NUMBERS, NUMBERS, NUMBERS

Jesus says: “Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it , and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Luke 17:32-33).

The United States has long wrestled with where the Bible stands on the Second Amendment and gun control. “Would Jesus pack heat?” asked USA Today recently.

At the Church of Christ in Morrow County, Ohio, it seems they believe that he would.

Hoping to boost congregations, the church is one of several across the US to offer free training on how to carry a concealed firearm. “Church has done a good job with coffee [mornings] or whatever, but we haven’t really reached out to guys,” explained Jeff Copley, a pastor. “And guys … they shoot.”

Hundreds of potential worshippers have enrolled in the Church of Christ class, which includes practice on the church’s private gun range and prepares participants to gain a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

“I grew up going to church, but hadn’t attended in a number of years,” David Freeman, 52, told The Daily. “I came for the gun classes and kept coming back for two years.”

Religious organisations regularly campaign for stricter gun controls in the US and several church leaders argue that it makes little sense to be pro-life and pro-gun. However, firearms lessons have sprouted in churches across the country.

“We want to draw people in,” the Rev. Ryan Bennett of the pro-gun Central Baptist Church in Lexington, North Carolina, told a local newspaper. “And we’re going to try anything that we can to do that.”