he carried two first aid kits and a rifle. The testimonies of other witnesses corroborate that story; Rittenhouse was seen cleaning graffiti, extinguishing fires, and providing medical attention to multiple individuals. Rittenhouse’s primary goal was to preserve the welfare of his community, and the fact that he was armed in preparation to protect his own life does not detract from that.
In every consideration of the Law and Prophets, the actions of Rittenhouse are not found to be in violation of them. Yet, multitudes of Christians have made statements that either explicitly or tacitly display 1) a belief that self-defense is a sin and 2) a sadness that there are fewer violent abusers walking the streets. Those Christians stand in direct opposition to the Word of God and thus are advancing the will of Satan.
The Gospel Coalition (TGC)—“a fellowship of evangelical churches in the Reformed tradition” and counts in its employ and council such prominent evangelical figures as John Piper, Timothy Keller, and Matt Smethurst—published an article that condemned Rittenhouse as nothing more than an “armed mass shooter” in the days following that protest. That claim was a lie even at the time of publication, since a mass shooter is someone who has killed at least three people—typically unjustifiably—and Rittenhouse killed two. God condemns false witness in His Ten Commandments and twenty-one other times explicitly. Rittenhouse’s “not guilty” verdict makes the false assertion that much worse, and TGC has not published any articles or made any official statements, retractions, or clarifications since, putting them in unrepentant violation of God’s Law.
TGC’s article laments that other tragedies did not earn the benefit of diligent consideration and states that Rittenhouse’s cause should be decided in the courts and not the streets, but it ultimately uses those other tragedies to justify its hasty condemnation of Rittenhouse. It claims to give equal consideration to the facts of every tragedy it mentions, but it does not. The article is an appeal to Christians to have race-based bias when they evaluate the justice of an event, which is explicitly unbiblical: God states repeatedly that favor is never to be pre-awarded to any one party in a legal dispute. The Law reads, “You shall not show partiality, and you shall not accept a bribe.” The Proverbs say, “Unequal weights and unequal measures are both alike an abomination to the Lord.” While TGC is the most high-profile Christian entity to condemn Rittenhouse, many other prominent Christian leaders have spoken against Rittenhouse and against his jury’s verdict, supposing that things would have been different if he were black.
All these claim to know peace but really show themselves to be strangers to it.
Christ said, referring to the devil, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” and the condemnation of self-defensive actions only make it easier for people to accomplish the works of the devil. As Christ was riding toward Jerusalem for His Triumphal Entry, he “wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known the things that make for peace!’” His cry was a direct echo of the words of the Prophet Isaiah about wayward Israel, “If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end! For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah.”
Destruction befell Sodom for its affronts to peace, and the things that make for peace are the Law and Prophets of God. The vine of Sodom is the disobedience thereof, producing evil fruits: the men of Sodom pursued visitors to the city with the intent to kill them, just as Kenosha rioters did. The Law and Prophets grow no evil, and evil stands against them. Giving praise to evil works, then, is no different today than it was nearly 2,000 years ago when it foreshadowed destruction and caused Christ to weep. TGC and others who condemn Rittenhouse thus show themselves to be the heirs of Jerusalem who crucified the Lord, and Sodom before her.
The effects of their ideology is laid plain in the prosecution’s arguments. Prosecutors for the State of Wisconsin used sarcasm to communicate that it was impossible to use a skateboard to fatally harm a living being—even though Cain is said to have killed Abel with a rock—that sometimes a person simply has to take a beating; that a person only has the right to defend himself with the same force as the assault on him and nothing more; that arson, damaging property, and swinging a chain (in the context of pursuit) are legally and morally acceptable behaviors which do not indicate a proclivity toward violence.
God calls every disciple of Christ to understand, obey, and teach His commandments. For too long, we have failed to do so; it should have been the sake of our souls that opened our eyes earlier, but the sake of our nation must open them now since it is imminently in danger. May we discern the true meaning of peacemaking and hold fast to it.
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Excellent article