Jesus Wept
Last night at a school in Uvalde, Texas, they were doing onsite DNA swabs to parents in hope of matching the DNA with a dead child.
Gunshots do terrible things to a child’s body…
Reporters watching from a distance would hear the screams of the families when a match was made.
The first pictures of the victims are coming out and they look like the pictures of children sitting on my desk and for a moment I can’t breathe.
TheĀ usual suspects representing Jesus and the Christian faith were quoted in the press…they are usually calling for some action to be taken against those they are angry with, but tonight they offered up recycled thoughts and prayers from the last massacre.
They invited people to come to Jesus for comfort…hoping that those seeking comfort hadn’t read the report on abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention…
Every time something horrific happens we are deluged with moronic posts declaring it a “sign of the times”…19 slaughtered children deserve to be seen as more than a damn prophecy update…it is a sign of our sickness, not the Second Coming.
Disgraced former Fox talking head Bill O’Reilly said after another mass killing that “massacres are the price of freedom”.
We are the freest country in the world then, as we lead it in massacres…free indeed…
We have aligned ourselves into tribes and use all means available to foster hate against the other tribes.
A prominent congressman quickly identified the shooter as a “transsexual leftist illegal alien.”… the murderer was none of the above, but one should never waste an opportunity to incite rage in ones constituents against your enemies.
Our news channels of choice become wealthy keeping us angry and don’t mind if we let off a little of the steam they created by killing a couple dozen of the neighbor kids.
That rage from the daily news programs is baptized on Sunday in churches all over America.
Come to Jesus, but bring your voter ID card…
Come to Jesus, but be careful who you leave your children with…
There are no solutions to this plague as we are addicted to rage and allergic to compromise for the common good as we would be defiled with the filth of other tribes in the process.
So we will keep on offering thoughts and prayers…Ā for the dead and for our living children… and for the next trip to the grocery store…prayers that we won’t be the next victims of our lust for anger and the blood of our neighbor.
Come to Jesus, indeed…you will know Him by His tears.
Addicted to rage and allergic to compromise indeed……
I had supervision on the playground this morning, watching my 4th and 5th graders play volleyball, basketball, wallball, and wander around talking to each other. I love them so much! One of my fifth graders died of cancer (she had been ill for a long time) during the first month of the pandemic, and it made me so sad. We could change many of these outcomes with better gun purchasing rules and discontinuing certain kinds of weapons. But my cynicism tells me it won’t happen. I can keep praying, though.
Sadly…
Child sacrifice, alive and well here.
Well said, Michael, well said.
Up here we are weeping for the girl who drowned in our river AND now for the parents in Uvalde also.
The death of love and nurture and hearts… TOO MUCH, WAY TOO MUCH!
Like abortion, laws cannot solve our gun violence. Hearts must change. A culture that has jettisoned the restraint of the fear of the LORD cannot expect to fix this. Put another way, when there are no underlying restraints governing hearts we are left with the use of raw power.
So we will ultimately turn to those who can promise us a return to order and a subduing of chaos. Freedom does indeed bring chaos; abortion, gun violence, broken families, addiction, spreading disease are just a sampling of the human freedom of choice. Our culture is coming unglued. We have deconstructed all the face to face institutions that served to produce underlying order. It is part of the process we have engaged in post-modernity and beyond.
The alarm is sounded from left and right … sooner or later we will trade the present freedoms for the hope of order. Sooner or later freedom will give way to absolutism. Unless we can restore our faith in the mediating institutions that place us in face-to-face community and humanizes our choices. Unless we can renew the impulse that made us a nation that people risk their lives to invade… we are heading for disaster. And yes it can get much worse that this.
In the area of Holocaust studies, Iāve been reading āHitlerās Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fieldsā by Wendy Lower. She has documented how up to 400,000 German women participated in, or enabled, the killings that took place especially in the East. They were nurses, teachers, secretaries and wives. They came from varied backgrounds. What they had in common is that they came of age in the Germany of the 1920s and 1930s, decades in which violence became commonplace. Indeed, violence was seen as a solution to racial, ethnic and political issues in the society. It was a short step between the witnessed violence of Kristallnacht to the participatory violence of the Holocaust.
When violence becomes the norm, the guardrails come down as the society changes.
If after what has taken place in Uvalde, Buffalo, El Paso, Parkland, Newtown and all the rest we cannot address the issue of guns and violence it is because we are making a conscious choice not to do so. Perhaps worse, we have become used to the violence.
What that means for the future is truly terrifyingā¦
Dread,
This nation has never had the fear of the Lord.
It was founded in rebellion, supported by slavery ,and enlarged by force.
