Boko Haram: Should Christians defend themselves?

Boko Haram: Should Christians defend themselves?

YEMI OLAKITAN 

Our Lord Jesus Christ forbade his disciples to take up weapons against anyone according to the scriptures. He told Peter; those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. He healed a soldier whose ear was cut off by Peter. The soldier was one of those who came to arrest him after he had been betrayed by Judas. Jesus also instructed his followers to turn the other cheeks when they slap them on one cheek.  Jesus Christ was totally against violence in any form even in self defense. He said, do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear the one who can kill both the body and the soul in hell. He even refused to defend himself when he had the power to do so preferring to lay down his life to save mankind. While on the cross, he prayed for the people who nailed him to the cross.

Today, Christians are being persecuted in large numbers by Islamic extremists; many are being slaughtered like chickens particularly in Northern Nigeria. Only recently in Southern Kaduna a Pastor and his family were murdered by members of the Boko Haram sect. He was just one of many such victims who have died in the hands of Islamic extremists. Hundreds of churches have been burnt down in these parts of the country by the same group.  In the North, the roll call of murdered Christians is alarming. The early Christians were known to have suffered similar fate. Many of the early Christians were killed under horrific conditions. They were thrown into the lions, crucified upside down, burnt at the stake for merely reading the Bible or beheaded for professing to be a Christian. In all these persecutions, they didn’t defend themselves with violence, instead they prayed for their persecutors, preferring to die as martyrs instead of fighting their attackers.  In the book of Esther chapters 3, 4, 8). Esther 9:1 – 17, a man called Haman plot to kill all Jewish people, the people of God through Queen Esther got the King to enact a new decree to reverse an earlier decree which empowered them to defend themselves against the plot of their enemy so that they can fight back and eliminate them.  The people of Israel defended themselves well because they were well armed and they prevailed against their enemies.  Esther and her Jewish people not only fasted and prayed but they also armed themselves and defended themselves. As a result they were able to turn over the evil that their enemies planned over to their heads. The questions arise: Is Christ instruction for Christians to eschew violence even in self defense practical? Is it still applicable today? Shouldn’t Christians defend themselves when faced with threats to their lives? Should they take harms against their enemies who choose to kill them and destroy their places of worship? Christians they turn the other cheek when attacked by, terrorists, murderers and Islamic jihadists?

A report by the Ndi-Igbo Peace Movement (NPM) says that the Boko Haram that is operating pre-dominantly in the Northern part of the country has declared religious war against Christians in Nigeria . This was contained in a statement issued by the group to newsmen in Onitsha , Anambra. The statement was signed by Chief Uzor A. Uzor, President of the group.

“From our records, over 4,000 people had been killed directly or indirectly due to the escalated Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the Northern region.

“2,000 of the people so far killed are from the South-East; while the South-West have about 1,000 and the North have 1,000 people killed respectively.

“From the statistics, it shows that the Southern part of the country had had a good number of causalities then the North

“And its an indicator that the Boko Haram insurgency is meant to target only the Southerners especially Christians residing in the North,’’ it said.

The statement said that the recent burial of 14 people from Adazi Nnukwu community in Aniocha LGA, Anambra State and also 7 people in Umuna community, 2 in Amaifeke and 1 in Okporo all in Orlu LGA of Imo State was still fresh in ones mind.

The situation in Adamawa was so bad that, “Some people tried to escape through the windows and the attackers shot at them. They cut peoples’ throats.”

This was how the of Yola, Mamza Stephen, captured the calamity that befell worshippers at a Catholic church in Waga Chakawa in Adamawa State when Boko Haram insurgents struck last Sunday.

“Everybody is living in fear. There is no protection. We cannot predict where and when they are going to attack. People can’t sleep with their eyes closed,” the Bishop lamented.

Stephen told the British Broadcasting Corporation that he heard from the survivors that insurgents arrived the village on trucks and locked the church “towards the end of the service.”

According to him, the militants set off bombs, before burning houses and taking residents’ hostage during the four-hour siege. He said death toll in the Waga Chakawa attack was 30 and not 22 as widely reported.

Also, a newly married couple who said they lost everything to the latest Boko Haram attack, were among the villagers seen leaving Kawuri village on Tuesday.

