Wow, Dan. Thanks for that sobering information. I had no idea.

@Christine > My solution is to live somewhere with a well-trained and responsive police force. It’s the role of the government to protect us, right? No. Courts all the way up to the Supreme Court of the United States have long held that the government has no responsibility to protect you or me. Let me leave you with a couple of court cases. Law-enforcement has no duty to protect individuals. South v. Maryland. There is no duty owed by the police, the city, or the state to act to prevent or avoid harm to citizens. Susman v. City of Los Angeles. The state has no affirmative duty to protect an individual, even if they know that person is in danger. DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services. Neither the police nor the government is liable to victims for failure to provide adequate police protection. Warren v. District of Columbia. Police departments enjoy absolute immunity for failure to provide sufficient police protection. Hartzler v. City of San Jose. Neither cities nor police departments are responsible for failing to enforce restraining orders or protect citizens. Castle Rock v. Gonzales “Failure to provide adequate police protection will not result in governmental liability, nor will a public entity be liable for failure to arrest a person who is violating the law.” Antique Arts Corp. v. City of Torrence. “There is no constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered.” Bowers v. DeVito.

I need to check what I have written better before posting! sorry! I meant to say... "That is why we need to learn how to start listening to God and developing a relationship with Him through reading the BIBLE as the best defense for any type of attack we may experience as a Christian." sorry not prayer though it is reading His Word and prayer combined really!

Anonymous the very first thing she should do is hand it over to God, ask for His guidance/help, pray about it - even if it is a 5 second prayer. Seriously. What God may lead her to do is different for each situation and between them. That is why we need to learn how to start listening to God and developing a relationship ith Him through reading the prayer as the best defense for any type of attack we may experience as a Christian. As Christians we need to start learning how to hand things over to God in prayer instantly and always - it needs to become a habit.

Steve, If you are married, please go right now and tell your wife that if she should encounter a man masturbating while watching her that you expect her to give him the Gospel right then and there. Seriously?

Christine, "how can you tell a woman she is acting from a sense of entitlement if she wants to do something as reasonable go running early in the morning without being accosted by would be criminals?" Key words: "wants to", "without being accosted". It is not reasonable to expect not to be accosted, it is a sense of entitlement to expect the rest of the evil world to conform to what you want because you want it. This essay makes the issue, quite literally, all about her. Does she present the Gospel to those she encounters? Not according to her essay. Does she make it absolutely clear that she is God's child, and one accosts her at their eternal peril? One's response can be reasonable or not reasonable- how your relationship with God impacts your response is the question.

There is much food for thought here. Every Christian is called to grow in surrender to God and in holiness. That means, that different people will respond differently in different ways in different times and situations. But we are called to be like Jesus, to grow into union with Him, to act as he did. He said His kingdom was not of this world; to gather not into barns; to not be afraid of those who can kill the body. The question is, how is 'packing heat' going to draw me closer to Christ? We fight against not humans, but principalities...that battle can only be won by spiritual weapons. But in a 'fallen' world, where people are at different levels of spiritual growth, some could in good conscience in certain times and situations use force (but not out of anger, resentment or hatred). I do not believe it Christian to argue for carrying and using firearms as a general principle. Dietrich Bonhoeffer struggled with this; no easy answer. A good movie of two possible responses to injustice; 'The Mission', with Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro. But it seems to me that those 'closest' to Christ would not use violence.

In my first post (August 1), I addressed those who are unarmed for using the Holy Spirit to be their defense. Those who trust in the sword often prefer to die by the sword. A member of my church got out of the Army and got a job on the night shift in a jiffy mart. One morning, he was found dead on the floor. The till was open. He had money in his left hand and his gun in his right hand. The robber must have sensed something was wrong and shot him high in the chest. That froze the marksman so he couldn't even return fire. In the book "The Cross and The Switchblade" Nicki Cruz told his gang that he was leaving the gang to follow Christ. He prayed for God's protection and walked out, fully expecting a bullet in the back. Later, the gang members admitted they were trying to reach for their weapons, but they physically couldn't.

"Ann, just so I understand, you also refuse the care of physicians and the benefits of modern medicine?" Of course not. They are there to help. Though I do not discard the true stories I know of people who have been healed without them by God. I do not believe God inspired, invented or created guns for us. I do believe He has inspired doctors to find cures for various diseases. However I am very anti-vaccine (considering some have aborted baby cell lines in them - check out cogfor life dot org - and or other harmful substances). I also do believe that some forms of medicine used by doctors are not the full story - I think there are some alternative medicines at times or better (you have to understand that a secular field which involves a lot of money will always put that money first). As well as prayer is needed. Guns are a killing machine. Doctors are not. I do understand that some afflictions can be spiritual and need prayer not just a doctor. As an example are the many stories of psych patients who spend decades in mental care and the mental care doctors have given up hope on them - yet when they are prayed for and develop a relationship with Jesus they are set free. I do not believe there is a one answer fits all when it comes to healing and what is needed. But for a Christian prayer should always be part of that answer. "Now let me ask you, Ann, are you a Good Samaritan? We can discuss and argue whether or not Christians should carry firearms, but are you a Good Samaritan? Jesus clearly commanded that. There is no discussion there." Probably not as much as I could be. But I have stopped to help people and the homeless at times if that counts and have done a lot of charity work when a natural disaster hit my community last year for 6-8 months - but I do not help out as much as I could. I could do more.

@Ann > Dan if your not acting in the Spirit of Love which is the Holy Spirit what spirit are you acting in? Not God's! Just saying. Jesus uses scripture against the devil and also rebuked wrong spirits. I agree that scripture is powerful against Satan. The Bible clearly shows us that. Jesus used the Word against Satan. Now let me ask you, Ann, are you a Good Samaritan? We can discuss and argue whether or not Christians should carry firearms, but are you a Good Samaritan? Jesus clearly commanded that. There is no discussion there.