Deconstructing the Coliseum: Teaching the Christian worldview, including how the civil government has no right to operate a school system.
This excerpt is from Little Pilgrim’s Progress, which Helen L. Taylor adopted from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.
As [Christian and Hopeful] drew near, they saw a man standing alone, with his sword in his hand and armor stained with blood. Greatheart stopped and asked him what had happened.
“My name is Valiant,” he answered, “and I am a pilgrim. Three men came down this lane and attacked me as I was passing. They said I might take my choice of three things, either to join them in robbing the King’s pilgrims, or to go back to my own city, or to be put to death on this spot.”
“I told them that I had always tried to be honest, and I certainly should not become a thief now. And that, as for my own city, I should not have left it if I had been happy there, but it was a bad place, and I had forsaken it forever. Then they asked me if I wished to lose my life, and I said my life was worth too much for me to give up lightly and that they had no right to meddle with the King’s servants in such a manner. So they drew their swords, and I drew mine, and we have been fighting for nearly three hours. They have wounded me, but I think I wounded them also. And I suppose they must have heard your steps in the distance, although I did not, for they suddenly turned and fled away, and then I saw you coming.”
“That was a hard battle, three men to one,” said Greatheart.
“Yes,” replied Valiant, “but I knew I was fighting against my King’s enemies, and that gave me courage.”
Think about these things:
- The three men had no right to meddle with the King’s servants in such a manner.
- The three men were interfering with Valiant’s rights – the exercise of his duties owed to God.
- All humans at all times must be operating within the confines of duties owed to God. This goes for the civil government.
- Valiant first tried to reason with the three men. But when the three men drew their swords, Valiant protected his life with his sword.
- The right to bear arms is not a function of the Second Amendment; it is a function of Jehovah, and it is to be applied in situations like the one Valiant faced: tyrannical power.