By Mark Davis | Listen | 20m
Published in March of 2018
SUMMARY: Framing the conversation within the Sermon on the Mount and Psalm 22, pastor Mark Davis of St. Mark Presbyterian (Newport Beach, CA) says we must recognize all violence is a sin and acknowledge the oftentimes persistent role of fear within the human experience. Second, as Christians, we must recognize that we have a civic duty and a spiritual duty. At times, those two things are in agreement, while at other times, they are not. Last, within the realm of the gun violence conversation, our starting point should be the cross, not the Second Amendment.
KEY QUOTE: “While there may be times when our Christian disposition and our civic conversation correspond quite nicely, there are also moments when our Christian disposition are in tension with our civic conversation. And when that’s the case, we are on the side of Christ because we have declared Christ as our Lord and Savior. So the first place for you and I as a Christian community are called to have a conversation about gun violence is not the Second Amendment, but the Sermon on the Mount.”
DIG DEEPER: We curated four guided learning paths on guns and gun violence to help you learn about the subject through a distinct Christian lens.
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