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    On Christian Self-Defense

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    We are Christians. We are to always behave as Christians. Romans 12 (or the numerous other parts of Scripture demanding holy, righteous, and godly conduct) do not get suspended because our lives are threatened. We have a right to defend ourselves, our family, and our neighbors from evil. The right to do that is carefully guarded by Scripture. The circumstances and the lengths we can do it are also carefully guarded by Scripture.

Matthew Edmund

Principle Author
Jesus Is Risen is my public confession—essays on Christian faith, culture, and the events of our time, written plainly and without pretense.

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  • Delimiting: Theocracy & Sacralism

    Reading Time: 10 minutes
    To “rule by God” is the implication of theocracy — sacralism extends that rule to the state by mutual usurpation: the state claiming the church’s keys, the church claiming the state’s sword. Together, these two concepts have shaped the last two millennia of Christian civic and political discourse — and are among the most misunderstood today.
    Read More Delimiting: Theocracy & Sacralism

  • A Small Name Change, Nothing Else

    Reading Time: 6 minutes
    The result is that I’m trying to bring all of my writings under one roof. I’ve been writing for about 30 years, and sometimes I forget just how long I’ve been doing it. I’ll be pulling in my articles from Nullify Abortion, Humble Pray, and anywhere else and incorporating them into JesusIsRisen.org.
    Read More A Small Name Change, Nothing Else

  • Marriage, Murder, & Mahler

    Reading Time: 8 minutes
    The problem is not only offensive rhetoric. Mahler is advocating for the state to execute innocent people in God’s name. By invoking “Christian Nationalism”, Mahler is implicitly invoking God’s law. In doing so, Mahler attributes to God a law He hasn’t given, and in doing so profanes God’s name. God’s law exists to restrain evil, not to promote it; protect good, not abuse it (Rom 13:1-7).
    Read More Marriage, Murder, & Mahler

  • Honoring God with The Body

    Reading Time: 8 minutes
    If you remove God from abstinence education and turn obedience into one of fear and shame, you rob teenagers and adults of the joy of the knowledge their obedience and resistance to temptation is not merely the denial of the flesh, but an act of glorifying and worshiping God.
    Read More Honoring God with The Body

  • The City Gates Begin At Home

    Reading Time: 5 minutes
    We would be wise to realize we’re called to be local influencers, not global influencers. Yet many of us mask delusions of grandeur and fame in verbiage like “the city gates” when the borders we’ve outlined for that city stretch far beyond our actual community. This is a folly to which both men and women fall victim when they grow unsatisfied with the obligations God has entrusted to them.
    Read More The City Gates Begin At Home

  • Autism is Not a Side Effect

    Reading Time: 2 minutes
    There has to be something much more fundamentally different about the autistic brain than just a reaction to vaccines or any other environmental trigger. The kinds of differences we see—in how we process information, approach learning, and interact with the world—run deeper than any single “cause” or side effect. If autism were just a matter…
    Read More Autism is Not a Side Effect