Onward Christian Soldiers | Guard Yourselves

Christians have faced brutal persecution in nearly every corner of the globe throughout history. Yet the stubborn idea lingers that following Christ means you're meant to just stand there meekly and absorb every blow without protest. It's high time we ditched that quaint misconception. It's about as biblical as Jesus turning water into Irn-Bru.

We're called to fight the good fight, always in defence of ourselves and the innocent. But, if every person carrying the faith gets silenced, the message dies. And that just can't be allowed to happen.

The Scriptures can sometimes guide us, so long as it is taken in the right context. Exodus 22:2 states plainly that if a thief breaks into your home and you strike him down, there's no bloodguilt on you. Then there are Nehemiah's builders. They worked with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other, some proper old school multitasking there.

Even Jesus told the disciples in Luke 22:36 to sell their coats and buy a sword if they didn't already have one. He wasn't handing out picnic blankets.

We should have no desire to physically attack those of other faiths or cultures. We simply ask for the same respect we cheerfully give to everyone else. If that basic courtesy isn't offered in return, then we might as well dust down the old playbook and go back to 'an eye for an eye.' It's funny how today's self appointed guardians of tolerance and the likes all suddenly fall quiet when they picture that rule working the other way around. Flip the script, though, and we're the bad guys. Some set of circumstances, isn't it? Christians in the West always seem to be held to a way different standard to anybody else, and usually by other Westerners who have gone full on secular.

In the end, we always lead with decency, good faith, and a sense of fair play. What happens next is entirely down to the people we encounter. Quid pro quo, as the Romans might say. Or, if you prefer, Matthew 7:12 in action.