I do not believe it is God's intention for me to live in fear. Holding the belief that it would be wrong for me to defend myself if I was attacked would cause me to live in fear. When my father used to hit me, and my siblings too, or my siblings would continually hit me, do you wish for me to believe that it was God's intention for me not to defend myself? Because I can tell you that it mattered little whether I fought back my siblings or not. If I did not defend myself, they would continue hitting me, often clearly enjoying it. So the only choice then was to defend myself, and then remove myself from the situation. Because I didn't have any physical person coming to save me, though I know and truly believe that I have had God and my guardian angels there all along.
I wish to point out the scripture James 2:14-26
[SUP]14 [/SUP]What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? [SUP]15 [/SUP]Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. [SUP]16 [/SUP]If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? [SUP]17 [/SUP]In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
[SUP]18 [/SUP]But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. [SUP]19 [/SUP]You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[SUP][a][/SUP]? [SUP]21 [/SUP]Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? [SUP]22 [/SUP]You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. [SUP]23 [/SUP]And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[SUP][b][/SUP] and he was called God’s friend. [SUP]24 [/SUP]You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
[SUP]25 [/SUP]In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? [SUP]26 [/SUP]As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
So yes, I believe that if someone is coming to hurt, rape, or kill me or my family, I do believe I am to take action. That doesn't mean that I won't pray to God to protect me and send help. However, this does not conclude that if someone name calls, or does another action to me, that I am to pay him back with evil as well. I think the important thing in self-defense or defending another, is to stay on defense and not go on offense. Only do what is necessary to provide for safety. If one punch is sufficient to stop the person, then there is no need to beat them senseless. If guns are involved and the only way to stop the person is to kill them, then so be it. If you are persecuted, and given the option to renounce Jesus or die, and you cannot defend yourself and remove yourself from the situation, then so be it. Then it is up to you whether you will renounce Jesus or die. I know what my choice would be.
I am sorry for those of you who believe that God would have you live in fear, and not defend yourself from an attacker, for you don't truly know God. God is love, and love protects and defends. He does not wish for His children to be beaten, hurt or otherwise, or to make themselves victims who cannot protect themselves or others. If you love the Lord, and love yourself and others as he has commanded you to, you will practice self-defense as well as the defense of others. I would like to show you 1 Corinthians 13, the definition of love:
13 If I speak in the tongues[SUP][a][/SUP] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [SUP]2 [/SUP]If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [SUP]3 [/SUP]If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[SUP][b][/SUP] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [SUP]5 [/SUP]It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [SUP]6 [/SUP]Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [SUP]7 [/SUP]It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. [SUP]9 [/SUP]For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [SUP]10 [/SUP]but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. [SUP]11 [/SUP]When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. [SUP]12 [/SUP]For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Lastly, I would like to point out the Parable of the Tenants, as I feel it applies here. Luke 20:9-19
He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’
14“But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
“ ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’[SUP]a[/SUP] ?
18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
19The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
May God Bless you and have you come to know the peace of His love for you, for it is His desire that you feel safe.
I wish to point out the scripture James 2:14-26
[SUP]14 [/SUP]What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? [SUP]15 [/SUP]Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. [SUP]16 [/SUP]If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? [SUP]17 [/SUP]In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
[SUP]18 [/SUP]But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. [SUP]19 [/SUP]You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
[SUP]20 [/SUP]You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[SUP][a][/SUP]? [SUP]21 [/SUP]Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? [SUP]22 [/SUP]You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. [SUP]23 [/SUP]And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[SUP][b][/SUP] and he was called God’s friend. [SUP]24 [/SUP]You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.
[SUP]25 [/SUP]In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? [SUP]26 [/SUP]As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
So yes, I believe that if someone is coming to hurt, rape, or kill me or my family, I do believe I am to take action. That doesn't mean that I won't pray to God to protect me and send help. However, this does not conclude that if someone name calls, or does another action to me, that I am to pay him back with evil as well. I think the important thing in self-defense or defending another, is to stay on defense and not go on offense. Only do what is necessary to provide for safety. If one punch is sufficient to stop the person, then there is no need to beat them senseless. If guns are involved and the only way to stop the person is to kill them, then so be it. If you are persecuted, and given the option to renounce Jesus or die, and you cannot defend yourself and remove yourself from the situation, then so be it. Then it is up to you whether you will renounce Jesus or die. I know what my choice would be.
I am sorry for those of you who believe that God would have you live in fear, and not defend yourself from an attacker, for you don't truly know God. God is love, and love protects and defends. He does not wish for His children to be beaten, hurt or otherwise, or to make themselves victims who cannot protect themselves or others. If you love the Lord, and love yourself and others as he has commanded you to, you will practice self-defense as well as the defense of others. I would like to show you 1 Corinthians 13, the definition of love:
13 If I speak in the tongues[SUP][a][/SUP] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [SUP]2 [/SUP]If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. [SUP]3 [/SUP]If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[SUP][b][/SUP] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
[SUP]4 [/SUP]Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [SUP]5 [/SUP]It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [SUP]6 [/SUP]Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [SUP]7 [/SUP]It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
[SUP]8 [/SUP]Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. [SUP]9 [/SUP]For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [SUP]10 [/SUP]but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. [SUP]11 [/SUP]When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. [SUP]12 [/SUP]For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
[SUP]13 [/SUP]And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Lastly, I would like to point out the Parable of the Tenants, as I feel it applies here. Luke 20:9-19
He went on to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.’
14“But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. ‘This is the heir,’ they said. ‘Let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 15So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
“What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.”
When the people heard this, they said, “God forbid!”
17Jesus looked directly at them and asked, “Then what is the meaning of that which is written:
“ ‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’[SUP]a[/SUP] ?
18Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.”
19The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.
May God Bless you and have you come to know the peace of His love for you, for it is His desire that you feel safe.
Daniel 6:22 My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight. Nor have I ever done any wrong before you, Your Majesty.”
The funeral was held two days after the accident. After the funeral the McClurkin children were sent home with their mother’s uncle, while the parents stayed with family. Unbeknownst to the parents, the uncle was a pedophile. In the evening the uncle raped Donnie and a couple of his sisters. Scared and confused Donnie and the sisters did not tell their parents what their uncle had done to them.
Looking back at that night Donnie said in the documentary, “The seed of perversion was planted through that molestation. It was a thing that made my life a living hell. An eight year old can’t handle it, and it sparks something in an eight year old that’s not supposed to spark until puberty. … Things start popping in an eight year old mind that doesn’t happen in normal eight year old minds, because the Pandora’s Box was opened, and you can’t close it after that.”
Donnie McClurkin | Ex-gayTruth.com
[video=youtube_share;h3ewPHaPBfA]http://youtu.be/h3ewPHaPBfA[/video]