A Texas church's real talk about guns

There’s an old story from church history about a Roman emperor who ordered his legions to be baptized as Christian en masse. Down into the waters they went—except for their right hands, their sword hands, which they held out of the water. I’ve heard that story many times, and it’s attributed to one emperor or another, but it’s always been used to make the point that each of us tends to reserve something in our lives that we do not give over to the Lordship of Christ.

The story came up again in a conversation I had in a restaurant with a fellow who was just sitting down as I was leaving. We got to talking about church security in the aftermath of the shooting at Sutherland Springs Baptist Church in South Texas, and about how different churches in town were responding. Some churches were arming their ushers, he said, but most of the ones he knew were content in knowing that many people in the congregation were armed on Sunday mornings.

I brought up the baptism story. He responded with an interpretation I’ve never heard before. “Maybe that means we can carry guns and be faithful Christians at the same time,” he said. I knew he was a Baptist who was serious about his faith and who believed in full immersion baptism. Something from my Southern Baptist past bubbled up in my memory, and I said, “You know the old saying, ‘Jesus is Lord of all or he’s not Lord at all.’”