The eCrozier

Gun free zones that are created by well-meaning laws are gun-free to the good guys only. The bad part of our society does not care. – A Georgia State Representative

The thought behind the above statement exhibits a binary anthropology. Anthropology is simply the study of human beings and our behavior. Being clear on our anthropology is a necessary first step so we can have theological clarity. A “high” anthropology would assume that people are always good. A “low” anthropology would assume just the opposite: that people are always bad. The above quote is binary, separating people into two camps: the good guys who are always good and the bad guys who are always bad.

Of course, as the Church, we should learn our anthropology from Jesus, who knows us from the inside out (John 2:25) and who forgave those who crucified him because they were ignorant of what they were doing (Luke 23:34). In his parables, Jesus also commends our human capacity for virtuous behavior (e.g., The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, etc.). So, Jesus has a nuanced anthropology. On one hand, he calls us to live by the divine virtues of the Sermon on the Mount. On the other hand, he recognizes how quickly we all are to cast the first stone (John 8), show contempt for another person (Luke 18), or leave the one we love to face death alone (John 18).

Jesus teaches us that we’re all mixed bags, capable of great courage one minute and complete cowardice the next. Humanity, at least as the Bible shows us, can’t be neatly bifurcated into good guys and bad guys, human sin being what human sin is. Every biblical figure, except Jesus, proves this truth. Good guys are only good guys until they aren’t. All people “fall,” biblically speaking, into that category many times during their lives. It does us no good to adopt a “mythic anthropology” gleaned from TV shows, movies, and other media where good guys can do no wrong and bad guys are always bad. From the perspective of the Bible then, sensible laws would attend themselves to the anthropology of Jesus, recognizing the need to account for our mixed bag nature.

Almost all of the mass shootings at schools and houses of worship over the last 20 years or so have been perpetrated by people who didn’t have criminal records and who obtained their guns legally. In other words, they were good guys until they weren’t. Our laws pertaining to where people can carry guns should recognize both the right for people to own guns as well as the right people have not to be killed by them. Preventing the presence of guns from public places like schools and houses of worship acknowledges the truth of a nuanced anthropology, the kind the Bible teaches us.

We would all do well to adopt such a nuanced anthropology because it would keep us clear-headed and honest about what we can expect from ourselves and our fellow sinners. Laws alone can’t solve the “original” problem of human sin. Or, as James Madison put it from another angle: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Laws, however, can sometimes deter what some might call a “good guy” from doing a bad thing. All good guys are only good guys until they aren’t.

+Scott