Where is our faith?

As contention has risen among the people of our nation there are many who have felt the need to arm themselves in preparation for our disagreements to escalate from violent language to violent actions. (What initially appears to be an assassination attempt on our former president would serve to validate and enhance such fears.) While the actions of the Anti-Nephi-Lehies in the face of similar threat of escalated violence seems incredible to our eyes I am convinced that besides being righteous it was the more prudent course of action. They placed their trust in God rather than their own capacity for defense.

In these days of potentially explosive violence I don’t need a gun to protect my things. Having one only increases fear for those who are already on the point of violence against me and there is nothing they can take from me that would be of any value to them except for things such as food that I would willingly give to any who need it with it without a threat of violence. I believe that when confronted by this kind of unthreatening non-resistance the violence would be soothed away much more effectively than if we try to scare it away by being armed.

The concealed carry mindset to confronting violence makes sense to some degree when dealing with individual lawlessness just like fighting back makes sense when being attacked by a black bear but the politically motivated violence that would grow out of our fracturing society is like the more dangerous bear, the grizzly, which is most effectively survived by laying down and playing dead.