Words of Truth

I have had conversations recently with an elderly person who has dementia. This means that she frequently forgets basic information such as where she is, what year it is, and even sometimes who she is. This condition means that she does not believe people who remind her where she is, etc. Even if you manage to convince her of the truth of what you say, she very quickly forgets that she agreed with you, and goes back to believing it’s 40 years ago and asks where her husband is, who died over a decade ago.

It occurs to me that many people living today, both Christian and non-Christian alike, suffer from the same spiritual disease: they believe lies. The woman who believes that she is good enough to get to heaven on her own. The man who thinks he can cheat on his wife and get away with it forever. The teenager who thinks that life is not worth living. The person who believes that sin is preferable to th path that God wants them to walk.

Every choice we make, every word we say, every course of action we pursue should be processed by the question is this right? Is this what God wants me to do? And if the answer is anything but yes then we should think long and hard about whether or not we should do what we are about to do. If the answer is a definite no then it is the height of insanity to choose to do that which is bad for us.

A cactus is covered with spines. Most of us would shake our heads at someone who would willingly run into a cactus. Like a cactus spine, sin is never a good thing. To paraphrase Randy Alcorn’s “The Purity Principle” “sin is always stupid.” Every time you have the opportunity to do right or wrong and you choose wrong, it’s like you’re choosing to walk in a patch of cacti instead of a smooth path. And then you get upset when the spines hurt, make you bleed, and possibly even stop you from walking.

I tell people how they can be saved but they don’t believe what the Bible says. I tell them avoiding sin will give them a better future, but they deny the danger they are in. I beg them to stop the self-destructive cycle that they are in, but they just keep right on thinking that they know better than God does.

I think we all have a little bit of dementia.

In reading the activity on social media in the past several days after the most recent evil person decided to kill a bunch of people in Florida, I’ve heard one comment several times in several places. It’s some variant of the statement, “What are you gun lovers afraid of, that you need guns?”

I’m wondering if these people have ever been in a situation where someone with a gun wants to kill them (probably not) or have seen a movie or tv show where people encountered an evil person with a gun. Am I afraid of someone or something that causes me to own and carry guns? No.

I am not afraid of getting in a car accident. I am not planning on getting in a car accident. But if I do, I have insurance to protect me.

I am not afraid of dying and leaving my family without support. I am not planning on dying anytime soon. But if I do, I have insurance to protect them.

I am not afraid of losing my contacts while on vacation. I am not planning on losing my contacts. But if I do, I have brought an extra pair to replace them so I can see.

I am not afraid of my phone’s battery dying. I am not planning on my phone’s battery dying. But if it does, I have a battery recharger with me to recharge the battery.

You see, I don’t carry a gun because I’m afraid. I carry a gun because I want to be prepared.

Do I expect to ever get in a situation where I will need to use my gun? No. But if it should ever happen, I want to be as ready as possible to protect myself, my loved ones, and other innocent people.

I’m not afraid to protect those I love. I’m prepared.

I have seen this map floating around on the internet stating that there have been 18 school shootings so far this year. Actually that map is misleading.

If we define a “School Shooting” as an incident where someone shoots random victims on school grounds (like Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Parkland), then there have only been three school shootings this year. That’s still three too many, but not the 18 pictured above. The “school shooting” in Maplewood, MN on that map was a police officer’s gun accidentally firing. The one in Arizona was a student committing suicide. Alone. Of the three shootings that were “school shootings”, the one in Louisiana saw nobody killed or even injured by gunfire.

That leaves us with two: Benton, Kentucky and Parkland, Florida.

Nineteen dead from these two shooters, and countless other people traumatized, some for life.

Here’s my idea:

1. Pass a law that if a person commits first degree murder on school property they automatically get the death penalty.
2. Get rid of the “gun free zones” policies entirely. Pass legislation stating that people who hold a license to carry a firearm may not be barred from carrying in any building.
3. Train teachers on a volunteer basis to handle firearms and train them to be prepared in the eventuality that they may be called on to defend their students. And have the taxpayers of their district buy them a firearm.

I firmly believe that these things would disincentivize shooters to the extent that school shootings would by and large go away. There would still be shootings, but with far fewer victims and the shooters would be held accountable via the death penalty.

So what do you all think?  I welcome honest opinions and real solutions, even ideas I disagree with, but comments with profanity or insults will not be allowed.

Something must be done.

We all agree on that. No more kids should die.

But how that should happen we all disagree sharply. Some of my friends believe that we need to tighten down on the mentally ill. Some believe that it is the fault of the gun manufacturers, the NRA, or lawmakers.

But I submit that the problem of murder has existed since the beginning of recorded history, with Cain and Abel. God is very clear in the Bible that murder is wrong, and yet we humans keep doing it. The problem with the idea of gun control is the premise that we need to make sure that guns don’t get into the hands of people who would use them to murder.

If it were possible to identify every person who is going to commit murder with a gun before they do it, I would be 100% on board with taking away those people’s right to own a gun. But it’s not possible.

And so we are left with the main problem. It’s the problem humans have been dealing with since the Garden: sin.

We could rephrase the question thusly: how do we keep people from sinning against each other? The answer is: we don’t. We witness about what God has done for us and what He can do for them. We show them that there’s a better way: the Way of Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that the heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That’s all of us. It’s only through the murderers like we witnessed this week in Florida do we see just how desperately wicked we humans can be. I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that the tragedy of Florida, Sandy Hook, and Columbine is massively eclipsed by the tragedy of the 60 million children that have been killed in abortion clinics all over the country since 1973. Their deaths are no less tragic. But back to the topic at hand: what to do about school shooters?

I believe God wants me to love my enemies, but He also wants me to protect my family. Doing that against armed assailants would be difficult if I didn’t have a gun myself.

The answer isn’t to get rid of the guns, but to fix the hearts of the people holding them. I pray for the hearts of the victims’ families. I pray they are comforted during this time of sorrow. But mostly I pray that they will find the peace that can only come through trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I also pray for the murderers; those who have killed and those who are even now planning the next school shooting. Lord, please turn their hearts to You.

Something must be done. And yet, something has already been done two thousand years ago on a hill just outside of Jerusalem. Never forget that God is in control, He has a plan, and He works in our situations to draw us closer to Him and to glorify Himself.