Well, we had two more mass shootings this past week. Both done by people who held very different beliefs. But their cause is the same. I believe there is a solution that solves both cases, if we are courageous enough a people to accept it and act accordingly.
Many media, political pundits, and politicians (particularly on the left) were all over the events, almost before the shooting stopped. How sad and pathetic. This week’s drumbeat was; guns are the problem (we need more control), anyone opposing what we want is a racist, and the president is promoting division. I want to take a moment to address each item to point out a solution. In the process we’ll see both shooters were more alike than different.
Guns are the Problem
I’ve written about this several times before.[1] Guns are only a tool. They cannot fire without someone pulling the trigger, and that takes human intent. An act ultimately driven by hate and division. Therefore human beings are the problem. Humans who make an evil choice.
Yes, mental instability is an issue, but we handed those institutions off to government years ago. How’s that worked out for us? Many no longer receive needed care. Instead they are left on their own under the false pretense of individual compassion as institutionalizing someone is seen as demeaning the individual. It also prevents them from receiving care. A twisted thought at best.
Any solution must incorporate the human element, but the mentally ill are a very small population segment and a very small part of the problem. That group would benefit more as a whole from receiving the care they are not currently getting. Guns should certainly be kept out of the hands of those who are unstable, but can we trust a government who is trying to take away our rights to make such decisions? I think not.
Disagree, and You Must Hate People
Anyone opposing adding laws (i.e., taking away rights) must hate people. They are racists as minorities are most impacted by gun violence. But people are the problem. People who choose to do evil. The left is correct, but not in the way they want us to believe. Gun violence is only an effect of the real cause. The left is happier having us treat the effect because it gives them what they want—today. Their ideas demonstrate they care less about life than themselves. Witness the left’s support for abortion, and the personal destruction accompanying their gender confusion stance.
The real issue is ideas. It has always been so. However, the left does not want to argue ideas, because theirs cannot be rationally supported. There are ultimately only two choices, no matter how much man tries to obscure the picture. Those choices are choosing God’s values or man’s. God’s values lead to greater peace, stability, and unity because our individual decisions order society. Decisions that should be ordered around serving others. Man’s values lead to greater conflict, instability, hate, and division because society is ordered solely through law. Law focused on self-interest, depending on the group(s) those making the law place you in. Their decisions, not yours.
I can go further with this argument. Racism is viewing an issue solely through race, sexism solely through gender, etc. The left today views everything through differences in race, gender, sexual orientation, age, economic status, etc. Who are the real racists, the real sexists? If the left wishes to get a good look, they have only to look in the mirror.
Creating Division
This brings me to the last point. I think the shooters were much more alike than different. The left wants you to believe that ideology played a big part in the shootings, at least in El Paso. And they are right, but again not in the way they want you to believe. One was a white supremacist and the other a leftist and Bernie Sanders supporter. They would have you believe one belongs to the right and the other the left.
Both shooters believe in ideologies ordered around man’s values as noted above. It’s just some of their specific ideas are different. They aren’t right and left; they are just two sides of the same coin. A coin deriving its value from man’s choosing his own values. We are simply beginning to see the fruit man’s values produces.
But the media and left promote the idea that division is being created by the president and those supporting his ideas. From the left’s view, division is created whenever one does not agree with their position. They are elitist who care most of all about control; control they should have because they are in some way superior. The left’s ideas are grounded in man’s values and devoted to using law alone to order society. A typical tactic of those advocating man’s values is to accuse their opposition of the very things they do and promote. We should be smart enough to recognize this tactic for what it is, voice our opposition to doing what is wrong, and take action to see that good is done.
A Solution
So what’s the answer. At one level it’s really quite simple. The preceding items all point to a common problem, a lack of morality. If a lack of morality is the problem, then building morality is the answer. There is only one source of morality in all creation—that is, God.
Morality is righteousness, and righteousness requires virtue. Any solution must therefore include education as man is not born with virtue. However, he is especially adapted to acquiring it. This comes through learning and practice.
Our society, however, has been active for over fifty years in removing God from our education, government, churches, work place, and public space. In short, removing God from everywhere He should be present. To set things right requires reducing the role of government in education and other places where it has replaced God’s values with man’s. The morality instilled through religion was always intended to influence governance, not the other way around.
The proper role of religious power within a society governed by biblical principles (as America was founded upon) is to educate. This education is the responsibility of the parents and community. We can delegate our responsibility to another, such as schools, but it is still ours. Political power’s proper role is to see that justice is carried out, and justice is a virtue where each person receives what they are due based upon their actions. How can virtue exist within justice when morality is removed from government?
Will we be bold enough to demand such a radical notion? I pray we are. If we want our society to bear different fruit, we must change our ideas. We must, as individuals and a people, turn back to God. It will not end all evil, but to reduce it we must aim at the right target—that target requires morality.
Footnotes:
[1] Evil Raises Its Head Again, http://www.livingrightly.net/Blog/tabid/87/ID/69/Evil-Raises-Its-Head-Again.aspx, Feb., 2018, and Failing to Protect Our Children, http://www.livingrightly.net/Blog/tabid/87/ID/69/Evil-Raises-Its-Head-Again.aspx, Mar., 2018.
