2COR4:6, JN8:12 and other favorite Bible verses to engrave on machine gun sights

Nothing like looking down the barrel of a machine gun and reading 2COR4:6 on the sight. An ABC report “US Military Weapons inscribed with secret ‘Jesus’ Bible codes” says that “Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military.”

2 Corinthians 4:6 is a verse from the Christian Bible that says “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” JN8:12 is where Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” While some will be arguing about the ethics of such a practise, others will argue about exactly what verse should be there.

Jesus_gun.jpg

Image courtesy of BoingBoing who also find it amusing at best.

Michael “Mikey” Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation claims “It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they’re being shot by Jesus rifles”. He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of “those who are calling this a Crusade.” I think he has a point. What do you think?

Andrew

Andrew Jones launched his first internet space in 1997 and has been teaching on related issues for the past 20 years. He travels all the time but lives between Wellington, San Francisco and a hobbit home in Prague.

14 Comments

  • Eric Blauer says:

    Faith & Violence seem to go hand in hand these days.
    This article sickens me. It’s like putting purity scriptures on condoms.
    With movies like “The book of Eli, The edge of Darkness and Avatar” which baptize F & V in a typical Hollywood way; it’s no wonder honest souls wrestle with religions of blood. As a pastor I’m struggling deeply with the absence of sons and daughters in the tradition of MLK in the American church. The church needs a seperation of church & gun as much as church and state.

  • andym says:

    surely if you are going to put a bible verse on a gun it should be something like Ezekiel 25:17? [http://bit.ly/6LWcON%5D
    humour aside, why do this? Is it a real attempt at evangelism by the manufacturer, or some strange play on the idea of Scopes and light? It doesn’t make much sense to me…

  • God forgive us . . .
    what schmucks we mortals be.
    What’s next? “WWJS?” . . . “Who Would Jesus Shoot?”
    words fail me. i feel so sad, sick and mad.
    Jesus, save us from ourselves.

  • Carlo says:

    As alternative verses, how about Jeremiah 22:3? “Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.”
    Or maybe, Psalm 11:5? “The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.”
    Or even Jonah 3:8? “Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.”
    Or perhaps Job 16:17? “yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure”
    !!!!!!!!

  • Joel Seymour says:

    I think they out to spend some time studying the writings of the Mennonites or Gregory Boyd’s fine work – The Myth of A Christian Nation.

  • It’s a separation of church and state for me and therefore, should NOT be on the guns! Go to In and Out Burger if you want to read scripture on a cup! 🙂

  • Andrew makes a good point here on his blog. I first heard about this on the Thom Heartmann radio show coming home from prison today (I am a prison missioner for the Diocese of Florida). It seems to me that the the Taliban and al Qaeda, if they were football coaches, would post this information in every locker room in the middle east.
    This is like the time when my son shot a pellet from his pellet rifle into a hornet’s nest. Definitely something you don’t want to do, or like the time the cows used my bee hives as back scratchers and turned one over… something else you don’t want to do.
    Trijicon may know a lot about weapons but I scarcely believe they have any biblical smarts. Quoting 2COR4:6 on a machine guns sights or any other weapon for that matter is the biggest oxymoron I have ever encountered. -Fr. Tom+
    Prison Missioner for the Diocese of Florida & Interim Chaplain @ Baker Correctional Work Camp
    Dissident Discipleship involves a process of discipleship whose core spirituality is tripolar in nature consisting of: Self-surrender + Love of God + Love of neighbor
    Father Thomas E. Beasley, Junior

  • Greg says:

    The BoingBoing image says it all. Picturing Jesus with a rifle, machine gun, hand grenades, or any form of weaponery looks ridiculous. Jesus did not raise a finger against those who persecuted him- how easy is it to forget that? Did he not say to Simon Peter “Put your sword away”?
    When we raise arms against each other we are the furthest away from the kingdom.

  • GordonG says:

    I just want to vomit when I hear of such despicable treatment of the bringer of the Gospel of Peace and reconciliation – God’s own Son, no less.
    Oh father, forgive

  • Gary Ware says:

    This reminds me of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and Daniel Jackson, the sniper who quotes Bible verses when he’s preparing to shoot.
    Be not that far from me, for trouble is near; haste Thee to help me.
    Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.
    My goodness, and my fortress; my high tower, and my deliverer; my shield, and he in whom I trust; who subdueth my people under me.
    O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
    But that was fiction.
    This I didn’t think you could even make up.

  • John Corinthian says:

    there are two aspects to this story.
    First of all Jesus preached LOVE not HATE.
    Connecting religion to weapons is a big mistake.
    [deleted by tsk]
    My second point is that all this politically correct behaviour is absolute CRAP. It will make no difference what the enemy thinks nor how their attackers behave to the war that is being waged.
    So please remove refrences to the bible on any weapons, but NOT in the name of appeasing the enemy, but by the very fact that chrisianity is all about LOVE and nothing whatsoever to do with killing.
    [deleted by tsk]

  • Marek Mudrik says:

    Interesting article, Andrew. It brings out a long-standing struggle inside me. I am less troubled by the verse references on gun sights than I am by the fact that Jesus is ONE with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – the God who did not hesitate to flood the earth, send his chosen people to wipe out entire cities/nations and who is promising to send the earth up in flames! Our God is a consuming fire, but what is Jesus then and what should we make of passages like this:
    “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war….Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet….The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh (Rev. 19:11-21)
    But the other equally difficult issue at hand is: Did Jesus call his followers to radical surrender to everyone including those who seek to harm us. I personally am not ready to accept it and the manufacturer of the sights isn’t either. Could it be that sometimes we are forced to do evil to prevent greater evil? Like for example opposing the Nazis during WWII? To put it in concrete terms: are the Poles more evil for standing up to Hitler than the Czechs who didn’t? Is it more honorable to surrender to evil or to fight against it? To complicate things further: In the past God endorsed some who were warriors.
    “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised…whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies (Heb 11:32-35).
    My honest struggle.

  • But the other equally difficult issue at hand is: Did Jesus call his followers to radical surrender to everyone including those who seek to harm us. I personally am not ready to accept it and the manufacturer of the sights isn’t either. Could it be that sometimes we are forced to do evil to prevent greater evil? Like for example opposing the Nazis during WWII? To put it in concrete terms: are the Poles more evil for standing up to Hitler than the Czechs who didn’t? Is it more honorable to surrender to evil or to fight against it? To complicate things further: In the past God endorsed some who were war

  • warriorservant says:

    One of the stupidest things for a pastor to say, you actually WANT a separation of church and state? Not what our founders meant AT ALL. And to use it as a springboard to clamor for gun control. You should be ashamed before your God. Read up on Pastor Peter Muhlenberg at http://www.blackrobereg.org/.

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