Yesterday I came upon a story about Ken Pagano and New Bethel Church in Louisville, KY. Ken Pagano is the senior pastor of the church, and he has invited the congregation to a celebration on 27 June, the Saturday before 4 July, or Independence Day in the U.S. And, yes, this picnic is called the Open Carry Celebration.
That’s right: Open Carry. As in your sidearm of choice. Here’s a description from their website:
In Celebration of July 4 and our rights as Americans, New Bethel Church will be hosting an Open Carry Celebration for all who support 1st and 2nd Amendment rights. It will be held on Saturday June 27th, the weekend before July 4th. It will begin at 5PM and picnic food will be served. We are asking responsible handgun owners to attend this service openly wearing their sidearm. This will be a Cold Range Carry meaning handguns must be unloaded and in a secure holster.
You might say, “What’s wrong with that? They want to celebrate our rights. They want to eat together. They are not even allowed to load their guns.”
Quite frankly there is nothing right about this. There is nothing Gospel about it. There’s nothing Christian here. This is a group of disciples of Jesus laying down their cross and taking up their guns in celebration of the kingdom of man.
Kan Pagano, pastor of New Bethel Church in Louisville, Ky., says America wouldn't exist without God and firearms. Image: Aaron Borton / AP
“We’re just going to celebrate the upcoming theme of the birth of our nation,” said pastor Ken Pagano. “And we’re not ashamed to say that there was a strong belief in God and firearms — without that this country wouldn’t be here.”
Again, this would be Kingdom of God people celebrating and doing the kingdom of man. (Just a side note here. You can strongly and easily argue this country would not be here without slaves, which were owned and held by people led by God, and kept in line by guns.)
The guns must be unloaded and private security will check visitors at the door, Pagano said.
Wait. Why not mention the private security will have to be carrying loaded weapons should they have to deal with people who decided to have bullets in their guns and don’t want to have someone else touch their weapons?
Pagano, 50, said some members of his church were concerned that President Barack Obama’s administration could restrict gun ownership, and they supported the plan for the event when Pagano asked their opinion.
Do not think for a second that is an isolated idea. Plenty of folks in our circles here feel very strongly that they will soon lose the right to purchase guns. They have in fact been stockpiling as they get the chance. There’s a gun shop here called 2nd Amendment Sports that is highly touted among the Christian gun owners.
Marian McClure Taylor, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, an umbrella organization for 11 Christian denominations in Kentucky, said Christian churches are promoters of peace, but “most allow for arms to be taken up under certain conditions.”
Under certain condition? And exactly what conditions would those be? Is this an idea that Jesus promoted? Is that something the Apostle Paul exhorted Christians to do? Did Peter somewhere discuss the conditions when Christians were to allow for carrying weapons (pretty sure things didn’t go so well for Peter when he took up the sword)? What of the early Church? Why is it these “certain conditions” only ever come up in the kingdom of man?
But, I think this puts it very well:
John Phillips, an Arkansas pastor who was shot twice while leading a service at his former church in 1986, said a house of worship is no place for firearms.
“A church is designated as a safe haven, it’s a place of worship,” said Phillips, who was shot by a church member’s relative for an unknown reason and still has a bullet lodged in his spine. “It is unconscionable to me to think that a church would be a place that you would even want to bring a weapon.”
Indeed. It is unconscionable to me as well. I am pretty sure our Christian ancestors are rolling in their graves, wanting ever so badly to come back for only a moment just to slap some people in the back of the head, get them to wake up.
I will say only one last thing about this dispicable, non-Christian event. What about the people driving by and observing the congregants of this church? They will go by and see a large number of people, say 150-200, most of which are carrying guns, and doing so in and around the church? What statement does that make? What witness are they giving the people of Louisville, KY?
That’s not the Gospel. That’s a gun.
That’s not a celebration of Jesus. That’s a celebration of a country.
