gun control – Muscular Christianity

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Why?

Why?

That’s the question that, I believe, can lead to some real solutions as opposed to political jousting and cultural angst.

Mind you, it’s not a one shot kind of inquiry. It’s a series of investigative questions that peel back the multiple layers of surface elements and reveal what is either a larger picture or a much simpler resolution than what would otherwise be the case.

For example…

Why Gun Control?

Because kids are being shot by armed thugs in schools.

Why are thugs shooting kids in schools?

Pause for a moment…

Is it because they’re armed or because they’re disturbed? Making guns illegal DOES restrict those who regard the law as being an absolute, but it has NO affect on a disturbed individual who’s resolved to commit a murder anymore than drugs being illegal convinces an addict that they shouldn’t be breaking the law by snorting, shooting, inhaling or whatever they feel like they need to do.

Why Universal Basic Income?

Because, according to Barack Obama, there are “yawning disparities” in wealth and education and providing a base income will help these people get the training they need to find better jobs and improve their financial situation.

Why are there “yawning disparities?”

Because many young people growing up in low income urban areas are not getting a quality education.

Why are they not getting a quality education?

Several reasons and you can read more about them by clicking here. There you’ll read how schools are funded by Federal, State and Local tax dollars. The problem, however, is that when you’ve environments that are violent, poverty stricken and out of control, no matter how much money you spend, you never really solve the problem.

Why are the classroom situations so out of control?

Because the kids are out of control.

Why are the kids out of control?

Because their home lives are oftentimes terrible. Inner city kids are typically living in a home where the father is absent which, by itself, statistically translates to a host of dynamics including more likely to be incarcerated and are four times more likely to be poor.

Why is the father absent?

Good question. But whatever the reason, one thing is certain. That question is not answered with a government subsidy or another piece of legislation.

The thing that is so frustrating is that throughout our nation’s history, there has always been a constituency that wants to gloss over the “why” and instead focus on something that doesn’t even come close to a solution let alone a logical response. It may sound good and it may pacify some to an extent. But in the end, it’s pointless if not positively sinister because of the way it makes a bad situation worse and, in some instances, contributes more to the moral and spiritual decay that is constantly eating away at the very foundation that gives people the chance to excel.

Obama is a fool and a fiend as are those who think like him. The solution is not difficult to discover but you have to ask the right questions in order to arrive at the right conclusions. And the first question to ask, typically, is…

Why?

Is America More Depraved Than Other Nations?

The questions is, “Is America more depraved than other nations?”

This comes from the questions that are voiced in the context of the debate pertaining to gun control. Some want to believe that increased legislation will solve the problem of gun related crime, others are insisting that it has nothing to do with laws as much as it has to do with the culture producing the villains pulling the trigger. Those who lean towards a legislative solution mockingly ask if America is more depraved than other nations, implying that in order for the cultural perspective to be credible, it would have to be demonstrated that America is more depraved than her international counterparts.

The answer to the question is, “Yes!” But not so much in terms of the number of people that are willing to commit murder, although that is the case in some instances. The real depravity is represented by the volume and the philosophical foundation of those voices that insist on targeting the legal system for resolution as opposed to the culture that’s producing the villains that are pulling the trigger. To adopt a conviction that criminal activity can be remedied simply by crafting new laws or changing existing ones is to ignore, not only the testimony of history and the cultures of nations that have lower crime rates, it flies in the face of the Absolute Truths that are communicated in Scripture. From that standpoint, it encourages a lack of accountability on the part of those that are guilty of murder and it creates a more humanistic environment that seeks to distance itself from any notion of personal responsibility and moral Absolutes.

Consider this…

Question: Who is Lee Harvey Oswald?

Think about that for a minute…

Japan has a remarkably low crime rate. Not just in terms of criminal activity involving firearms, but crime in general. The reason is not due to the availability of weapons as much as it’s a cultural dynamic that awards an outrageously lethal stigma to anyone who engages in criminal behavior. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have a darker side, but it is nevertheless a relatively safe country because of the culture.

…because of the culture.

Better laws don’t make better men. If the law in and of itself was sufficient, the fact that murder is illegal should be enough of a deterrent to prevent people from killing one another. But it doesn’t. What yields the lower criminal activity rate in Japan is the philosophical makeup of their citizenship and not the legal fibers that comprise their national legislative tapestry.

