Martyrs Second to Guns?

Last week, nine men and women were martyred in the United States.

Martyred.

You won’t hear or see that word on the news. You will learn that the gunman had 14 guns, and you might learn that those nine victims were all killed because they said, “I am a Christian,” but you won’t hear the word “martyr.”

Instead, martyrs are coming in second place to guns in the aftermath of the Oregon school shooting.

That is because the word “martyr” takes the issue far beyond gun regulation. Guns did not cause this disaster. Yes, we have heard from dozens of sources, including Pres. Barack Obama, that gun regulations are at fault.

According to Pres. Obama, the reason nine people died is because the shooter was allowed to get guns without a background check.

No, Pres. Obama. With all due respect, the reason nine people died is because, according to survivors’ testimonies, a man chose to go into Umpqua Community College and ask a classroom of fellow students, a teacher and two emergency responders their religion. He decided their fates — death or injury — based on their answers.

And nearly all nine of the men and women who died proclaimed Christianity.

Let me list the names of the victims: Lucero Alcaraz, 19; Treven Taylor Anspach, 20; Rebecka Ann Carnes, 18; Quinn Glen Cooper, 18; Kim Saltmarsh Dietz, 59; Lucas Eibel, 18; Jason Dale Johnson, 34; Lawrence Levine, 67; and Sarena Dawn Moore, 44.

We are reputed to live in the land of the free. Now, for the first time since Rachel Scott’s martyrdom at Columbine, peaceful men and women have been killed in the United States for no other reason than that they proclaimed Christianity as their faith.

These people were in a classroom. Most were there to learn. They were armed with pens and paper — and their faith that there is more than this world. They were armed with the belief that God, the Creator and Author of Life, came to earth and died for the sin of mankind, including their own murderer.

So the world grieves for these martyrs. Yet even as we mourn the deaths of these brave men and women, we are in danger of forgetting that they were, in fact, brave.

They had courage beyond comprehension.

Of those nine men and women, eight likely knew that to say, “I am a Christian,” meant they would die. They would never return to school. They would never see their family or friends again.

And they said yes anyway.

I think a lot of us probably find that courage to be incomprehensible. Why would they do that? Why not just say no and live to proclaim another day?

One girl had the opportunity to play dead and hide her cross tattoo, as she was one of the first to be shot, and she is now a living witness to the events. Why did the nine martyrs not seek a similar opportunity?

Well, because God died and resurrected. And because He didn’t say no. Last week’s martyrs were certain that a God who cares enough to undergo crucifixion for his sinful, fallen, unfaithful creatures loves them enough to take care of them whether they live or die.

And that was their sure and certain hope.

My hope is that, if I am ever faced with that choice, I will be faithful enough and courageous enough to say yes to the same question, no matter what the consequences. Because I believe that the time is coming in which each one of us will have to make a choice. We will have to decide and then proclaim where we stand.

Our lives will hang on the line, and we will have to make a choice between our lives — or livelihoods — here on earth and our eternal lives.

But we can live in hope no matter what happens and no matter what tragedies unfold.