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!
