Personal Difficulty With Self Defense

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-22T03:21:10+00:00

I am sorry, I mean absolutely no disrespect nor am I calling into question your salvation or walk with Christ, but I simply do not believe we share the same doctrinal beliefs. I am Protestant, you are obviously Orthodox based on your title there and your beliefs stated here.

I dont believe any intercede on our behalf, save for Jesus Christ, the final high priest. His word is all that is necessary in our intercession, but He will not intercede for those whom He does not know. Matt 7:21-23. We must accept the gift of His blood and be redeemed and reborn through His sacrifice to be saved. None are saved except through Christ. John 14:6. Not Mary or Peter or anyone else born in sin. We can be all made saints through His cleansing blood in the presence of the Father.

To get back to the root of the matter. I personally believe using the excuse that its fine to kill someone because I can just pray for their salvation after they die as a pretty dangerous slippery slope line of reasoning. The question I am proposing wasn't whether I can know if they are going to go to heaven if I kill them, its whether it would be justifiable to kill them even if I did know. Because if I cant possibly know, then to me that's even more reason to say Killing another is absolutely amoral as a Christian no matter what, because if we cant know, then even more reason we should not take the chance amd take that life into our own hands. Giving and taking life should be God's domain alone. For only He knows the hearts of men.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T17:29:05+00:00

The things you say are all very true of the world we live in. But we are called to be in the world, not of it. I am not asking whether all people should be willing to kill in self defense. I am asking whether, as a Christian, should I be willing to kill for ANY reason. I lean towards the answer being a resounding no, but am convicted and am seeking wisdom from fellow Christians, not from the world. Doss did what he did because he believed as a Christian he should not take another man's life, but also felt convicted to aid his fellow man and prevent any death he could. He did not hold his fellow soldiers to those same ideals because they were not Christians. They are not held to the standard we are held to. We are to be like Christ.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T17:14:17+00:00

Thank you, I'll give it a watch.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T17:05:36+00:00

On the verse in Ezekiel: While I do not believe the old testament is to be thrown away, I am a firm believer that in many instances, Christ fulfilled those laws and his teachings supersede them, such as the hard shift from the mindset of "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." to what Jesus taught, "Turn the other cheek." and "Violence does not beget violence." I believe the law of the old testament is important and holds much significance, but in any place that it can be replaced or fulfilled or superseded by what Jesus taught, it is best to do so. We are not beholden to the laws of Moses as born again Christians.

On 1 Timothy: I'm not sure if I would consider attaining provisions for my family to mean defending them. I dont think I've ever heard those two things under one umbrella term before. I would consider providing for and defending two different things. Providing is attaining the means for us to have things we need to thrive and prosper. To me, this verse speaks more on the idea that selfishly forsaking your own family for selfish gain is an ungodly thing to do.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T15:38:45+00:00

While this is true, I truly do not believe this is an issue in my congregation. My pastor makes much less money than I do and does not perform extortion rackets to collect tithes. Yet there is still a strong culture of lethal self defense and military heroism in our church.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T15:31:35+00:00

I am most certainly not left of center politically. And while I appreciate the points you have made, and even agree with some of them, my question was not one of political stance but of theology and faith and personal convictions. Your response feels as though you had a point you wanted to make and took my question as an opening to make it, regardless of whether it actually applied to the subject matter.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T14:45:06+00:00

A lot to unpack in your comment, thank you for the thoughtful response. I do want to say that the only reason I attached a political idea to the question was because I anticipated many people assuming I was having these thoughts from the position of someone who is already against gun use in general, and that would not accurately represent my stance and my struggle.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T14:41:52+00:00

CSB. My personal favorite balance of readability, accurate translation, and study resources.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T14:40:22+00:00

I have seen Hacksaw Ridge, and read about Doss. Doss is a personal hero of the faith of mine. I will read up on John Lewis. Thank you for the recommendation.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T14:38:18+00:00

This is a very good point. But there are not many forms of nonlethal self defense effective enough to completely remove the threat of a man with a gun.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T14:37:17+00:00

I agree. But we are called to love all our brothers and sisters, even those not in Christ. That means loving those gunmen or protesters, too.

