Weapons: 40 Reasons for Gun Control

1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.

2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."

4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.

5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.

6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.

7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.

9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should "put up no defense -- give them what they want, or run" (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don't Die - People Do, 1981, p.125).

10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.

13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a "state" militia.

14. These phrases: "right of the people peaceably to assemble," "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumeration's herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," and "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people" all refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arm" refers to the state.

15. "The Constitution is strong and will never change." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.

16. Rifles and handguns aren't necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.

17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons", but private citizens shouldn't have "assault rifles", because they are military weapons.

18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.

19. The NRA's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.

20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.

21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.

22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen" and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."

23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.

25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.

26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a "weapon of mass destruction" or an "assault weapon."

27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.

28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.

29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.

30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.

31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do "civilians" who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.

33. We should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.

34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.

35. Private citizens don't need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.

36. Citizens don't need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.

37. "Assault weapons" have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.

38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that's bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that's good.

39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.

40. Handgun Control, Inc. says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.

External Link

Grace Fellowship: Our Need for God's Sovereign Love

Two Little Words That Say “I Love You”

Listen: Full Message

...

The fact that God sent his Son to sacrifice himself to save the very people that want to kill him.

Spurgeon: I take it that the highest proof of Christ’s power is not that he offers salvation, not that he bids you take it if you will, but that when you reject it, when you hate it, when you despise it, he has a power whereby he can change your mind, make you think differently from your former thoughts, and turn you from the error of your ways.

So why would he do this? Let’s continue

[Read Eph 2:7-9 - Everyone]

7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

We see that this plan of God’s is to show his grace towards sinners like us. Can you think of anything more loving/gracious/merciful then to save not only a people that are dead but are at war with you?

...

Politics: America Rising

An Open Letter to Democrat Politicians

Funny: Power Tools

The power tool you always dreamed about.

(http://www.slipperybrick.com/2008/07/the-dewalt-16-nail-gun/)

Weapons: Statistics

Historical facts of the dangers of guns versus doctors in the United States

Something to think about...

Number of gun owners in the U.S.:

80,000,000

Number of accidental gun deaths per year (all age groups):
1,500

Accidental deaths per gun owner:
0.0000188

Number of physicians in the U.S.:
700,000

Number of accidental deaths caused by physicians per year (all age groups):
120,000

Accidental deaths per physician:
0.171 (U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services)

Statistically, Doctors are approximately 9,000 times more dangerous than gun owners.

***
FACT: Not everyone has a gun, but everyone has at least one doctor. Please alert your friends to this alarming threat. We must ban doctors before this gets out of hand. (As a public health measure, statistics on lawyers were withheld for fear that the shock could cause people to seek medical aid.)
***

Theology: Matt Chandler

Irreverent, Silly Myths

Politics: Obama's Jobs Solution

PJ TV

Making Our Businesses Less Competitive

Funny: Steven Crowder

War Helps ... A Lot!

Grace Fellowship: How to Pray for Christians

02/15/2009
Colossians 1:9-14

Generally speaking, do our prayers for one another sound like Paul’s prayers for his fellow believers? Maybe we could say that he prayed that way because he was an apostle. “But we live in the real world. We don’t live in some high-brow, theological seventh heaven like Paul, off somewhere in some seminary using words like “propitiation” and “justification” and stuff. We have real prayer requests for the real world. Like prayer for healing and for guidance about what I should study in college, and who I should marry, and whether I should home school my kids, and for salvation for my family and church growth and stuff. And for safety when we visit the relatives and stuff. And that the car will stay together. We don’t use words like “redemption” and stuff when we pray. We use real words, mostly one-syllable words, and we talk about REAL stuff here in the real world! We don’t get into all that deep stuff that Paul talked about.”

Why does Paul pray the way he does? Was Paul’s prayer just a bunch of hard to understand theological “stuff”? Or was it about the real world in which we live? Is he just trying to show off his own deep spirituality? Or did he pray as he did for fellow Christians out of necessity?

Full Sermon Notes
[For sermon audio click here]

Grace Gems: If we were directing the affairs of our own lives

(J. R. Miller, "The Lesson of Love" 1903)

We often think we could do better--if we were directing the affairs of our own lives. We think we could get more happiness and greater good out of life--if things were in our hands. We would at once eliminate all that is painful and unpleasant in our lot. We would have only prosperities, with no adversities; only joys, with no sorrows. We would exclude all pain and trouble from our life. Our days would all be sunny, with blue skies--and no clouds or storms. Our paths would all be soft and easy, and strewn with flowers--without thorns or any rough places. Would we not be happier--if we could direct our own affairs, and leave out the painful, the bitter, the adverse, and the sorrowful?