The United States depends on that dynamic as well. Os Guiness once said, “The framers also held that, though the Constitution’s barriers against the abuse of power are indispensable, they were only “parchment barriers” and therefore could never be more than part of the answer. And in some ways they were the secondary part at that. The U.S. Constitution was never meant to be the sole bulwark of freedom, let alone a self perpetuating machine that would go by itself. The American founders were not, in Joseph de Maistre’s words, “poor men who imagine that nations can be constituted with ink.” Without strong ethics to support them, the best laws and the strongest institutions would only be ropes of sand.”

Another quick question: Who is John Wilkes Booth?

Ponder that…

Consider the nation of Switzerland. They are also listed along with the Japanese as having one of the lowest crime rates in the world. All young men are obligated to serve in the military and after being discharged, many take their military grade semiautomatic weapons home with them. Despite the large number of weapons in the hands of the citizenry, their murder rate is way below that of Chicago. Again, the reason for this is obviously not in the manner in which they try to control the distribution of guns in their country, rather it’s the inclination on the part of the individuals who make up the Swiss population to commit murder. That is significant given the fact that in Switzerland, there are 40 gun homicides a year compared to fact that in the US there are 31 every day and most of the violent crime committed in Switzerland is committed by foreigners.

It’s not the “law” that makes the difference. It’s the character of the individual and the extent to which they’re willing to abide by the law.

Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John F. Kennedy. John Wilkes Booth killed Abraham Lincoln. Their names are known, not the caliber of the weapon nor the due process or the lack thereof that allowed them to procure the weapon they used to kill their victims. Their names are known because their crime was associated with their personal depravity and not their gun permits.

What is the name of the individual who murdered the 17 students in Parkland, Florida?

If you’re like most, you have to google it to look it up.

Nikolas Cruz is a heinous human being. Yet, you don’t hear his name very often. Rather, all you’re hearing is about the “system” that allowed Cruz access to a weapon.

Not only is murder illegal, it’s cruel and despicable. The difficulty in procuring a gun is incidental in the mind of a person who’s determined to randomly end the lives of 17 young strangers. Another law is not going to make a difference in the rationale of someone who’s already resolved to disobey, not only the law, but every moral impulse that would otherwise govern a decent human being. And to insist otherwise is…

..depraved.

It’s depraved because it doesn’t look at Lee Harvey Oswald or Jame Earl Ray or John Wilkes Booth. It looks at pistols and rifles and gun permits for the same reason it looks at the lack of free contraceptives, the fact that a designated driver wasn’t available or a difficult childhood as a way in which to create a blameless culture where wickedness doesn’t exist, only flawed systems.

It’s the same rationale that dilutes Christianity down to a code of ethics by saying, in the words of John Shelby Spong, “Christianity is, I believe, about expanded life, heightened consciousness and achieving a new humanity. It is not about closed minds, supernatural interventions, a fallen creation, guilt, original sin or divine rescue.”¹ While that may not be the spiritual paradigm of every person that thinks editing the Second Amendment is a logical course of action, it is nevertheless the philosophical mantra of its strongest advocates (69% of atheists identify themselves as Democrats ).

Sin is a choice and it’s one that you are responsible for. That is the one of the Absolutes that opponents of Christianity despise the most. Evil is relative and wherever wrongdoing can be identified, it is the result of outside forces and not the sinister impulses of the individual themselves. God is dismissed as a Redeemer since He’s also the Author of the dynamic that incriminates human kind to begin with.

No mention is made of man’s choice to dismiss God and promote themselves as their own Absolute. An option that needed to be available in order for love to exist. An option that was explained as being lethal, yet embraced nevertheless believing themselves to be equivalent to and therefore deserving of the Divine Platform that governed their existence.

A choice that would require God Himself to die in order to satisfy the eternal debt incurred as a result of man’s depravity.

A choice that could be temporarily medicated with a legal code – a system of laws that allowed for a short term removal of the lethal stigma man wanted over the unpolluted fellowship God had originally put in place.

That body of legislation, however, that could not effect any real solution because man’s character is such where the fact that something is written down doesn’t affect any real change in their resolve to be immoral.

That is the Message of Scripture, it’s the mindset of our Founders, it’s the testimony of history, it’s the reality of those nations that have lower crime rates and to believe otherwise is…

…depraved.

1. Brainy Quote, John Shelby Spong, https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/john_shelby_spong, accessed March 30, 2018

Dear President Trump…

Painting by Jon McNaughton. Click here to read more.

Dear President Trump,

I wanted to take a moment and offer you some words of encouragement and affirmation.