This cannot continue and there must be a stop. Christians must learn to defend themselves. They should go to churches with guns and sleep with their guns by their sides. I remember the Kano people will never forget the last religious riots in which the Igbos surprised the rioters when they all of a sudden brought out guns. So many of the would be killers on the way to kill Christians were gunned down. Since that day not a single religious crisis has occurred

Our Lord Jesus Christ forbade his disciples to take up weapons against anyone according to the scriptures. He told Peter; those who live by the sword shall die by the sword. He healed a soldier whose ear was cut off by Peter. The soldier was one of those who came to arrest him after he had been betrayed by Judas. Jesus also instructed his followers to turn the other cheeks when they slap them on one cheek.  Jesus Christ was totally against violence in any form even in self defense. He said, do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear the one who can kill both the body and the soul in hell. He even refused to defend himself when he had the power to do so preferring to lay down his life to save mankind. While on the cross, he prayed for the people who nailed him to the cross.

Today, Christians are being persecuted in large numbers by Islamic extremists; many are being slaughtered like chickens particularly in Northern Nigeria. Only recently in Southern Kaduna a Pastor and his family were murdered by members of the Boko Haram sect. He was just one of many such victims who have died in the hands of Islamic extremists. Hundreds of churches have been burnt down in these parts of the country by the same group.  In the North, the roll call of murdered Christians is alarming. The early Christians were known to have suffered similar fate. Many of the early Christians were killed under horrific conditions. They were thrown into the lions, crucified upside down, burnt at the stake for merely reading the Bible or beheaded for professing to be a Christian. In all these persecutions, they didn’t defend themselves with violence, instead they prayed for their persecutors, preferring to die as martyrs instead of fighting their attackers.  In the book of Esther chapters 3, 4, 8). Esther 9:1 – 17, a man called Haman plot to kill all Jewish people, the people of God through Queen Esther got the King to enact a new decree to reverse an earlier decree which empowered them to defend themselves against the plot of their enemy so that they can fight back and eliminate them.  The people of Israel defended themselves well because they were well armed and they prevailed against their enemies.  Esther and her Jewish people not only fasted and prayed but they also armed themselves and defended themselves. As a result they were able to turn over the evil that their enemies planned over to their heads. The questions arise: Is Christ instruction for Christians to eschew violence even in self defense practical? Is it still applicable today? Shouldn’t Christians defend themselves when faced with threats to their lives? Should they take harms against their enemies who choose to kill them and destroy their places of worship? Christians they turn the other cheek when attacked by, terrorists, murderers and Islamic jihadists?

A report by the Ndi-Igbo Peace Movement (NPM) says that the Boko Haram that is operating pre-dominantly in the Northern part of the country has declared religious war against Christians in Nigeria . This was contained in a statement issued by the group to newsmen in Onitsha , Anambra. The statement was signed by Chief Uzor A. Uzor, President of the group.

“From our records, over 4,000 people had been killed directly or indirectly due to the escalated Boko Haram insurgency in some parts of the Northern region.

“2,000 of the people so far killed are from the South-East; while the South-West have about 1,000 and the North have 1,000 people killed respectively.

“From the statistics, it shows that the Southern part of the country had had a good number of causalities then the North

“And its an indicator that the Boko Haram insurgency is meant to target only the Southerners especially Christians residing in the North,’’ it said.

The statement said that the recent burial of 14 people from Adazi Nnukwu community in Aniocha LGA, Anambra State and also 7 people in Umuna community, 2 in Amaifeke and 1 in Okporo all in Orlu LGA of Imo State was still fresh in ones mind.

The situation in Adamawa was so bad that, “Some people tried to escape through the windows and the attackers shot at them. They cut peoples’ throats.”

This was how the of Yola, Mamza Stephen, captured the calamity that befell worshippers at a Catholic church in Waga Chakawa in Adamawa State when Boko Haram insurgents struck last Sunday.

“Everybody is living in fear. There is no protection. We cannot predict where and when they are going to attack. People can’t sleep with their eyes closed,” the Bishop lamented.

Stephen told the British Broadcasting Corporation that he heard from the survivors that insurgents arrived the village on trucks and locked the church “towards the end of the service.”

According to him, the militants set off bombs, before burning houses and taking residents’ hostage during the four-hour siege. He said death toll in the Waga Chakawa attack was 30 and not 22 as widely reported.

Also, a newly married couple who said they lost everything to the latest Boko Haram attack, were among the villagers seen leaving Kawuri village on Tuesday.

This cannot continue and there must be a stop. Christians must learn to defend themselves. They should go to churches with guns and sleep with their guns by their sides. I remember the Kano people will never forget the last religious riots in which the Igbos surprised the rioters when they all of a sudden brought out guns. So many of the would be killers on the way to kill Christians were gunned down. Since that day not a single religious crisis has occurred