The West Freeway Church of Christ Shooting, Self Defense, Abortion, & Paul Jennings Hill

Author: GenZ Church of Christ

Note: This article is not meant to endorse or encourage violence. It has been published in the spirit of thinking logically about our theology.

I write this article as someone who has never written for this site before (or any site). In December of 2019, a man that may have had evil desires, or was just crazy, shot up the West Freeway Church of Christ. He killed two members of the congregation in the process. The shooter, Keith Kinnunen, was shot and killed by a member of the congregation named Jack Wilson. Since then, both members of the churches of Christ and preachers have been discussing the issue of self defense.

I agree with most of the responses from Church of Christ members and what I heard from my preacher. In their view, it was justified to kill the shooter because of the lives this action saved. Many of these people support the second amendment as I do, and they realize the necessity of guns in a society. Bad people will find loopholes around gun laws, so good people should have them too. Many of these people may also see the church shooting as a continued attack on Christian morality in America. Though this may not have been the case in this attack (the shooter was a homeless drug addict and his motive was unclear), it is increasingly clear that we will suffer for our faith in the U.S. and around the world.

Most church of Christ members and preachers will say abortion is murder. I also agree that it is murder. I have listened to sermons by church of Christ preachers where they will say that the unborn is just as much a child of God as a born child. I have also heard some of these same people say violence against abortionists or abortion clinics is wrong even if it's meant to save the life of an unborn child. These preachers will correctly state that there is a difference between killing and murder. Murder is killing an innocent person. Killing, on the other hand, can be justified in self defense. God outlawed murder in multiple verses in the Bible, but he never fully outlawed killing.

"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death" (Revelation 21:8).

Nowhere in Revelations 21:8 does it say that people who simply kill another person are destined for hell. 

Jack Wilson vs Paul Jennings Hill

So, now I will introduce you to Paul Jennings Hill, if you have not heard of him. Paul Jennings Hill was a Presbyterian minister and a pro-life activist. He often protested outside abortion clinics in Florida where he lived. On July 29, 1994 he approached an abortion clinic and killed John Britton and his bodyguard James H Barrett. John Britton was responsible for killing thousands of babies throughout his life. He killed more people than any mass shooter could dream of killing. He was able to do this because murdering babies is legal throughout the United States, and John Britton did not face any consequences until Paul Jennings Hill killed him. If Paul Jennings Hill had not done what he had done, John Britton would have killed many more innocents.

Many Christians and church of Christ people I know would probably condemn Paul Jennings Hill and say he is a murderer. They would, however, say that Jack Wilson was heroic in saving the lives of his fellow church members when he killed the man shooting up the West Freeway Church of Christ. I also agree that Jack Wilson is a hero, but if he is a hero then why is Paul Jennings Hill considered a villain? What Paul Jennings Hill did was arguably more courageous because it was against the law, not in spite of the fact that it was against the law. Paul Jennings Hill kept a baby killer from possibly killing thousands more. His punishment: death. On September 3, 2003, Paul Jennings Hill was executed by the state of Florida for murder. Jeb Bush was governor at the time, and he is supposedly pro-life and could have stopped this execution or pardoned Hill completely. Instead, he signed the execution warrant.

Logic Must Make Sense! 

So these people will say the following: abortion = murder = sin. Shooting up random people at a church = murder = sin. Killing a mass shooter, a school shooter, or a church shooter = justified and is righteous because it saves innocent lives. However, killing a baby killing abortionist = murder = sin. They disregard the fact that this saves innocent lives, which is why killing a mass shooter is justified to begin with. 

The Holocaust and other modern day comparisons 

A lot of these people will say that Paul Jennings Hill was wrong to kill John Britton because it was against the law. When we read the Bible, we know that breaking the law is not always wrong. In the old testament, we read about how Rahab the prostitute lied when she protected the Israelite spies from being captured. What she did was against the law, but it was pleasing to God. In the New Testament, Jesus broke laws as well. One of these laws was picking grain on the Sabbath, and yet we know Jesus is without sin. At a church camp a few years ago, one of the counselors talked to all the seniors about stories from someone who had survived the holocaust. In it, he implied that Christians who protected this person from dying did the right thing even though it was against the law. In the bible we are told that there is: "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace" (Ecclesiastes 3:8).