Do you bring your knife to Church?

Good thread. I admit to feeling a bit "funny" about carrying my EDC to church. Sometimes I do and sometimes not. No church rules against it to my knowledge. My regular EDC is a Spyderco C05. If I carry it to church, I won't usually clip it to my pocket so fewer will realize I am carrying. I have gotten to the point of feeling naked without my EDC though.

Here in Ohio we now have legal concealed carry. My church has posted signs (legal notice) against carrying a firearm in the church, which is unfortunate. Nothing like telling the bad guys that nobody on the premisis armed...LOL.

Jeff
 
I always have several knives with me in church when I go and sometimes I even have my Taurus 9mm with me.

I don't think God cares, and living in a rural area,(15 miles from the AT Appalachian Trail) many other people also carry concealed.
 
A few months ago, a US soldier carried a gun into a church, a mosque, in Iraq and then caused a bit of a stir when he was tape recorded by a reporter shooting a man inside that church. Of course, the common response here in America -- and the correct response -- was "well we wouldn't have even gone into that building had YOU not been using it for military purposes."

Churches enjoy special protections legally. It is a violation of the Rules of War for soldiers to enter a Church or target one... unless it is being used for military purposes. Bringing a weapon, any weapon, into the church puts those legal protections at risk.

You might say "well, we're not exactly at war... and I doubt very much if these Islamic terrorist types would care very much about the Rules of War anyway."

And right you'd be. But, the protections aren't just during a war.

But being a church and claiming those protections is not something you can do on-and-off as a matter of convenience when it suites you. If you want your building to enjoy the legal protections extended to churches as sanctuaries, then you have to be a church 24/7 and that means not bringing weapons into the church.
 
My guess is God is not really bothered what you bring into a church, whether it is a knife (big or small), so long as you have a heart-to-heart chat with him.

PS Sometimes I do have a small multitool in one of my pockets. :)
 
I carry a sak to church. I don't bring any of my other knives"larger locking folders mostly" to church but I feel very comfortable carrying a sak their.
 
Carry my knives to church? Nope. Never. I only come close when I clean the church and leave my knives in the kitchen because I think it would be irresponsible to leave them in the car. Other than that I leave my knives at home on Sunday. When going to a Monastery, which I do every so often, I also leave the knives at home.

Now, before you get on me about this, you should know that I don't carry knives as weapons. I think they're tools. Much as I carry a prybaby or a Pocketwrench II so I don't have to use my knives as a prying device (and boy do I want one of those Atwood prybars!), they are a part of my EDC kit. However, I won't take my knives into the church (NEVER the sactuary) because I don't think its right. I can't explain it any better than that. I have to admit I'm uncomfortable with the idea of having a "sunday-go-to-church" knife threads that pop up every now and again as well. It just doesn't seem the place for knives- and I carry a knife every other day of the week and have one by the bed at night.

I can see that the Scouts may not want to have knives in the chapel, and it may just be one of their traditions. Scouting is rife with traditions that don't seem to make sense these days but still hold true nonetheless. Of course I'm Orthodox, so my church has those traditions as well.

Sincerely,
Anthony
 
Hi SpyderJon-

The scouts in Will's story might be about tradition, but their scoutmasters are about being modern, hand-wringing, nervous pantywaists.
I'm guessing old scouting manuals show boys reading the Bible in full uniform, with a camp knife dangling from their belts...

~ Blue Jays ~
 
point taken. living where I do, politics are all there ever seems to be :barf: !

sincerely,
Anthony
 
Will said:
I don't think it is fair to consider knives (especially the ones carried by hte kids which are mostly SAKs) as weapons. It only encourages them to think of their knives as weapons rather than tools. Scout camp is one place where the kids have a real chance to use knves properly and recognize how useful they are as tools.

Do you guys bring your knives to Church?

Will
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Hey Will,
Seems I'm a little late weighing in on this post. :)
I always have a knife with me, so one goes with me to church, too. It's a useful tool that I have used there many times. I've seen other folks use theirs there, too.
In Virginia, we have a law concerning bringing "weapons" into a church.

§ 18.2-283. Carrying dangerous weapon to place of religious worship.
If any person carry any gun, pistol, bowie knife, dagger or other dangerous weapon, without good and sufficient reason, to a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held at such place he shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

But it does appear that you could bring a weapon if you had a good reason. 'Course, my knife is not a weapon anyway.

I visited Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg a few years back. We went in a little late, so we sat up in the loft in the back of the church. I noticed that the rail in front of us had initials, names, & doodles carved into it. Apparently men & boys of past generations had passed some of their time in church by carving on the rail with their knives. :eek: Glad the church preserved some of this anecdotal history. But I don't think it would go over well today if you decided to add your own. :) This could be a reason not to let boys into the church with a knife. LOL.
Parry
 
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 (New International Version)
 
Of course I carry my folding pocket knife to church, and everywhere else that the local rules makers don't keep me from doing so. To teach a youngster that knives are to be percieved as weapons rather than as tools is much more than just irresponsible on the part of that adult making such a decision.

I also carry a pen in my shirt pocket that, in the hands of a well trained individual, is every bit as lethal a weapon as a pocket knife. What reasons you have to carry a knife or a pen, or 44 mag. have a lot more to do with whether you ought to carry it to church or elsewhere.

I just believe that the message the leaders of the scout troop were giving to the boys in that troop was the wrong message. Hopefully the boys' parents will explain to their sons the error of the perception the leaders created.
 
I've had at least one knife and often more at church every week. I know a smattering of others who do as well.

