Dealing with the underlying cause of mass shootings

Ken Rank

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In the US over recent years, there have been hundreds of mass shootings. It's not arguable to say that all of the rest of the countries in the world combined, have not had anywhere near the amount of shootings we have had here. The question is, what is the cause? Social media is full of people blaming Donald Trump, which to me is just a lazy conclusion. Besides, while some might be fueled by certain right wing rhetoric, not all the shooters have been right wingers. In fact, the Dayton shooter listed himself as a socialist who was in favor of Elizabeth Warren as next President. So it is probably safe to say, that it isn't any one politician or even group that is encouraging what we see today.

So again, what is it? Video games or violent television? Perhaps in some cases. How about kids who have been bullied? Again, perhaps in some cases. I can probably list 20 reasons and follow it with, "Perhaps in some cases." So what it it? Is there one underlying condition that might tie all (or most) of these shootings together?

I personally believe that the degradation of our society which includes mass shootings, falls back on the removal of God from our culture. And I am not talking about just any god... I am specifically speaking about the God of Scripture, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... the God that gave to man what we call Judeo-Christian values that this country was built upon.

Yes, it was built on HIS principles. That, too, is not arguable. Anyone who takes any time at all reading the foundational papers of this country will learn very quickly that the founders were very much influenced and even ruled by... the moral outline presented within the Holy Bible.

We no longer pray in public like we did, we don't exalt Him in public like we once did, we even stopped calling it Christmas to please those who stand against Christian ideals. As such, we have, over time, slowly drifted away from Him as a culture and embraced a secular code of law that is more aligned with political correctness and not hurting feelings than it is with righteousness and peace through our Creator. In other words, our culture cares more about pleasing man than it does pleasing God!

Over the next few years, and especially through this election year... we are going to hear about all the ways this can be fixed. From taking all guns away to law abiding citizens having to jump through greater hoops in order to own or keep a gun, to crazy amounts of money being thrown at mental health plans on curing this ill. But in the end, mark my words, the problem will not go away. And it will not go away because these will only be band-aides that mask symptoms while the cause is left untouched. We are not dealing with the cause when we take guns, expand laws, or throw money at the problem. When we do those things we are like the man who has a skin lesian. Is it a mole? A tumor? Some other abnormality? Unless he deals with it on the level where it is CAUSED... then addressing only the symptoms will do nothing to prevent it from spreading. Likewise, if we do not address the underlying ill of our culture, which is the turning away from God and His righteousness, then we will simply continue to decay as a society.

So blessed we have been, and so poorly we extend our appreciation for that blessing and how we take it all for granted! We have to address the cause, we have to turn back to God as a culture... or these are but the beginning of greater woes!
 

bèlla

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Christianity is not attractive because most aren’t living lives and producing fruit that others want. If you want to influence people you’ve got to be influential. Our lives must bear witness to our beliefs. Words aren’t enough. They’re no longer listening. We must take our ambassadorship seriously if we desire change.
 
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JohnC2

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So honestly - what are we supposed to do to cure the innate sinful nature of man? All are subject to sin.

There is no pill you can take that suddenly makes that guy over there sinless much less myself...

Should we adopt the solution of totalitarian nations which spy on everybody and brutally torture and destroy anybody who even hints of the possibility of violence?

How about adopt solutions predicated upon being in a very small tribe or nation that's nearly racially homogeneous and has very strict social mores?

Or maybe we let some superpower conquer us and dictate their notions of perfect social order upon us....

How about the wild west where everybody just does whatever is right in his own eyes and buries the bodies/mistakes in the wilderness?

Do we all arm up to the teeth and hope people become more polite?

Or maybe we just circle up and sing Imagine and hope it all takes care of itself... And if that doesn't work we circle up and sing A Country Boy Will Survive.... ;)

We do what we can. We reach out to comfort the brokenhearted. We help them in their time of need. We realize that people are sinful by nature and accept that we can't fix it.... That we groan in this current fallen creation until the perfect comes in. We hope that in due time - God will fix creation.... But until then - we have to live with reality.
 
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Ken Rank

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Christianity is not attractive because most aren’t living lives and producing fruit that others want. If you want to influence people you’ve got to be influential. Our lives must bear witness to our beliefs. Words aren’t enough. They’re no longer listening. We must take our ambassadorship seriously if we desire change.
I agree... Paul wrote, "in all you do in word or deed, do so in the name of the Lord." To a Hebrew, that would have meant, "in all you do in word or deed, do so in the character and reputation of the Lord." In other words... the Lord should be seen in your actions and heard in your words and when that isn't the case, we actually profane His name (character and reputation). It is on those who know the Lord to show the world WHY there is a better way that doesn't include decrees by man.
 
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-Sasha-

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Our lives must bear witness to our beliefs.
This, for sure. If, by all measures, the beliefs and behaviors of a Christian appear no different than anyone else in the society, what do we have to offer to anyone? How can we hope to help others turn to Christ if we haven't done so first?
 
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Ken Rank

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So honestly - what are we supposed to do to cure the innate sinful nature of man?
We begin to have the discussion and we learn how to get along as brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can show the world a way that they don't currently have. We look, too often... like the world around us. And when that is the case John, we offer the world nothing it doesn't already have!
 
