As a pastor, my first and primary concern is that I live my life in a way that both honors my Lord, Jesus Christ, and is consistent with God's Word. My relationship with my Heavenly Father through Jesus is the most important thing in my life. The second most important thing in my life is my family. God has entrusted them to me and my care. A very close third, then, is the people around me, including my neighbors and my congregation.
A young Muslim attending our congregation was warned by cousins that if this person left Islam, they would execute an honor-killing. When I asked how this could be the case in the USA, this person assured me that it happens, and that family would just say this person had gone to study the Qur’an in the home country (while the truth would be buried in a field here in the Midwest).
Then, in the past year, an online ministry I volunteered for from Fall 1999 to Summer 2007 was expanding its outreach into hostile countries, and the occasional threat of physical violence against myself and my family came my way.
Now I was confronted with a decision.
As a Christian, I had to answer it in light of this passage:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT) - All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. 17 It is God's way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.
I’ve done that, and over the next weeks, as I get through my writing break, I’ll explain how I’ve arrived at where I am, and why I believe, biblically, that I have a spiritual and scriptural duty to defend my family and neighbors if the need arises.
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