Phil
 
SpyderJon said:
I can see that the Scouts may not want to have knives in the chapel, and it may just be one of their traditions.
Click to expand...

I want to assure everyone that this is NOT a tradition of the BSA, but carying a knife as part of being prepared is.
 
The Virginia statute that Newdovo2 provided--

§ 18.2-283. Carrying dangerous weapon to place of religious worship.
If any person carry any gun, pistol, bowie knife, dagger or other dangerous weapon, without good and sufficient reason, to a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held at such place he shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.

--specifies actual weapons, not might-conceivably-be-used-as-a-weapon sharp things. It would not cover SAK's, multitools, pocket knives or utility knives. And it doesn't include the 10" blade chef's knives in the kitchen. I don't see anything unholy about pocket knives. I assume that the biggest threat to the church is someone carrying a pack of matches, and yet carrying matches is neither threatening nor disrespectful.

Now the more questionable matter is when, if ever, it is acceptable to bring a gun into the sanctuary. If you look on the internet you will find multiple instances where people walk into the middle of church activities and start shooting. Usually they don't shoot at the pastor, they shoot at the congregation. From a practical perspective it would be nice to have off-duty cops or members with concealed carry permits discretely packing. On the other hand, church worship is not about looking out for your own self interest. It is about pleasing God. Some say that the 7 people killed and the other 7 people wounded in the Fort Worth church shooting did not die or suffer in vain and that God was better served without armed guards returning fire. Part of pleasing God is trusting Him.

So in the end I would not bring a gun into church unless asked. Case in point. Back in 1992 I was a deacon at a church in the San Fernando Valley. Deacons are responsible for the maintenance and protection of the church facilities. The church school is across from an LA public school so the Deacons had a concrete bullet barrier wall built along the street to keep stray bullets out of our school grounds. On a Sunday during the 1992 LA riots I brought my Browning High Power pistol in the trunk of my car, just in case. I did not bring it with me into the sanctuary. I did bring my normal collection of pocket knives.

At my current church I am affectionately known as "the knife guy". This is because I bring along dozens of kitchen knives when we serve at the downtown soup kitchen. I also sharpen knives for the soup kitchen and for soup kitchen volunteers. I frequently bring bags of freshly sharpened knives with me into the sanctuary or pick up bags of dull knives. Nobody thinks of them as weapons and nobody thinks of this as unholy. These are just tools with 10-inch blades. And we use these tools in the Lord's work.
 
Jeff Clark said:
Some say that the 7 people killed and the other 7 people wounded in the Fort Worth church shooting did not die or suffer in vain and that God was better served without armed guards returning fire. Part of pleasing God is trusting Him.
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God helps those who help themselves.
 
And many times he helps us by giving us the ability to do things for ourselves.
 
Hi All-

Can you believe this thread stemmed from a question of whether youthful little boy scouts should be forced to relinquish their knives before entering a remote CAMP chapel (which could even be a large tent) out in the country?

I've got no problem with fixed blades at St. Patrick's Cathedral, never mind other houses of worship. In this case, we're talking about innocent youngsters in a wholesome rural environment monitored by responsible adults. People want to send a message to their kids that they can't even be trusted in THAT scenario? Children these days will be afraid to cross the street without government-approved escorts if this keeps up...

~ Blue Jays ~
 
I see no problem with carring a knife to church as long as you are not using it to carve your initials in the pew in front of you. Or cleaning your fingernails :) :) :) :) ;)
 
In general it is nice to teach boys a sense of reverence for a place of worship. It is bad if they start to play with your host's home altar (as my boys did once). What makes more sense is to insist that kids take their hats off, tuck in their shirts, wipe their feet, and quietly pay attention to the service.
 
You bet I have.

Usually carry my MOD Hornet... a very good, well built and finished knife that is razor sharp... a great little "church" knife.

My Military with black blade is my latest favorite and will attend Sunday school and worship services with me henceforth.

I live not far from that Fort Worth church where the mass killings happened. Those people, and the survivors, would have liked to have had an armed man or woman willing to use their weapon in attendance. If someone there had turned a heavy oak chair into a makeshift weapon and killed the murderer with it, does anyone think that would've been bad?

I don't want to offend anyone, really. I'm new here and I am not a bad guy in human terms. But, this talk about "weapons" inside churches is sort of like building worship... It's impossible to offend a building.

Almighty God is everywhere. "Church" is anywhere his word is being spread or His work is being done. Just maybe a streetcorner frequented by dopers and gangsters.... should we be unarmed there?

God just doesn't live in my church, or yours, oblivious to the happenings outside. We built those buildings, not Him. They can be bulldozed, burned, or blown up... He will endure forever. We can too... because of His Son's work on a wooden beam.

My church hired off-duty police after the aforementioned killings... and, many off-duty LE church members carry concealed handguns during services. If a deranged murderer bursts inside my church, he'll have a lot of police and federal agents to contend with... who will shoot the you know what out of him on the alter steps if necessary to preserve the life of one innocent person.

As LE, I can't believe that a detective would disarm on-duty police at a fresh crime scene just because that scene is a church... His pastor has a serious phobia. When I was a supervisor on patrol, I once led officers into a large church during an in-progress nighttime burglary. My people pulled two burglars out of a closet upstairs... at gunpoint (ours dogs were away in training)... I submitted a commendation on their behalf for professionally handling the scene.

God never intended for us to lay down and be murdered... anywhere.

The only way He could be offended is for a person to mis-use a blade, in church or not.

Besides, there are a lot of packages and boxes in need of opening in church!
 
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