John Roberts – Anchor, CNN’s American Morning
Filed under: Gun rights • Religion
You may not think that God and guns go together, but a pastor in Kentucky certainly does. He’s encouraging his congregation to embrace their Second Amendment rights by coming to church armed.
On Saturday, Pastor Kenneth Pagano sponsored an “open carry celebration” at his church. He spoke to John Roberts on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday.
John Roberts: A question a lot of people might have is – what do God and guns have in common?
Kenneth Pagano: Well, the idea that a deep-seated belief in God and an appreciation for firearms, which was the basis for the founding of this country, which was also settled by very religious people evidently has not — has historical precedence for not being incongruous, and we also agree with the same.
Roberts: But the question is do guns belong in church? Even in the frontier days there were many churches that said to people, “Leave your weapons outside. No firearms inside the church.”
Pagano: There were also many churches that said you can have them. There are still congregational buildings in New England that go back to the colonial eras where there are actually gun racks that are there. It was also mandated that you had to bring your firearm with you with ammunition when you went to church, if not, you would have been fined. So this is not something new. It’s new in our generation, but it’s not a new concept at all. We’re trying to promote responsible gun ownership, that there are community-minded, legal law-abiding citizens such as myself and others who appreciate firearms as a sports tool, but also believe in the right for self-defense and self-protection. Church is not a building. A church is a gathering of people. People have the right to defend themselves wherever they are.
Roberts: Pastor, I was doing a lot of looking around this morning at the reaction to the event you had on Saturday night and some of the critics were asking things like “Would Jesus carry a weapon?” And “What would Jesus think of a pastor who beat plow shares into swords?”
Pagano: Well, here’s the thing. Because of my theological perception, I believe one day Christ will return to establish his government here on his earth and at that time we will beat our swords into plow shares. But until then, those who only have plow shares will always be subjected to those who have the swords. What would Jesus carry? You know that’s kind of a tongue and cheek thing. We do know this. We do know that his disciples who were his close entourage, we do know that there were at least two in the bunch that were carrying swords. He wasn’t opposed to them carrying swords. Matter of fact, there was a time he told them to sell a cloak and buy a sword. What he was opposed to was the inappropriate use of the sword, which was to keep him from going to the cross to die for the sins of the world.
Roberts: You’re kind of getting it from all sides. You have the critics, again, who say “Would Jesus have carried a weapon,” but you’ve got critics among gun advocates who say the fact that you stipulated that people had to bring their weapons into church unloaded and the only loaded weapon belonged to a police officer kind of rankles them. David Codrea, who is a gun rights advocate, wrote in Examiner.com “The idea that police are the only ones who can be entrusted with loaded firearms should be offensive to everyone who believes in the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” Everybody’s kind of ganging up on you from the right and left.
Pagano: Here’s the thing, the truth shall set you free. And if people knew the truth of what was going on, the open carry celebration, the reason for open carry was mainly insurance reasons. I’m a firearms instructor, I work with the police, I’m a competitive sports shooter. Not everyone who owns a firearm is necessarily always responsible or safe with them. I didn’t know everybody who came to the celebration. There were people who were carrying loaded firearms who were not law enforcement. There were people who were legally carrying concealed weapons that were hot and ready to go. We don’t have a problem with that. Just because a person owns a firearm, doesn’t means they’re safe and responsible anymore than a person who owns a vehicle means they’re a safe and responsible driver.
Roberts: There’s also the bigger issue too of guns in church, just generally. There have been several high-profile shootings in churches recently. One of the attendees to your open carry celebration on Saturday, Tommy Hillerich, told the New York Times “If the pastor is in there and he’s got a concealed weapon and somebody comes in and starts shooting people, he can take him out. That’s his right.” Do you think it would be a good idea for pastors to carry weapons?
Pagano: Absolutely. They’re shepherds. When a person comes into my congregation, they are my responsibility, not only spiritually but physically. Jesus called himself the great shepherd and according to the 23rd Psalm the shepherd has a staff for direction and a rod for protection.
Roberts: So Pastor, do you carry a concealed weapon on Sundays?