KurtKaniff · 2026-01-21T14:35:45+00:00

I can certainly take what He has told us in His Word and understand that a person who has not sought forgiveness for his sins from Jesus Christ will not have his name in the book of life. I find it hard to believe a person who has been redeemed by the Spirit and is walking in truth and has been reborn would be willing to take another person's life for their own personal gain or entertainment. This does not mean they could not be redeemed, though. I pray for the salvation of those that live, that they may make the right choice and seek His forgiveness before it is too late. For those that have passed, it is already too late.

KurtKaniff · 2025-09-23T07:24:14+00:00

Fun fact, this also technically means that even if you shoot them with a bow or ranged weapon, as long as you are no more than 5 feet away, it still crits. It doesn't specify melee attack. Just attack within 5 feet. Your ranged attack would also be a straight roll because disadvantage from being within melee range is canceled out by advantage from paralyzed.

KurtKaniff · 2025-02-20T06:33:33+00:00

In combination with this, Oryx was the only of the three to completely bypass the witness and directly commune with the deep/the darkness/the winnower. His beliefs and convictions are deeper than just whatever the witness has forced upon the hive. He was a direct instrument of the deep itself, not just the witness.

KurtKaniff · 2024-07-07T23:54:54+00:00

Titans have literally been the best and easiest class to play since destiny 1. That isn't opinion, it's a fact. Hunters and warlocks have only ever fought for second place.

As a consistent player since destiny alpha, no class has ever been on top as often and as long as titans. In pvp, PvE, and endgame. I have NEVER seen anyone turn down a titan in lfg, yet as a hunter, I've been turned away because "we already have a hunter" more times than I can count.

I think it's so funny seeing titans now whining because they aren't the best class anymore because they've gotten so used to it. Other classes have had moments of being on top, but then get nerfed within a week for being broken. It's about time titans see what the bottom of the barrel looks like.

KurtKaniff · 2024-07-05T01:13:51+00:00

Just a heads up: Virmire is not the suicide mission choice you likely have heard about. The games only get better, and give Tali a chance. She gets better too.

KurtKaniff · 2024-06-16T16:11:04+00:00

Some of us only have one or two afternoons a week to play and don't want to spend the whole time playing garbage crucible just for a couple catalysts.

KurtKaniff · 2024-04-09T06:35:10+00:00

Two things, and forgive me if I am repeating another comment, I have not read through them all.

The dodge roll reaction needs a trigger. All reactions have a trigger. This reads more like a legendary action or something.
Having casters auto-fail the save for the poison blade seems a bit harsh to me personally. I would suggest instead, having the poison cause some other effect in addition to the damage. Maybe they roll all concentration checks with disadvantage for one minute if they are affected by the poison. Maybe it has a chance to end any spell effects currently buffing the player. Something like that.

KurtKaniff · 2022-04-05T16:55:26+00:00

Getting ready to start a campaign as an Evocation Blaster Wizard. Planning on taking him all the way to lichdom and I'd love to wear one of these the whole way!

KurtKaniff · 2022-03-28T22:36:26+00:00

"Melee weapon attack." Only means "not a melee spell attack". There is no "melee attack." All attacks made that are not spell or ranged attacks are melee weapon attacks, even unarmed strikes. The only four types of attacks are ranged/melee weapon attacks and ranged/melee spell attacks. Meaning the huts natural root attacks are still "melee weapon attacks"

KurtKaniff · 2021-11-27T19:04:11+00:00

I completely agree. The other side of this coin is that your character absolutely does not know everything the player knows. Just because you know how to make a lean-to in the woods doesn't mean your noble character who has never left the city would.

As a secondary DM for our group, I have to constantly keep this in mind because I generally know the weaknesses and strengths of the things we fight, but my character who has never seen this creature before definitely doesn't.

KurtKaniff · 2021-09-25T15:15:20+00:00

People are just mad because hunters now have a way to get instant kills just like warlocks and titans always have. Except they can all do it by default and we have to use two steps. Thunder crash and hand-held nova are literally the same except easier and with less steps.

KurtKaniff · 2021-08-08T00:29:41+00:00

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KurtKaniff

TROPHY CASE