By now I am sure you have heard of the senseless act of violence that took place at Douglas High School in Parkland, Fl. As has become the norm, the smoke had barely started to clear before some politicians were calling for stricter gun laws and others were calling for more funding for the treatment of individuals with mental health issues. Unfortunately, none of them have chosen to identify the real problem or offer any real solution. Instead they pretend like the real problem isn’t a problem at all, leading they way to more and more destruction.
When I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s (yeah, I know I’m old) the gun culture was very different. It was not uncommon to see guns displayed in the back windows of trucks sitting at the grocery store, banks, and even schools. Students had guns that stayed in their vehicles and the though of bringing them into the school or hurting someone with them never crossed our minds. It was easier to get guns back then. You could walk into a Walmart, K-mart, TGY&Y and a dozen other places and walk out that same day with a rifle, shotgun or even a pistol. Very little paperwork needed to be filled out and no background checks were ever done. I was working at TG&Y at the time and at the end of the week we would mail the one page of information to the ATF, what they did with it I have no idea. And about once a year someone would stop by from the ATF and look over our copies that we kept on file, thumbing through them and then leaving. Rare was the home invasion and rarer yet was the school shootings.
Today it is harder to buy and posses a gun is harder than it ever has been in the history of our country, yet violence continues to increase. It seems with every restriction placed on gun owners, gun crimes go up exponentially. I do not believe we can legislate ourselves out of the perceived gun problem for one very simple reason. We do not have a gun problem.
And, while I think that mental health is sorely underfunded, I don’t believe that even with full funding would it make a dent in the violent shootings. We have always had those around us with mental health issues, but rarely did they turn to hurting others in mass. Mental health makes a convenient excuse to distract us away from the voices trying to enact new gun laws, but the will not stop the killings.
America’s problem is not one of guns or mental health – America has a sin problem that has gone untreated for to long. As a nation we have turned our back on God and embraced everything He warned us about. We murder thousands of children a day and call it “Health Care” and there are many pushing to have the right of abortion to newborns as well, or former President and current political activist being one of them. We have chosen to embrace every perversion man can dream up and label any who resist as intolerant and bigoted. We have spit upon the gift of marriage and turned it over to perversions. We accept politicians that lie, cheat and steal as long as they say the things we want to hear. We pour our money into Hollywood who knowingly hid serial a serial rapists from the world because our entertainment is more important that the safety of women. Our churches are no exception, running to ordain men and women who do not hold the qualifications to be ordained, simply because of our desire to be inclusive. We look at Worship as a way to get some blessing or to be filled because after all, it’s all about us, right? We have Pastors standing in pulpits afraid to mention Hell or sin because they may offend some one and lose favor, yet they don’t have any problem offending God.
The solution to the violence is simple – Repent from our wicked ways and seek after God. It will require the 95% of people who claim to be Christians but who do nothing to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to do something meaningful for Christ. What would have happened if one Christian had reached the gunman with the Gospel?
When was the last time you invited someone to church or shared the Gospel with someone? A better question is who will you invite to church or share the Gospel with next?
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