God and Guns
01/2013 Filed in: Religious Liberties | Character / Civic Education
God is for gun control that begins in the individual! He wants to change hearts and minds so that people would not even enjoy games associated with murder.
Mass shootings at schools and other places are increasing. When I was in high school in the late ’70s, I would occasionally see rifles in the gun-racks of pickup trucks in the school parking lot. The principal presumably asked the students to not bring them back because their appearance wasn’t consistent. However, these events were never surrounded by rumors, fears, or dismissals; I suppose the principal’s concern was more over the possibility of theft or accidents than of a shooting rampage. I grew up playing GI Joe and Cowboys and Indians… now I find myself telling my nine year old to not point his finger like its a gun!
There has been plenty of discussion of the degree to which guns should be “controlled” by the government, so I would like to go a different direction. The issues surrounding guns reflect a decline in our national character and a loss of liberty. Neither situation is good and both are linked. Our nation was founded with the understanding that broad liberties required high personal character. Founding leaders and the general population firmly believed that a strong religious (particularly Christian) character was necessary for the liberty to survive. If character diminished, government power (expressed through laws and regulations) would increase to fill the “character gap.” Since laws limit personal choice, they shrink liberty for the sake of safety and order.
Most gun control advocates do not view guns as an evil in themselves, but they increasingly distrust their fellow man… In all the rhetoric about violence in society, I rarely hear discussions about how to raise our level of morality. It seems that the presumption is that moral formation is some mysterious, nebulous, or private matter. It isn’t. It used to be the focus of families, school, and churches working together for the good of society. Since schools were turned over to the secular government, much of the moral nurture of children and young adults has been lost.
Regardless of how much gun control we allow, this is merely a short term solution at best. The families, churches, and schools must re-unite to nurture future citizens not only with job skills, but hearts, minds, and characters shaped by a love of God and their neighbors. The best secular government can do is to support the educational concerns of parents - not interfere with them!
There has been plenty of discussion of the degree to which guns should be “controlled” by the government, so I would like to go a different direction. The issues surrounding guns reflect a decline in our national character and a loss of liberty. Neither situation is good and both are linked. Our nation was founded with the understanding that broad liberties required high personal character. Founding leaders and the general population firmly believed that a strong religious (particularly Christian) character was necessary for the liberty to survive. If character diminished, government power (expressed through laws and regulations) would increase to fill the “character gap.” Since laws limit personal choice, they shrink liberty for the sake of safety and order.
Most gun control advocates do not view guns as an evil in themselves, but they increasingly distrust their fellow man… In all the rhetoric about violence in society, I rarely hear discussions about how to raise our level of morality. It seems that the presumption is that moral formation is some mysterious, nebulous, or private matter. It isn’t. It used to be the focus of families, school, and churches working together for the good of society. Since schools were turned over to the secular government, much of the moral nurture of children and young adults has been lost.
Regardless of how much gun control we allow, this is merely a short term solution at best. The families, churches, and schools must re-unite to nurture future citizens not only with job skills, but hearts, minds, and characters shaped by a love of God and their neighbors. The best secular government can do is to support the educational concerns of parents - not interfere with them!
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