A few years ago, I was asked to teach the Bible at another local church.
I'm still amazed at the circumstances that led to that and may share them some day.
While we were there, Scherie and I got our CPLs.
We asked the pastor for permission to carry and he agreed, as a few others had asked him.
When we returned to our home church a couple years later, I asked if we could carry to church and the pastor asked if we could leave them in the car.
I said we could, if we parked off church property.
He said we could carry in church, so the next Sunday, we did.
Then he asked me in to his office so he could see my pistol.
We talked about guns for a bit, he's an outdoorsman.
I became the guy who was notified when an Ypsilanti native (City motto: Cars, Bars and a few Weirdos) would wander in and around the building.
After a few conversations in my Bible Study, one of our close friends took me aside one night and opened her purse to show me what she had purchased.
It was a Kahr CW9. She did not remember me recommending it.
I showed her mine.
Then her husband and a few other guys joined the local gun club.
Her cousins husband is now a gunsmith making his own 1911s and he and his wife shoot IDPA (she's a state champ) and 3 gun.
Any Sunday morning, or Wednesday night, we are lambs, but not sheep.
We have, or should I say had, one liberal in our small congregation.
She is on disability.
I had once arranged to get a car for her once that I was offered from a friend.
I got in it once to work on it and found it on the local AM conservative station WAAM 1600.
I asked why, and she said that as Sun Tzu said, "Know your enemy".
She stayed with Scherie when she was home post surgery on two occasions.
Once after the brain surgery a few years ago and this summer after the neck brace incident.
She drove Scherie to doctors appointments with our car which I had left with her the night before. Scherie would take her to lunch afterwards.
We learned that her son could not get a bus to work on the weekends.
This seriously impinge on their household finances.
I let them use our Taurus on weekends and we drove the Ranger.
At one point she discovered that Scherie had a .357 in her purse.
she drove to our house to return the car, and as we were driving her home, she told us that from now on, if she needed to get the car from us, she would ride the bus (she could never walk from the bus stop to our house) to our house, rather than us pick her up with guns on us.
She would no longer attend our church if we took our guns in to the House of the Lord.
As far as I'm concerned I am the House of the Lord.
I did not let her know that practically eveyone in the church carries a gun.
Well, I will not be manipulated like that.
If she thinks she can disarm a congregation with a guilt trip, she can think that somewhere else.
I feel bad about the situation, she's a rather sweet woman and had treated us well.
But her inordinate fear that guns safely held by friends are a threat to her has cost us her fellowship.
Liberalism is a mental illness.
I ran into similar problems with some of my adult children when I told them I planned to arm myself, which in my opinion is a sensible thing for a sixty-five plus year old widow who lives alone to do. The guilt trips were interesting. Some said I would hurt myself. Others said that an intruder would just take a gun from me and use it against me. From there the arguments just got silly. What stopped the guilt trips was when I asked which of them wanted to be the one who found my dead, battered body. Who wanted to try to identify my remains because I had nothing with which to defend myself. No takers.
ReplyDeleteExactly. And that was the way to do it.
DeleteMom's are always better at guilt tripping than the kids. :)
That is truly sad, and I'm reminded of Jeremiah 5:21- ‘Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not...
ReplyDeleteHow appropriate.
DeleteAt any time did you ask her why she objected?
ReplyDeleteOther than snark with the "liberalism is a mental disease" (I could say something similar about gun humpers) did you attempt to understand her position?
She and I have talked about so many issues.
DeleteI've talked with her driving her to doctor appointments or at gatherings.
But we've never really discussed guns.
Her ultimatum caught my wife and I by surprise.
There is no rationale to her position on this.
She couldn't give one when asked (which I suppose answers your question).
It wasn't snark.
It is her liberal beliefs which fuel this aberrant behavior.
I'm sorry it was an ultimatum and she couldn't tell you why and what could happen for her to rethink her position, IF she even might.
DeleteThat must be the lovely woman who you've told me about; this is sad.
I think people still think that gun owners aren't safe gun owners.
I can't imagine bringing a gun into a church, personally. Or anywhere else, for that matter; You say practically everyone carries a gun there?
I carry (and Scherie does also) a pistol with me everywhere but work.
DeleteA number of us carry at church. Practically everyone might be an exaggeration, but about half.
I carry to church because it can, but probably won't be, as dangerous a place to be as anywhere else, given the Charleston shootings and many others that are underreported.
It's a tool. Sometimes I forget it's there, like my pocketknife.
This is true of many carry people.
I am not a fan of "open carry" as that frightens people.
I was sitting in a diner with Scherie and another couple was in the booth next to us talking about guns.
We struck a conversation and found that they always carry.
You would never have known.
A guy in town owns a gas station. He went to a neighboring city to the bank. While he was in line, someone ahead of him was holding up the teller, quietly.
He figured it out, walked up behind the guy and disarmed him.
The police hailed him as a hero.
Would not have happened had he not had his own gun.
Or the data.
ReplyDeleteEd, It appears you understand the liberal's position perfectly. Shake her dust off your sandals.
ReplyDeleteIt's sad.
Delete"Liberalism is a mental illness. "
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
Only cure is a heart change.
Delete