I know I'll expect resistance, given the nasty things I've said before. I know I may be mocked, ridiculed, and sidelined. But I don't care. I have a strong opinion and I want to share it.
We've had five shootings in the last five days. Christians, when are we gonna get serious about this beyond "thoughts and prayers?" Thoughts and prayers are meaningless without action. Something needs to be done.
Maybe less guns won't solve the problem, but more certainly won't help either. Should we just sit back and let the nation become a terrorist state? Should gun violence only be stopped by making sure the good guy has the bigger gun? You know something is terribly wrong when shootings become a matter of "when" rather than "if." If Christians want to be part of the solution, we can't just pray, we need to do something. Then again, according to a lot of evangelicals, the world is going to be consumed by fire anyway so why bother doing jack?
I'm honestly ashamed to call myself a Christian now, not because I'm ashamed of Jesus, but because I'm ashamed of my fellow Christians who've all but sold their souls to political power. The past few years have proven to me that most Christians aren't much different, if at all, from the world. We're sloppy with grace and don't teach people to be responsible for their actions.
There are people in this world who are evil and do not deserve our sympathy. I do not feel one bit sorry for all these mass shooters and all those youth teachers who turned out to be pedophiles. There are normal people, and then there are the depraved. Do not tell me there is not a difference. Do not tell me that the only unforgivable sin is "blasphemy." Blasphemy takes many forms.
But whatever, it's not like anyone truly cares. Even I prefer to isolate myself because I know that I can only take so much empathy. I can only weep with so many others who weep. This is why so many people my age are so disillusioned. We were prepared for a world that no longer exists, where people are content to hate each other rather than get over themselves and work together.
I'm sick of theology that tells me to hate people based on their skin color, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever. I want to judge people by their character, nothing else. Christians, the world is watching. We are called to a higher standard. And if I'm the only one willing to hold to it, then so be it.
When you react, you let others control you. When you respond, you are in control. -Bohdi Sanders
When evil strikes we often are caught off guard and forced to react by overwhelming sense of emotions that remind us the sanctity of life has been unjustly ignored and the line between good and evil was shattered. God's holy nature of being all just, good, and loving is living in us. We feel the injustice because God feels the injustice.
And in direct opposition is the fallen human nature that wants to react without consulting with the absolute judge, graceful and giver of all wisdom who is living within us.
The objects will never be the problem. The hearts of mankind will always be the problem.
The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes…. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.”
– Thomas Jefferson,
Commonplace Book (quoting 18th century criminologist Cesare Beccaria), 1774-1776
Reacting on emotions without wisdom can be very dangerous in regards to a spontaneous action can lead to generations worth of heartache, death, and destruction. In China the people are not legally allowed to have any kind of firearm and recently it was discovered millions have been locked us for religious or opposing political beliefs and their organs harvested to be sold in the black markets around the world.
Over the we had 40 or more deaths classified under mass shootings. 40 compared to future millions of lives destroyed by a corrupt government that also has the heart problem.
Politics may be dirty, the culture may be dirty, the people may be dirty, but we are told to go forth into this world and let the word of God be known in every corner of life. They may be dirty but so are we. We received grace and it isnt up to us to decide who deserves grace. If God forgives the most evil person on the planet due to a true death bed conversion then I have no reason to judge that or believe that individual was beyond the saving grace of God.
To change the culture first starts from within then your family, then your circle of influence, then your town, city, state, and finally the nation.