The church stood by and said the amen.
Otherwise, I concur with what you have said.
Restoring faith in our institutions would require that we all humble ourselves and seek the common good instead of power.
It may be too late…and the apocalypse we fear is soon to fall.
“When violence becomes the norm, the guardrails come down as the society changes.’
Which is where we are now…
If there’s one good thing to come out of this horrible happening, it’s that the shooter is dead, dead, and dead.
Yes, Muff, I hear you and can’t disagree from where we are…. But
God takes no pleasure in the deaths of the wicked… not sure, but I think it is because hell is real….
https://www.theonion.com/
Peopleās hearts will never change. To me the only recourse, the, is to control, in some fashion, the instrument of their destruction.
These little apocalypses of gun violence shock us ā but our national obsession with guns underlies our whole corporate life. We love guns.
This obsession yields about 20,000 annual deaths by homicide. Thatās 1000 Uvaldes a yearā¦ but these are children so it pierces our slumber.
And gun owners typically refuse to count the 25,000 or so deaths by suicide ā those are throwaways. Almost 70 every day.
The second amendment sacralizes gun ownership surmising that it provides a hedge against governmental oppression.
Governments can hardly plead innocence but ā here we are.
What would you do if you were king?
Iād get the guns ā but immediately that would make me the problem
By way of confession I didnāt own a gun until 2020 and I still wonāt own a handgun. I trust neither you nor myself.
Dread
“Iād get the guns ā but immediately that would make me the problem…”
More than willing to be a part of that problem with you… and I’ve been around guns most of my life.
It’s estimated that there are 393 million guns in the hands of private citizens in this country.
Some form of gun control would take decades to reduce that number…especially when many of those owners would use those weapons to keep them.
We have fetishized guns and we all imagine ourselves the good guys who could defend mother and country if called on to do so.
We have re-defined liberty as being able to do what I want to do no matter the cost to the greater good…and 19 dead kids is just an installment payment to keep us free.
No one should be able to buy a gun from a private party. All gun sales should have to go through a licensed dealer that includes a background check! IMNSHO
AND we should be allowed to be concerned about the unstable among us (Pastor Dread excluded… š ).
Do I have guns? Not talking’. š
Our culture is creating instability among the formerly stable.
The “news’ is radicalizing people I love.
If I were king…the first thing I would do is shut down every “news” network opinion show and maybe every news network for a year…and maybe all online social media.
Otherwise, we will never regain our sanity…but we know I’ll never be king at all…
Michael? Not a king? SHOCK! ! !
People always say it’s not the guns that kill people but the people who kill people.
But as we have all noticed, “people” are not very stable these days. When we venture out in our car on the freeway, we see crazy driving such as we’ve never seen before. We see crazies wandering our streets. We see homeless encampments full of unstable people. We see the extremist people posting on Twitter, Telegraph and FB obsessed with lunatic ideas.
Personally, just as I would keep scissors out of the hands of toddlers, I would keep guns out of the hands of a good percentage of our increasingly unstable population. Sure, it’s the people who the killing but why arm them?
People always say that back in the good old days, their dad had a rifle by the back door to kill rabid skunks, etc. This is true in my case as well. But my father was a stable, reasonable person, as was everyone else we knew. The unstable were in the mental hospital or in jail.
Mentally unstable + assault rifles = disaster.
Many will say that since there are so many unstable people out there, they need their guns for protection. That just leads to Chicago-style gun battles and chaos. Arm everyone, get ’em mad all the time, and you have an urban war where no one wins.
So this unlimited personal freedom we all worship here in America has its consequences and there’s a good reason that all civilizations until now thought it was a foolish concept.
Just now on our community’s FB page I see an area of dour small town is blocked off because of an active shooter.
He’s shooting at the sheriff dept. because he is objecting to be evicted.
“Arm everyone, get āem mad all the time, and you have an urban war where no one wins.”
We’re almost there…
This is the gun model that was sold to an 18 year old with emotional problems in Texas. If it looks like a military grade weapon, that’s because it is…
https://danieldefense.com/ddm4-v7.html
Xenia,
Freedom is also built on personal responsibility, a concept we have totally lost in our country.
Linn, I think some people believe they have the “right” to be irresponsible.
“Ain’t nobody gonna tell me what to do.”
Xenia,
It was a very small minority, though. Now, it seems like it’s most of the country. And I’m from the 60s!
I wrote this to post on Facebook but will also post here:
Guns don’t kill people, people kill people. – From some aspects, certainly true.
The problem isn’t guns, it’s people’s hearts. – Again from some aspects, certainly true.
