What a wonderful world this would be if we could all live in peace and harmony! What a sad time it is in America! A time when another person’s life has become meaningless.
If you are a person who gives attention to the local and national news, I think you would agree that you hear something about gun violence every day. One of the hot topics recently has been gun control. My question is, how do you get something under control that is totally out of control? The answer is not simple because it is now like a wild fire destroying anything in its path. Ridiculous excuses like transgender, mental illness, etc. will not help resolve the problem. The problem is not that guns are out of control, rather people in high positions down to those who hold no position are out of control. It is all about greed and self-aggrandizement.
Guns are manufactured and made to kill. There is no way to soften what the purpose and objective of having a gun is. It does not matter whether you are a hunter, military person, police officer, or grandma Susie, if you shoot, its purpose is to kill or injure. There is no such thing as shooting to wound. Once you have pulled the trigger, the death sentence has already been issued.
Just imagine being a police officers out on the streets today carrying a GLOCK 22 and people on the streets have assault weapons. A simple traffic stop by a police officer is no longer safe.
The latest shooting in Tennessee has once again caused great trepidation, but the results will be the same. It will be highlighted on the news channels for about a week and then we wait for the next mass shooting to occur. We can send our children to a public school, private school or Christian school, but it will not deter these types of shootings from occurring.
Wherever you go today, be it in the grocery store, restaurant, on your job, in church, yes in church, somebody is carrying a gun. The point is not that it is wrong for you to own a gun for protection because of the craziness out in the world, but it puts us all in a precarious and uncomfortable position. Why can’t we all just learn to love each other and get along? Sadly, we seek justification for our bad behavior with no real consequences.
The Bible used to be our guide to living a good wholesome Christian life, but it appears that the “Good Book” has lost its value and meaning for a lot of people. The Bible teaches us, “Thou shalt not kill.” We cannot blame God for our recklessness and bad choices. He gave us the freedom and flexibility to make wise decisions, but we have failed.
May we look at this problem from a New Testament perspective. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another (John 13:34).” The Church used to teach u[R1] s that we were supposed to live like Jesus. Now we are taught, in some churches, to hate our neighbors and love ourselves.
In Exodus, God told Moses, “Select capable men from all the people-men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain-and appoint them as official over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens” (Exodus 18:21. It is obvious that we have made some bad choices in our selection/election of our leaders.
May we continue to pray that God will touch the hearts and minds of all of his people so that we will not have to fear the future. If we all relied totally on Him, all of this madness would go away.
Not a sermon, just my thoughts!
Robert Earl Slade, Pastor