So most of us would probably say at first, before we have thought of the question deeply and looked on to the end. But really the greatest misfortune that could come to us in this world--would be to have the direction of the affairs, and the shaping of the experiences of our lives, put into our own hands!

We have no wisdom to know what is best for ourselves. Today is not all of life--there is a long future, perhaps many years in this world, and then immortality hereafter. What would give us greatest pleasure today--might work us harm in days to come. Present gratification might cost us untold loss and hurt in the future.

We want pleasure, plenty, and prosperity--but perhaps we need pain, self-denial, and the giving up of things that we greatly prize.

We shrink from suffering, from sacrifice, from struggle--but perhaps these are the very experiences which will do the most good for us, which will best mature our Christian graces, which will fit us for the largest service to God and man.

We should always remember that the object of living here, is not merely to have present comfort, to get along with the least trouble, to gather the most we can of the world's treasures, to win the brightest fame. We are here to grow into the beauty of Christ, and to do the portion of God's will that belongs to us!

There is something wonderfully inspiring in the thought, that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives, for each life. We do not come drifting into this world--and do not drift through it like waves on the ocean. We are sent from God, each one of us with a divine plan for his life--something God wants us to do, some place He wants us to fill. All through our lives we are in the hands of God, who chooses our place and orders our circumstances, and makes all things work together for our good--and His glory.

It is the highest honor that could be conferred upon us, to occupy such a place in the thought of God. We cannot doubt that His way for us is better than ours, since He is infinitely wiser than we are, and loves us so. It may be painful and hard--but in the pain and the hardness, there is blessing.

Of course we may not know all the reasons there are in the divine mind, for the pains and sufferings that come into our lives, or what God's design for us in these trials is. Yet without discovering any reasons at all, however, we may still trust God, who loves us with an infinite love--and whose wisdom also is infinite!

When we get to heaven, we shall know that God has made no mistake in anything He has done for us, however He may have broken into our plans--and spoiled our pleasant dreams!

It should be reason for measureless gratitude, that our lives are not in our own poor feeble hands--but in the hands of our infinitely wise and loving Father!

"My times are in Your hands!" Psalm 31:15

Grace Gems

Funny: Tim Hawkins

The Government Can

Grace Gems: Plato's wish

(J. R. Miller)

"You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved; there is no flaw in You!" Song of Songs 4:7

Plato expressed a desire that the moral law might become a living personage, that men seeing it thus incarnate, might be charmed by its beauty. Plato's wish was fulfilled in Jesus Christ! The holiness and the beauty of the divine law were revealed in Him. The Beatitudes contain an outline of the ideal life--but the Beatitudes are only a transcript of the life of Christ Himself! What He taught about love--was but His own love stated in a course of living lessons for His friends to learn. When He said that we should be patient, gentle, thoughtful, forgiving, and kind--He was only saying, "Follow Me!"

If we could gather from the most godly people who ever have lived, the little fragments of lovely character which have blossomed out in each, and bring all these fragments into one personality--we would have the beauty of Jesus Christ! In one person you find gentleness, in another meekness, in another purity of heart, in another humility, in another kindness, in another patience. But in the holiest of men, there are only two or three qualities of ideal beauty--along with much that is stained and blemished, mingled with these qualities. In Christ, however, all that is excellent is found, with no flaw!

"You are absolutely beautiful, my Beloved; there is no flaw in You!" Song of Songs 4:7

Grace Gems

False Teachers: Quote of the Day

The apostles of Satan are not saloon-keepers and white-slave traffickers, but are for the most part ordained ministers.

- A. W. Pink



Oh and while your here you can read all about Brian McLaren and his experience participating in Ramadan this year. Don't worry he posted his personal prayers and all the fasting he was able to do for everyone to hear about: Day 1

Politics: Obama's Teleprompter Malfunction

Grace Gems: The more Christ has suffered for us!

(Thomas Brooks, "The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures")

Christ is that golden pipe through which the golden oil of salvation runs!

The more Christ has suffered for us--the dearer Christ should be unto us. The greater and the bitterer Christ's sufferings have been for us--the greater and the sweeter should our love be to Him. O my friends! there is no love but a superlative love, which is any way suitable to the transcendent sufferings of dear Jesus. Oh,
love Him above your lusts,
love Him above your relations,
love Him above the world,
love Him above all your contentments and enjoyments;
yes, love Him above your very lives!

Certainly the more bitter His sufferings have been for us, the more eminent should be our love to Him. Oh, how should this inflame our love to Christ! Oh, that our hearts were more affected with the sufferings of Christ! Who can tread upon these hot coals--and his heart not burn in love to Christ?