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High Fidelity

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Since you mentioned social media and Donald Trump... he has ran 2200 ads on Facebook in the past year featuring the word 'invasion'.

I don't think it's lazy to suggest him and others like him are influencing others.

Trump shares more blame than most in this case, in my opinion.

In addition, Trump's 5 point plan highlighting video games is laughably absurd. It has been proven to have the opposite effect and when he himself was elected by using, and still using, inflammatory rhetoric towards immigrants and others that aren't your typical white evangelical schmuck that will vote for him, it's incredibly hypocritical.
 
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-Sasha-

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Since you mentioned social media and Donald Trump... he has ran 2200 ads on Facebook in the past year featuring the word 'invasion'.

I don't think it's lazy to suggest him and others like him are influencing others.

Trump shares more blame than most in this case, in my opinion.
I think normally advertisements aim to present things which people already desire/agree with, so that they will associate their internal desire/belief with the product being sold. In this case, the fact that many people already believe that immigration is an issue is to be associated with Trump, so that people who hold this belief (quite a large number of voters in the US, according to polling data)will "buy", ie vote for him.

In any case, I believe you've missed the main point of the OP.
 
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Hank77

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Twinkle Season, Winter break, etc.
Lol, I haven't heard either of those but it you say so. The truth is that it never stopped being called Christmas, even by secular people.
 
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Go Braves

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Twinkle Season, Winter break, etc.

Well I've never heard of twinkle season but maybe that's some regional thing y'all say wherever you live.

The winter break is called the winter break on account of that being exactly what is is. Complaining about that is like complaining that schools, colleges in America just aren't patriotic on account of calling summer break summer break instead of FOURTH OF JULY break.

I've never heard of Christmas being called anything but Christmas. Well, except outside of English speaking countries where there's different words for the holiday.
 
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Since you mentioned social media and Donald Trump... he has ran 2200 ads on Facebook in the past year featuring the word 'invasion'.

I don't think it's lazy to suggest him and others like him are influencing others.

Trump shares more blame than most in this case, in my opinion.

In addition, Trump's 5 point plan highlighting video games is laughably absurd. It has been proven to have the opposite effect and when he himself was elected by using, and still using, inflammatory rhetoric towards immigrants and others that aren't your typical white evangelical schmuck that will vote for him, it's incredibly hypocritical.

Donald also enjoyed it when a fan of his shouted out "shoot them" at one of his rallies in response to him asking the crowd what ought to be done about the "immigrant invasion."
 
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bekkilyn

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Donald also enjoyed it when a fan of his shouted out "shoot them" at one of his rallies in response to him asking the crowd what ought to be done about the "immigrant invasion."

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Maybe we should just call *everything* "Christmas" to be on the safe side, and then the shootings are guaranteed to stop!

That's a wonderful idea! Hope you're having a good Christmas to start your week.
 
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bekkilyn

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That's a wonderful idea! Hope you're having a good Christmas to start your week.

Yep, just had a great Christmas the last couple of Christmas's, and today being the start of a new Christmas seems pretty bright, but I do have to go in early to Christmas on Christmas three Christmas's from now, so by the time the next Christmas rolls around, I'll need some extra sleep that will help me be ready for the extra special Christmas the Christmas after next!
 
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essentialsaltes

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I personally believe that the degradation of our society which includes mass shootings, falls back on the removal of God from our culture. And I am not talking about just any god... I am specifically speaking about the God of Scripture, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... the God that gave to man what we call Judeo-Christian values that this country was built upon.

Why don't we see mass shootings this frequently in non-majority-Christian countries like Japan? Europe is far ahead of the US in terms of secularization. Why are mass shootings generally less of a problem there than in the US?
 
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JohnC2

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We begin to have the discussion and we learn how to get along as brothers and sisters in Christ so that we can show the world a way that they don't currently have. We look, too often... like the world around us. And when that is the case John, we offer the world nothing it doesn't already have!

That's a good point.

Unfortunately it ignores original sin. The church is not the root of society's problems...... Original sin is the root of both society's and the church's problems.

Humans can't "Fix" our sinful nature - though it's always tempting to believe the sinful nature is fully contained within that other fellow over there, and if we could just get rid of him - it would be solved once and for all....

But it never works out that way - in an attempt to rid their nations of sin - The British Isles sent all their prisoners to Australia and similar penal colonies... And the ironic result of ridding their nation of this sinful element was that Australia and the British Isles have fairly similar crime rates. Getting rid of all those criminals didn't lower the British crime rate.... And having a nation founded almost entirely of criminals didn't increase the Australian crime rate....

Other nations dumping ships full of "undesirables" into the USA likewise didn't turn our nation into a nation of useless dregs and it likewise didn't rid them of their dregs...

Likewise you can't execute your way there either - nearly every nation has tried....

But it's just so tempting because if we can just get that one last fellow taken care of - we will be there I am sure

All we can do is remind them that they are charging windmills and then let them charge another one. The evil is baked into us....
 
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