When the tragic event in Newtown, Ct was announced I was brokenhearted, angry, and a lot of other things I can’t put into words. How do you respond to something too awful to describe? Although I haven’t always been the best role model, I learned a long time ago that there is a time to speak and a time to shut-up, and most people don’t know when to do the right one. It’s usually not good to say anything when emotions are running high– we tend to make things worse. However, now that a little time has passed and the dead are being buried I feel more at liberty to address some things related to that subject.
As you know, just about everyone is now talking about “gun-control”– no surprise there. The problem is that we’re not actually addressing the problem. We ought to be talking about “people-control”, not “gun-control”. When a person is out-of-control and determined to harm others he will find a way to do it. So, regardless of how many laws we make there will always be out-of-control people doing horrible things. That is the cold hard facts–history proves it is so.
As much as most folks don’t want to hear it and refuse to believe it, the reason our nation is in its present condition is because we have left our spiritual mooring–we have turned our back on God. We trample underfoot God’s Word and then wonder why we are where we are. We have sown the wind and we’re reaping the whirlwind and then complain because we lack peace. Were we not warned? Why didn’t we listen? Why are we blaming guns and punishing law-abiding gun owners?
Everyone in their right mind longs for a life of peace and prosperity. Those in my age group remember what it was like when you never had to lock your doors or worry about your kids playing outside. We wish it was the same today–but it’s not. These are difficult and dangerous days and preparation is key to safety. However, there is a limit as to how much we can do to shelter ourselves from harm. If we over-react we end up imprisoning ourselves and depriving ourselves of the pleasures of life. If you stop eating because it’s possible to choke to death on your food you end up doing the very thing you’re trying to protect yourself from– you will die!. Take away the right to keep and bear arms and you put yourself in harms way–endangered by every nut case who wants to take advantage of your weakness.
The only way to have a better nation is to have better people, and that can only happen one person at a time. The solution to our problem is not being controlled by others, nor even controlling ourselves, it is being under God’s control. Any person not under God’s control is out of control. They might not kill someone, but they will manifest rebellion against God in some form. So, since we know that most people care nothing about God tragic things will keep happening. The choice of weapons might change, but whether by bombs, bullets, blades, or blows, people will keep killing people. They have no respect for human life. Do you wonder why?
We took God and the Bible out of the schools, taught our children that they are the product of evolution, slaughtered millions of innocent unborn children and then seem shocked when they don’t value life. What did you expect? Thinking themselves to be mere creatures of chance, descendents of monkeys, rather than God’s creation they have no respect for life. In their mind it is “the law of the jungle”. That’s what we are dealing with.
As horrible as it is you cannot entirely stop these crimes. And—there is a limit as to what we can do and still remain a free society. To shackle good men with unfair and unreasonable laws, stripping them of their rights and means of protection puts a win in the victory column for the perpetrator of the crime. He wins and everyone else loses. By disarming good men we only arm those who are evil. Take away a man’s ability to protect himself and you aid those who would harm him, and that is exactly what some law-makers would do if they have their way. Their attack on the problem ends up becoming an attack on innocent people. That makes no sense!
We can hack away at the nocuous growth all we want, but until we cut out the root it’s just a matter of time until before it reappears again–and again! That’s life in a fallen world. Sinful people do sinful and stupid things–it’s in their nature. You can make laws against what they do and punish those who break them, but you can’t make them holy. Unless there is a great turning to God in our nation things will not get better–they will only grow worse. Until the day when Christ Himself shall reign upon the earth we will be subjected to the awful scourge of sin. It might be an assault, abortion, or an assassination, but it will keep happening without submission to the values set forth in God’s Word. It is foolish to expect anything else. When we try to solve problems without the Bible we end up running from one problem straight into another problem. It’s easy to get carried away by our emotions and make an unwise choice. We are all brokenhearted over the tragic and senseless slaughter of innocent children and would like to prevent it from ever happening again, but we need to be careful lest we do the wrong thing. We have no right to trample on the rights of others because someone else did something wrong.
So there it is– the answer. But will this change anything? Absolutely not! You cannot reason with sinful people. They are blind. I’m not saying that all non-Christians lack intelligence or are unconcerned. I’m simply saying that because they refuse to accept the Bible as the absolute truth they are left without any sure standard of right and wrong–one idea is as valid as another. Without the Bible as our guide and the Holy Spirit as our teacher we are left with every man doing what is right in his own eyes. You can see where that gets us. Think about it. If we aren’t going to use the Bible as our rule of conduct, what shall we use? In a democracy we can vote on an issue and let the majority decide, but surely you can see the problem with that. Just because popular opinion prevails that doesn’t mean we got it right. There was a time when the majority thought blacks should be slaves and that women shouldn’t vote, but they were wrong.And it is wrong to punish law-a-bidding citizens in an effort to stop others from misusing their freedom.
Until a person understands something about their sinful nature and their accountability to God they will never turn to God. And until they turn to God they will continue abusing others. Until man loves God he will never love his fellow man–not even his mother. The best thing, the only thing we can do that will make a big difference is to bring others to a saving knowledge of Christ. It is only when a person receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and become a new person, receiving a new nature, that he will love God and his neighbor. I understand that the world in general doesn’t see any connection between crime and Christianity, and that they resent talk such as this, but that doesn’t change the facts. Liberals offer their crazy ideas as solutions to the problem and they are plastered all over the headlines. I don’t expect what I write in this regards to go any further than my mailing list, even though it gets to the root of the problem. It’s easy to see why Washington can’t fix our problems–they don’t even understand the problem. They certainly are not willing to admit that Christ is the answer. As an American this is so frustrating that it makes you want to pull your hair out. As Christians we need to understand that this is just the way it is and that the best thing we can do to change our nation is to lead souls to Christ. Under His control everything is better. Think about it!
