By Prof. Tatah Mentan, USA
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| Prof. Tatah Mentan |
Good Christian? Bad Christian? It all depends on who’s doing
the evaluating. Human rights abuses including security force killings, wanton
night raids of homes, arsons, torture, beatings, rape, , and other abuses,
particularly of detainees and prisoners; harsh and life-threatening prison
conditions; and arbitrary arrest, extortion, and detention of citizens
advocating freedom, local human rights monitors and activists, persons not
carrying government-issued identity cards, and others. There are numerous
incidents of prolonged and sometimes incommunicado pretrial detention and of
infringement on privacy rights.
The
government harasses and imprisons journalists, restricts freedoms of speech,
press, assembly, and association, and impedes freedom of movement. Official
corruption is pervasive at all levels exemplified by civil administrators
shooting and killing unarmed citizens like what happened in Mamfe on September
22, 2017. Sexual violence and discrimination against women, cultist murders and
removal of organs for ritual activities, trafficking in persons (primarily
children). Politically motivated killings and politically motivated
disappearances are rife and no longer news in Cameroon. Even Bishops and
priests have not been spared.
Can a
Christian be authorized by the Bible to engage in Self-Defense in Cameroon?
Self-defense
here is defined as “protecting oneself from injury at the hand of others.”
Self-defense is not about taking
vengeance. Self-defense is not about punishing criminals.
Self-defense involves preserving one’s own health and life when it is
threatened by the actions of others. When we speak about using potentially
lethal force in self-defense, we’re talking about using weapons to protect
ourselves and others, even if the weapons used could kill the attacker.
Let us
look at the concrete situation of Cyprian Sevidzem, the 16-year-old who was
gunned down by trigger-happy, looting, and torturing soldiers in the village of
Kifem was laid to rest at a church cemetery in the town of Kumbo, Wednesday
September 13, 2017, amidst a rousing proclamation by youths belonging to the
Ambazonia Defense Forces declaring Kumbo the first town in the Southern
Cameroons to be captured by the forces. As reported by Cameroon Journal, this
was after a tear-jerking church service that drew thousands of mourners,
friends, family and well-wishers of the deceased.
When we
hear this question (Should Christians defend themselves in Cameroon?) our minds
are immediately drawn to the use of guns or other weapons. However, before
considering the implications of the answer, a fundamental consideration must be
given to the general question of self-defense. Is it permissible for Christians
to defend themselves?
We
might consider Jesus’s words in Matthew’s Gospel, where followers of Christ are
taught not to resist the one who is evil, but, “if anyone slaps you on the
right cheek, turn and give him the other also” (5:39). Most Bible commentators
see this slapping as a personal insult rather than an act of physical violence.
Instead of returning an insult or another blow, the believer is to be content
to endure the stinging slap.
On the
other hand, we do see examples of believers offering self-defense. In fact,
Jesus foretold that his disciples would need to defend themselves against
accusations, even noting that the Holy Spirit would aid them in their defense
(Lk. 12:11-12). And the apostle Paul found himself regularly defending himself
(Acts 22:1; 24:10).
The
more controversial question has to do with whether or not Christians may defend
themselves with use of force (even lethal force) when in danger. In particular,
can a Christian carry (and use a gun), use force, or otherwise act to stop an
attack upon himself or others?
Some
Christians say “no” because we should embrace persecution from those who are
ardently opposed to the faith. It is true that Christians are to pray for those
who persecute them (Mt. 5:44) and patiently endure persecution (1 Pet. 2:19).
However, not all violence is persecution. And the Bible does not forbid us from
fleeing from violent persecution (cf. Lk. 4:29-30; Jn. 8:59, 10:39; 2 Cor.
11:32-33).
Conclusion
Others
may claim that while the government has the power to use the sword to protect
its citizens (Rom. 13:1-7), we as ordinary citizens do not. Most people who
would hold this view would support the police and military’s right to use force
(even lethal force) as an application of a passage like Romans 13. However, the
Bible does not specify police or military; it simply refers to the government.
In fact, the bible did not imagine a government being a criminal syndicate and
a perpetrator of crimes against its own citizens like in Cameroon. The rogue
state has given the police and military the right to defend its citizens by use
of force on paper. In the case of Cameroon, the gangster regime has not given
its citizens the right to arm and protect themselves and others in the face of
imminent danger. Hence, the regime will give 370, million frs.CFA ( as the
budget for murdering Southern Cameroonians) to a murderous force of more than
5,000 armed mindless killers, socalled keepers of law and order. What law and
what order? Peace, indeed! If Christians have no biblical issue with the police
and military defending its citizens against attack, then there would not seem
to be a biblical case to oppose individual citizens doing the same against
hired killers, rapists, arsonists, torturers, and home raiders by night. In
conclusion, I believe that self-defense is biblically permissible for
Christians, especially in a murderous state like Cameroon.
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Prof. Tatah Mentan
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