“Good guys” with guns stop “bad guys” with guns. – Yes, this does at times happen.
If you take guns away from everybody including the good guys, then only the bad guys will have them as they will find ways to get them. – In at least some cases, this would be true.
If you take guns away, then people will just find other ways to kill instead. – Again, at least in some cases, this would be true.
The Second Amendment gives the people the right to bear arms. – Yes, it does.
The founders wanted the people to have the right to bear arms to protect themselves against a possible tyrannical government. – Yes, they did.
There are manners of truth to all the statements above.Ā At the same time, a broader and much more important truth is acknowledging the evidence of reality.Ā And that reality, for at least the last 25 years or so, has shown us that we have a huge problem with people dying by gun violence, both individual and by mass, in this country – far worse than any other country in this world that is not racked by warfare.Ā The further truth of reality is that we have a much greater number and percentage of gun ownership than any other country in the world and our rules and restrictions on gun acquisitionĀ and ownership are laxer than probably just about any other country in the world.
There also needs to be an acknowledgment that even as our founders possessed much knowledge, wisdom, and fortitude, and wrote a brilliant document in the Constitution, they were not infallible or omniscient.Ā Their allowance for slavery in our country is far more than enough proof for this.Ā If they could see today what is happening with gun violence, one would think they very well would have written the right to bear arms in a very different fashion.
Most of the rest of the world is overwhelming evidence that the issue of guns can be handled in a far better fashion that far reduces wrongful and tragic deaths.Ā And that it can be done without tyrannical governments taking over the people.
There are no perfect solutions, but there are far better ones than what we have in place in our country.Ā Reality has proven that out.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.Ā Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.Ā Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.Ā And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:3-8
“And he said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.Ā This is the great and first commandment.Ā And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” – Matthew 22:37-39
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.Ā For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.’ ” – Mark 8:34-35
For those of us who follow Christ, we must ask ourselves – How do we best manifest these things – by acknowledging and acting on reality, or by holding onto our rights and political dogmas?Ā One would hope that the answer is clear enough.
Well said, Keven H.
The husband of the teacher killed in Uvalde died from grief this morning.
But, we’re “free”…
So back to my town, which still has this shooter barricaded on the balcony of his apartment and endangering his entire neighborhood. How mentally stable do you imagine this guy is? Is he drug-addled? How did he get his hands on a gun anyway? Did he get it from someone who is (somewhat) stable and left it unsecured? Our drug-addled neighbor across the street claims he has a small arsenal. I’m glad he likes us.
There are so many guns in the US that this problem will never be solved. It’s too late to get rid of the guns already out there but it’s not too late to stop the sale of certain fire arms. But I do not think that would really help in the long run because this is a sick society and no one is willing to do what is necessary to be healed.
Really well said, Kevin.
A good portion of our town is now on Shelter in Place, although not my neighborhood.
Start a movement to amend the constitution. Simply repeal the 2nd amendment. Then, it goes to the states. Like Roe perhaps this could go. Minds change.
If you want to change this publish the crime scene photos. Itās a ghastly proposal but it would leverage opinion.
Freedom is definitely under siege ā not so much by law as by people who are not free.
I just saw a photo of the guy on the balcony (he’s still there) and he’s a middle-aged white guy, holding the gun (long gun of some kind) as if he knows what he’s doing.
I am sure all the blacks and Hispanics in town heaved a great sigh of relief when they saw he was white. So did I.
Well, while a person constitutionally, can bear arms, do we really need assault rifles? Canāt we at least control them? They are specifically designed to kill lots of people in a short period of time. When the framers of the constitution wrote the 2nd amendment, I donāt they had assault rifles in mind.
Not every Tom, Richard, and Harry should be allowed to purchase military style assault weapons.
They have but one purpose, and it’s not bird and deer hunting.
The founders pretty clearly had the revolution in mind when they wrote the second amendment
Dread
thatās correct
Dread,
I would say they had a future revolution in mind.
Mexico has very restrictive gun laws, I guess we would just have a corrupt government (like now…) and cartels to protect us.
Change has to come from within.
“assault rifles”… “military style assault weapons”…
We can’t ban them if we can’t define them.
As a gun owner, I’ve noticed that every time there is a mass shooting followed by serious talk of banning certain weapons, there is a run on AR15s, AK47s, mini 14s, 5.56(223), 7.62 and 9mm rounds. They become hard to find, and the prices go up and I rarely see them go down. Who is making money on this?
Not everyone should own a gun. It’s time to do something.
Mexico only has. ONE gun store…. or so I’ve heard
Not everything the popular press describes as an assault weapon is…….