Another wave of mass shootings is echoed by another hollow sounding wave of righteous rhetoric that plays like a worn out record. The self-righteous left meets the equally righteous indignation of the right who will defend the mother lode of guns to the last man (or woman). Not to worry gun lovers. Rhetoric by definition does not require an answer and this will be no different thanks to a completely dysfunctional legislative system. The existing laws are ridiculous but even if more were passed, they would be unenforceable and all the grandfathered guns out there now will keep us armed to the teeth for generations. As far as sociopaths or criminally insane, just like you will always have the poor, they aren’t going anywhere soon either.
The fact that there are so many guns in this country does affect the murder rate which, for a western civilization, should be embarrassing. And it is ridiculous that there is so much access to weapons that have no use other than to fight a war. If there is a threat, foreign or domestic, that our armed forces can’t handle, then those for complete access can certainly say they told us so.
In all deference to the victims and their families, the rhetoric is clouds and wind with no rain because it wants to deal with symptoms and not the root cause. So what is the root cause? Not many want to discuss that. That might be even more embarrassing and hit close to home. Jeb Bush says, “Stuff happens.” Hmmmm. Maybe right, but he could have worded it differently than a bumper sticker. Mike Huckabee says it’s because of sin and evil in the world. Now we are talking. God bless, Mike. You won’t be president though.
I’m not sure what the murder weapon of choice was for Cain, our very first murderer. I guess we could have banned sticks and stones right then and stemmed the tide. However, two of the three little pigs’ houses would have been classified as deadly weapons.
But it wasn’t the abundance of sticks or stones that killed righteous Able. To be blunt, it was Satan (Sin) operating in the person of Cain to bring into fruition the first murderous act and was nothing more than an expression of who he was:
John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
You see, this is the dark secret no one wants to talk about. Though we may not be “as bad” as murderers, it shines a bright light that comes uncomfortably close to all of us threatening to expose secrets we work very hard to keep hidden behind the façade of civility. It blows all that self-righteousness to Hell and there is no way we are going voluntarily reveal ourselves for what we are. No, we are going to buff that shiny facade of ourselves in a dark room and project how good we are, not how bad. Nevertheless, you can’t argue with:
Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
“Well, if you are so smart,” you ask, “what is the answer?” Good question.
The simple answer is Christ. The only way to eradicate sin is to replace it with Christ. That is what Ezekiel was talking about:
Ezekiel 36:26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.
The sin nature, controlled by Satan, is replaced with the Love Nature which is Christ, but only for those who believe. We go from:
Ephesians 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
to:
2 Peter 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust
Now for the part you won’t like. Not all are going to come to Christ. They are going to stay in the closet and deny that they also are in need of a savior. They will continue to believe in their own self-righteousness and that they can legislate morality, sidestepping the issue. History proves this wrong. They can restrain, and only for a while, but they cannot eradicate.
Of course, the classic question always comes up. If God is so good, why does He allow all this death and destruction? He does it out of love which may sound contradictory, but it’s true. He created man in His image, the most striking likeness being our ability to choose. He could pluck those off the earth at any time that choose self over God, but His work is not done. He has many more people on earth now and yet to come that will receive His kingdom. Until then, we all will have to live with the consequences. Stuff will continue to happen.
The Lost Coin by Samuel Hayes Sherwood is now available on Amazon. The mystery which is Christ in us unraveled.