I’m currently reading “The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History.” Its a great read in that you’re getting some insight into a man that, while he was loathed by some of his peers, it was the very characteristics that they disliked that made him the right man for the job at that particular point in history.

I’m not talking about some of his more vulgar habits as much as I’m talking about his outspoken manner, his assertiveness and his resolve to get things done regardless of the innumerable naysayers that seemed to dominate the headlines and the cultural elite.

With Hitler you had two sides in Parliment: One side wanted to compromise and make a deal with a tyrant that posed as a reasonable individual but was, in truth, a violent and unstable dictator whose only absolute was power. The other side knew that Hitler couldn’t be trusted, yet they questioned whether or not he could be opposed.

He had ransacked the whole of Europe with a military machine that posed a very real threat to England. You could say that making a deal might’ve been the prudent thing to do in the interest of saving hundreds of thousands of lives. But Churchill knew instinctively that to enter in any kind of negotiations was to be dialoguing with the devil. He stood firm. He listened to the voices of the populace that valued freedom and truth as well as his own conscience. He took to the the airwaves to saturate the cultural atmosphere with messages that inspired noble thoughts of right defeating that which was wrong. In some instances, he exaggerated England’s strength in order to stir up a “can do” attitude. He never bowed before the idol of popularity, he never compromised his principles and because of that resolve he was able to defeat the power of facism and unconscionable evil.

Your message of “Make America Great Again” is dead on. While we are not fighting Hitler we are nevertheless fighting a mindset that it is amoral, irresponsible and genuinely lethal.

It’s a disposition that says if something can be defined as “legal” is is therefore “right.” It’s an attitude that says individuals are not responsible for their actions. Rather, it is someone else’s responsiblilty to clean up your mess, subsidize your mistakes and justify your behavior. It demonizes America’s heritage, it scoffs at God, it sneers as the law and yet insists it’s the law alone that can change a person’s thought process. It’s a cheap and pointless version of who America is, what it’s capable of and the beacon of hope and Truth that it has been in the past.

Stay the course, sir. Your are right on so many fronts. Our borders do need to be protected, our industry needs to be enccouraged, our government needs to be streamlined and the incessant lies proclaimed by the corrupt and the mindlessly greedy need to be revealed for what they are and brought down on their own heads.

And do not be influenced by this most recent display of teens insisting that their lives matter more than guns. They have a point in that their lives do have value. Their posters should send tremors of truth through the landscape of those that insist on Pro Choice. But aside from that, it’s the fact that their lives do have value that the focus should be directed towards those are pulling the trigger and not the trigger itself. Once again, you see the liberal mindset on display that says you can eliminate criminal behavior by simply making it illegal just like you can make something that is outrageously immoral acceptable by making it legal.

Your platform is precisely what this nation needs in the way it underscores a philosophical given that is intentionally ignored by those political paradigms that seek to win votes at the expense of what’s True. A man is responsible for his actions. He will not be encouraged every step of the way, he will be inclined to make poor choices but he will also be exposed to the Power he requires in order to make good decisions. Inspire your country to make good choices and be able to enjoy the benefits that go along with it. Direct them to the God our forefathers appealed to for the victory and the wisdom needed to form a nation that is unique among all others to this day. Do this with your policies, your determination and your tweets.

You’re doing well, sir! This is more than a fight for a party majority, it’s a fight to hold on to and build back up the foundation that has been negelected for a long, long time. It’s inscribed on the Liberty Bell, it’s referenced in our Declaration of Independence and it burns in the heart of every American.

Freedom.

Real Freedom.

The kind that falls under the heading of the “unalienable human rights” that are given to us by your Creator. Not socialism, not fascism nor any of the dynamics veiled by the Left in the context of “social justice” or “compassion.” Freedom beginning with the Divine value you have as a child of God and the freedom that blossoms every time you deploy the Power He gives you in the context of wise, moral and productive decisions.

THAT’S America.

Make it great again…

Have a good day!

Youth and Consequences

I saw this trailer and while I’m not sure what the overall message of the plot may be, it’s hard not to think of the way in which the Left has so effectively used students to give more visibility and credibility to their spin on gun control in recent days. Here’s what I’m thinking…

So, you give someone who hasn’t been on the planet for more than a decade and a half and you convince them that they know more than their adult counterparts…

Then you finance them and give them the opportunity to broadcast their platform – whatever it may be – in a way that includes a subtle dismissal on any kind of authority save their own…

Encourage them to engage their audience in a manner that is belligerent, hyper-confident and even sinister and what do you have…?