Pagano: I couldn’t tell you that because that would totally negate the idea of carrying a concealed. You’d leave me at a tactical disadvantage. Contact a Gary Moskowitz there in New York City who is a rabbi who is promoting a national security council of religious leaders wanting to see this very type of legislation. Listen, I’ve gotten phone calls from people from Israel and other parts of the world and they’re saying, “You know what? We’ve been trying to say this all along.” Our military personnel have to attend chapel services with their firearms. While we are in a civilized world, we have a lot of uncivilized people and America’s no different.
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Filed under Judaism-Torah-Halacha by Master Rosenberg
Basic Philosophy
Sinmoo Hapkido is a comprehensive martial art, emphasizing kicking and punching as well as joint-locks, throws, chokes, take-downs, and the use of pressure points, weapons, meditation and healing. Sinmoo literally translated, means Sin (higher mind or spiritual) and Moo means (martial or war), Hapkido, literally translated, means the way (Do) of power (Ki) and coordination or harmonize (Hap). So Simmoo Hapkido means Spiritual Martial Way of Harmonizing Power.
Sinmoo Hapkido focuses on some philosophical ideas like, Circular motion and the Water principle. Circular motion is a concept that allows the defender to deflect and redirect the attacker using the attackers force and momentum, rather than meet force with force. The concept of the Water principle looks at the actions of water in a stream. An obstacle in the path of the stream is not forced to move out of the way of the water but rather, the water flows around the obstacle. Sinmoo Hapkido allows the defender to flow around and through an aggressor’s attack while manipulating the aggressor’s power to his or her own advantage.
Sinmoo Hapkido is unique in that it allows the defender to gain complete control of the situation with a minimal amount of effort and without unnecessary aggression or injuries to the defender or attacker. The study of Sinmoo Hapkido develops: strength, speed, agility, flexibility, coordination, discipline, sportsmanship, leadership, respect, peace of mind, self-confidence, winning spirit, character, mind and body harmony.
Lastly Sinmoo Hapkido has a special philosophical practice not found in other Hapkido systems taught in the form of 9 Rules of Sinmoo Hapkido, I outlined these rules in another post.
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Filed under Sinmoo Hapkido by Master Rosenberg
Sinmoo Hapkido has a catalog of about 800 techniques through Master level and is considered a very comprehensive martial arts teaching skills from all areas of defense and combat including many weapons. Not only does Sinmoo Hapkido teach martial arts it also emphasizes morals, ethics, spirituality, and healing.
Holds and Joint Locks
Holds and joint locks are used primarily for control of an aggressor. They are primarily defensive, but at more advanced levels can be interpreted as attacks. At the 4th dan black belt there is also taught 30 special attack techniques using variations and combinations of basic locks.
Throws, Re-direction and Blocks
Throws and re-direction of an aggressor’s energy use an attacker’s momentum to continue their own motion using the circular motion principle of Hapkido. These techniques depend on the incoming energy of the attack to determine their outcome; a soft or weak attack will require a small or soft re-direction. A large or powerful attack will result in a re-direction or throw that involves much more energy, translating to a more devastating outcome upon the attacker. The blocks used in Sinmoo Hapkido are usually just re-directions but some blocks are intended to be used to stop an aggressor’s sudden attack. Hapkido also use kicks and special leg movements for blocking as well.
Kicks and Punches
Sinmoo Hapkido uses a wide variety of strikes. Sinmoo Hapkido incorporates 25 kicks and most are useful in “street style” defensive situations that counter incoming attacks – out of the 25 several are specially used to block kicks. Many of the kicks are designed for use in restricted spaces like hallways or crowds. After learning the basic 25 the student then learns 29 special kicks. Special kicks are harder to master but they need more room to be used, and they include combination kicks, jumping kicks, ground kicks, feint style kicks, etc…
Sinmoo Hapkido over 20 different kind of strikes using the hand, fists, forearms, elbow and head.