Oh, the infinite love of Christ--that He should leave His Father's bosom, and come down from heaven--that He might carry you up to heaven; that He who was a Son should take upon Him the form of a servant:
that you slaves--should be made sons;
that you enemies--should be made friends;
that you heirs of wrath--should be made heirs of God!

To save us from everlasting ruin, Christ was willing to be made flesh, to be tempted, deserted, persecuted, and to die upon a cruel cross! Oh what flames of love to Christ, should these things kindle in all our hearts!

Oh, let a suffering Christ lie nearest your hearts!

Grace Gems

Grace Fellowship: Hoping for Heaven

02/08/2009
Colossians 1:5a

There are many passages in the NT which speak with subtle differences about hope, but they all refer to the same thing generally, our future eternal life in Heaven. For instance, in 1 Timothy, Jesus is referred to as Christ Jesus our hope. Peter speaks of how God has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). Titus chapter 2 reminds us of how we wait for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

But here in Colossians when we read of hope, Paul is not speaking of Jesus as our hope, or our hope for the day of His return, or the hope of resurrection AS SUCH. Certainly, these things are various aspects of the hope we have as believers. All these things (the resurrection, the return of Christ, and the person of Christ) are part of the salvation we enjoy and will enjoy.

Full Sermon Notes
[For sermon audio click here]

Hymns: THE HEAVENS DECLARE THY GLORY

Words: Isaac Watts, The Psalms of Da­vid, 1719.
Music: Ux­bridge, Low­ell Ma­son, 1830 (MI­DI, score).

The heav’ns declare Thy glory, Lord,
In every star Thy wisdom shines
But when our eyes behold Thy Word,
We read Thy Name in fairer lines.

The rolling sun, the changing light,
And nights and days, Thy power confess
But the blest volume Thou hast writ
Reveals Thy justice and Thy grace.

Sun, moon, and stars convey Thy praise
Round the whole earth, and never stand:
So when Thy truth begun its race,
It touched and glanced on every land.

Nor shall Thy spreading Gospel rest
Till through the world Thy truth has run,
Till Christ has all the nations blest
That see the light or feel the sun.

Great Sun of Righteousness, arise,
Bless the dark world with heav’nly light;
Thy Gospel makes the simple wise,
Thy laws are pure, Thy judgments right.

Thy noblest wonders here we view
In souls renewed and sins forgiv’n;
Lord, cleanse my sins, my soul renew,
And make Thy Word my guide to Heaven.

Grace Gems: The test of amusements

(J. R. Miller)

"Lovers of pleasure--rather than lovers of God" 2 Timothy 3:4

Is the love of pleasure growing upon you, gaining the power and the ascendency over you? Is it dulling the keenness of your zest for spiritual pleasures? Is it making Bible-study, prayer, communion with Christ, meditation upon holy themes--less sweet enjoyments than before? Is it making your hunger for righteousness, for God--less intense? Is it interfering with the comfort and blessing you used to find in worship services, or in Christian work?

If so, there is only one thing to do--hasten to return to God, cut off the pleasure which is imperiling the soul, and find in Christ the joy which the world cannot give, and which ever enhances the life. We must test all our pleasures and amusements by this rule--Are they helping us to grow into Christ-likeness and spiritual beauty?

Grace Gems

Funny: Steven Crowder

Who is Joe Biden?

Grace Gems: The ruined handkerchief

(J. R. Miller, "The Lesson of Love" 1903)

"We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

It is one of the wonders of divine love, that God will take even our blemishes and sins, when we truly repent of them and give them into His hands--and make them blessings to us in some way.

A friend once showed Ruskin a costly handkerchief, on which a blot of ink had been made. "Nothing can be done with that!" the friend said, thinking that the handkerchief was now ruined and worthless. Ruskin carried it away with him and after a time sent it back to his friend. In a most skillful and artistic way--he had made a fine design on the handkerchief, using the blot as its foundation. Instead of being ruined, the handkerchief was made far more beautiful and valuable.

Just so, God takes the flaws and blots and stains upon our lives, the disfiguring blemishes, when we commit them to Him, and by His marvelous grace--changes them into strength and beauty of character!

David's grievous sin, was not only forgiven--but was made a transforming power in his life.

Peter's pitiful fall, became a step upward through his Lord's forgiveness and gentle dealing. Peter never would have become the man he afterward became--if he had not denied his Lord, and then repented and been restored.

There is one thing always to be remembered. Paul tells us that we become more than conquerors in all life's trials, dangers, struggles, temptations, and sorrows--only "through Him who loved us." Without Christ--we must be defeated. There is only one secret that can turn evil into good, pain into blessing--that is the love of Christ. There is only one Hand which can take the blotted life--and transform it into beauty.

Grace Gems