What is a Christian Man's MORAL responsibility to protect his own life, or that of his immediate or spiritual family?

[Anna]

On 5/29/2017 at 7:09 PM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

"Um, er... Brother Rook, uh.. are you carrying one now?"

"Yes, I am."

I don't think I would have argued with you either!

[Anna]

On 7/15/2017 at 10:34 AM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

. NO ONE at the KH has EVER seen my weapon(s),

If someone at the KH gave you a hug would they feel it?

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

1 hour ago, Anna said:

If someone at the KH gave you a hug would they feel it?

uh ... depends on the hug.

"... Is that your gun, or are you just happy to see me?"

[TrueTomHarley]

After the convention, Babylonian police officers waited to herd the docile emerging sheep across the busy highway, as if to slaughter. It was DISGUSTING  to see how meekly they complied!!!

Except for Brother Howard 'Dirty Howard' Callahan. "It's MORALLY WRONG to ask a BABYLONIAN POLICEMAN to do what you are not MAN ENOUGH to do yourself!!!" and with that, he strode into the street a few dozen yards up. A gaggle of admiring brothers followed him. He turned to them.

"You need to listen CLOSELY and EXACTLY and SPECIFICALLY to what I have to say, and you need to do it NOW! This is not a game we're playing! Now, whoever is MAN ENOUGH, follow me!"

Traffic parted like the Red Sea as Dirty Howard led his followers into the highway. But about the fourth lane, one of them looked at the windstorm and became afraid. Before he could say "Save Me!" a runaway Peterbuilt truck body-slammed him. Instantly he burst open noisily and his spewing BLOOD AND INTESTINES even stained pink the overhead Goodyear blimp! In a flash, Dirty Howard drew his six-shooter and blew out all eighteen wheels of the truck! "I am TRAINED and HIGHLY SKILLED at handling WEAPONS the girliemen are not fit even to untie!!!" he said to some who thought the deed impossible.

Up the road, Officer O'Maly looked up from the BLEATING SHEEP that so cowardly followed his cues. "It's that idiot Callahan, again! We lose a few publishers to him each year."

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

TTH:

That is very cute TTH ...  aaaaand it recommends your skill and imagination as a writer of novels.

You should excerpt that, and build a novel around it.

It has real potential to sell a LOT ... as extrapolational  comedy.

It would have to be a novel such as "Alice in Wonderland", or "Gulliver's Travels" as it has NOTHING to do with reality.

... absolutely NOTHING AT ALL.

But it is good writing, as a macabre visual comedy!

Oh, and by the way .. um ... people do cross streets by themselves, you know.

...... at least,  you are 100% consistent!

[Anna]

9 hours ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

uh ... depends on the hug.

"... Is that your gun, or are you just happy to see me?"

 

I know.....my question just begged for that famous line. But I was actually being serious . You see we don't do that gun thing in Europe. For starters, it would be very difficult to conceal one, especially in the summer, as most bothers take their jacket off at the meeting (no air conditioning). However, I do realise, from watching dozens of westerns, that a true American cowboy doesn't go anywhere without his cowboy hat and gun. Hence I guess not all brothers in America are cowboys

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

I try to not upset people unnecessarily, and there are even holsters that are concealable .. many different types and styles.  Google IWB Holsters (Inside the waisteband) .

I do not expect to encounter a "fast draw" situation, as I pay attention to my surroundings, and an extra three seconds seems not that important to me.

Like a fire extinguisher ( I have six), or a first aid kit (I have several of different sizes).

I hope at the end of my life the whole exercise will have been a complete waste of time and money ... merely a hobby, in retrospect.

 

[TrueTomHarley]

You know, there are actually things to like about JTR. He is not ambitious. He is not proud, at least no more so than anyone. He is a straight shooter. He uses (perhaps) his real name and photo, which is bold. (though I do wonder if he can possibly be so blunt in the KH as he is online - how much of a double life is he leading, if any?) He probably is much like Mickey Spillane in many ways. If you could just get him to lay off on the 3 John 10 thingie, you could almost plant a kiss on his leathery mug.

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

53 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

I do not expect to encounter a "fast draw" situation, as I pay attention to my surroundings, and an extra three seconds seems not that important to me.

Almost .... I might need that three seconds after all.

30 minutes ago, TrueTomHarley said:

you could almost plant a kiss on his leathery mug.