Pressure Points and Energy Flow
Pressure points are used in Hapkido to control the physical body, and to manipulate the body’s Ki to stop, disarm and disable an attacker or heal a person. Sinmoo Hapkido uses 365 pressure points out of the body. The pressure points are also referred to as vital points. Sin Moo Hapkido has a special side called Hyol Do Bup which specializes on pressure point fighting and eastern medicine.
Weapons
Sinmoo Hapkido weapons training consist the use of short stick (Dan Bong), walking stick (Dan Jang / Ji Pang e), long stick (Jang Bong), the sword (Kum), rope (Po Bak), knife (Kal), Scarf both long and short versions, projectile weapons, and adapting everyday objects as weapons. Weapon training is learned after student achieves a black belt, but knife defense techniques are learned before black belt.
Spirituality – Meditation – Healing
Sinmoo Hapkido wouldn’t be Sinmoo Hapkido if we didn’t practice the higher mental aspects of this Art. The “Sin” means spiritual, higher minded or god like and in Sinmoo we’re striving to reach our full human potential. Too much to mention here but I’ll disscuss all these aspects little by little.
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Filed under Sinmoo Hapkido by Master Rosenberg
My thoughts on the Reality Based Self-Defense Hype.
Modern Reality Based Martial Arts (RBMA) are good for the most part and certainly have a place in acquiring skills in self-defense, in fact I teach RBMA at my school. What troubles me is how many proponents of RBMA often promote what they do as something new and improved, a system that really works, a system that’s no nonsense, a system that’s for the street, etc.
By comparison they imply traditional martial arts don’t work because they use ranking systems, practice Kata, learn Asian customs, meditate, teach self-improvement, and practice out dated material like the Samurai Sword for example. I can’t help having some trouble understanding how RBMA are more effective in the street because they don’t use rank, don’t bow or don’t wear a traditional uniforms. I’m I missing something or does that sound a little ridiculous? Some of the worlds best known martial figures practice traditional arts, Bruce Lee, Steven Segal, Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Dan Inosanto, Ji Han Jae, I could go on for an hour but you see my point.
I’m also trying to think of a traditional martial art that’s not rooted in reality but I’m having trouble naming any. It’s a historical fact that martial arts were developed for survival on the battlefield, self protection and self preservation. Let me be the first to admit we live in a modern society not Feudal Japan but the techniques of the Samurai still hold as much water today as they did then with few exceptions.
The reality based systems I observed like Karav Maga, Combato, Karav Maga, RAT, etc… clearly use the same skills and techniques taught in Karate, Jujitsu, Judo, Kung Fu, Kali, Muay Thai, etc… I find that kind of strange because after all many RBMA claim traditional systems are just done for preserving outdated ancient tradition and the material taught doesn’t work in the streets. Why then do RBMA use the same exact out dated material as Traditional MA?
Lets use this example to make a point. A student of a traditional school might learn to use a sword, he would learn how to cut, strike, block, how to retain their weapon, defend attacks, and they would develop attributes like speed, timing, distancing, focus, angles of movement, etc… The RBMA also needs to learn the same skills and attributes as well. I for one would hate to be the guy who jumped a good sword practitioner who adapted a stick, a car antenna, or 2×4 is the street. See the point!
Having been studying martial arts for about 30 years what I’ve found is that traditional schools sometimes focus on sport or kata and don’t spend all their time in street defense training vs. RBMA that only works on street fighting skills. Other schools like mine teach, reality based street self-defense, meditation, philosophy, personal development, bowing, earning belt rank, wear uniforms, and I can assure you we can defend ourselves.
In my opinion is RBMA isn’t better suited for street self-defense it’s just a myth. Some people like to carve out a niche for themselves so they can sell some more instructional DVDs and do some seminars, other folks just don’t have the taste for traditional asian culture or schools which is also fine but proves nothing about a lack of street effectiveness in traditional martial arts.
I would say if you want basic self defense and nothing more RBMA is a good place to start, but if you want a richer more well rounded experience in martial arts training find a school that offers the best of both worlds.
Stay Safe and Be Healthy!
Sincerely,
Stuart Rosenberg
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Filed under Martial Arts & Self-Defense by Master Rosenberg