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

On May 28, 2017, I posted the following:, which was followed by two pages of comments:

On 5/27/2017 at 9:54 PM, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

SCENARIO:  You are at a packed Kingdom Hall on Memorial night, and ten minutes into the remembrance talk, six masked people with weapons enter the Kingdom Hall and begin shooting everyone they can, without any conversation.  

You are shot in the left side of your face and most of those teeth are gone.

Before you know what is going on twelve Brothers and Sisters have been shot, screaming and panic ensues, and there is blood and bodies and brains all over, and the shooting continues.

Would it be fitting for a Brother  to use his handgun to return fire on the murderers to try and save his own life, or the lives of his Brothers and Sisters?

Or, in PubSpeak ... "Would it be fitting for a Christian to keep a firearm, such as a handgun or a rifle, for protection against other humans?" ( July 2017 Watchtower )

This raises MANY Theocratic, moral, ethical, legal, and Societial policy questions ... all of which have REAL answers. 

What is the RIGHT thing for a responsible Christian to do?

Today this is the news.   

 

NO ONE IN THAT CHURCH HAD THE MEANS AND WILL TO RETURN FIRE ... It was not a house of God... it was a SLAUGHTER HOUSE.

... pssst .. and to forestall the next moronic observation .. I have an iron-clad alibi.

 

 

[JW Insider]

38 minutes ago, James Thomas Rook Jr. said:

Today this is the news.

There must be a few other ways to gain protection from gunmen, other than just saying we will allow people to come into a church with guns. This is terrible news, but it was by allowing someone to come into the church with a gun that the tragedy began. People trained to use guns correctly can also end up misusing guns. Perhaps it's just as good to look into what is different in countries that have never had a mass shooting tragedy outside a military circumstance. If we can't follow those examples, then every public place may need to hire an armed guard or two, and put in gun/metal detectors at each entrance.

Just started looking at the past news from this area, and looking at the satellite images and photos of this town. Looks like it's possible that upwards of 10% of this town were killed or injured.

 

[James Thomas Rook Jr.]

OK JWI:

Lets say it is YOUR job to be  official "hall monitor/security" at a Kingdom Hall ... you are sitting in a folding chair at the entrance to the main auditorium, and someone walks through the door with guns blazing, and he somehow misses killing you with the first 15 shots ... You calmly walk up to him and say  " I am sorry sir, but we do not allow people to come into our church with guns", before he shoots you in the throat, and completely severs your spinal column with a bullet.

You have about 25 seconds to live, and the shooter walks over your paralyzed body and your pool of blood and continues firing. After you realize you will never move again, and your eyesight fades to black .. before you die your hearing still works for the next 15 seconds ... and you hear the screaming and terror of the Brothers and Sisters as they are systematically murdered, maimed and ruined for life.

Fade to black ..... you are DEAD.

If you had armed paid security guards AND metal detectors at the Kingdom Hall it would make no difference at all as the shooter came in and "sucker punched" the security guards by shooting them to death in the first 3 seconds.

Lets assume hypothetically, that a Brother was armed at the Hall, as Jesus' Apostles were at the "Memorial" and Passover, with the weapons of their day, and he sprang up and returned fire and made the shooter hesitate his murder spree, but... the Brother accidentally killed two Witnesses while the shooter was killing dozens.  They just  got caught in the crossfire.  The Brother Killed two by accident ... and prevented 26 from being murdered, and 35 from being badly wounded.

Your scenarios do not work.

They are based on wishful thinking, and assumptions NOT a part of contemporary reality.  

This Saturday Susan and I were  in a CPR/First Aid/Blood-borne Pathogens class where the EMT instructor said that when you dial 911... the average response time IS FOURTEEN MINUTES.

The theoretical Armed Brother could respond in about six SECONDS, and his bullets responding at approximately 1200 feet per SECOND.

The reality is that signs that say 'THIS IS A NO GUN ZONE" ...... If they were not so incredibly dangerous in notifying "Bad Guys" they can expect NO real resistance ... do as you will ... would be Hilarious!

NOTHING can stop Bad Guys with guns ... except Good Guys with guns.  If someone is not afraid of dying, there is no defense without eternal vigilance, and superior firepower, and pure dumb luck.

And having a Babylonian Police Officer put HIS life on the line for you when at the same time you refuse to defend yourself is complete and total moral bankruptcy.

.... just another brick in the wall ... of Justice being nothing but words, and common sense being systematically eliminated from the human gene pool by Snowflake political correctness.