A entire demographic that sneers at any conviction that doesn’t match their own coupled with an unwillingness to consider a more comprehensive perspective on themselves and the world around them.

Because they’re minors, the law doesn’t apply in the same way and they’re able to hide behind their immaturity should they find themselves being called on the carpet for their manner or their fundamentally flawed mindset.

The only people who are affected by any kind of legislation are those who have a healthy regard for the rule of law. Criminals, by default, have no such regard. Hence, the only people that are impacted by stricter gun control laws are the victims of random shootings and not the culprits. It’s not that legislation accomplishes nothing, but in instances such as these, you’re basically trying to eliminate drug abuse by making certain drugs illegal. Or you’re attempting to reduce the number of lies being told by officially declaring falsehoods are illegal…It’s the person who pulls the trigger and not the trigger itself. Click here to read more about the issue of Gun Control and the voices that would insist that the Constitution needs to be amended.

Both the Left and their media pawns are using this resource more and more.

And it’s an easy strategy to deploy. Most of the information that is being dissimenated these days is in the context of headlines and bullet points. 3 minute broadcasts or articles that can be digested in a matter of seconds are now substitutes for real research, careful analysis and true wisdom.

A kid watches a youtube video and suddenly they feel informed and even confident in sneering at their parents, scoffing at their pastors, challenging the government and even questioning God.

So, what do you do?

Lead by example.

Nothing is more compelling than the Truth. You hear somebody screaming their poison and challenging what’s right all under the heading of “protest,” be ready to answer and convince them that there’s more to what they’re championing than what they want to acknowledge.

And remember that rarely are going to engage someone according to their logic alone. Convictions are convoluted coctails of fact and passion. While you may not be able to change their mind in the context of a single paragraph, you can nevertheless make an impact by allowing the Rocket Sauce of the Holy Spirit to shake their heart with tremors of Truth.

Fact is, that’s the only thing that’s going to make a difference.

Gun Control – Locks Don’t Stop Thieves

I remember in Boot Camp my Drill Instructor once said that locks don’t stop thieves, they just keep honest people honest.

I had to think about that for a minute, but once I got my mental arms around what he was saying, I realized he had a point.

Locks are like laws. They don’t prevent a crime. They don’t even do much to make it more difficult, at least from the standpoint of the criminal who’s resolved to take something that doesn’t belong to him, whether it’s a life, a piece of property or even the truth. The lock is simply an inconvenience, not a barrier.

Most of what is immoral can be boiled down to the practice of taking something. When you lie, you’re “taking” the truth. When you steal, you’re “taking” a thing and when you kill, you’re “taking” a life. And regardless of how many “locks” you put in place – irrespective of how threatening or difficult you attempt to make a particular behavior appear – the only people that are impacted by your efforts are those that are predisposed to obey the law and value the practice of being moral.

That’s what my Drill Instructor was saying. And what’s significant about that is the way it resonates with the Ultimate Truth communicated in Scripture in Romans 8:3. The law is “powerless” to prevent bad behavior. It outlines punishment but it doesn’t provide the necessary moral disposition required to qualify as a law abiding citizen.

From a cultural and political viewpoint, it can get really frustrating when you hear people insist that if we only had more laws on the books, there would be less crime. This doesn’t bear up under the scrutiny of history, human nature or even some of the recent attempts made by other nations, as far as gun control laws are concerned.

Australia is often touted as a sterling example of how gun control laws reduced the number of killings. According to Vox, between 1996 and 1997, the Australian government confiscated 650,000 guns and murders and suicides plummeted. But that’s not the whole truth. Gun related suicides dropped, but Lifeline Australia reports today that suicides in general are at a ten year high. In addition, manslaughter (murder), sexual assault, kidnapping, armed robbery and unarmed robbery all saw peaks in the years following the ban.

Can you smell what’s on the stove?

Locks don’t stop thieves, they just keep honest people honest.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” (John Adams)

Gun Control laws are powerless to stop criminals from killing other people, they simply find another way to get it done. And you don’t want to institute any legislation that prevents those who would otherwise be victims from being able to repel a thug with nothing more than a good sounding argument.

That’s something to ponder.

Most violent crimes are committed with a handgun. Right now the focus is on assault rifles, but the real source of trouble is represented by hand held guns. Should the second amendment be compromised in any way, it’s just a matter of time before all guns are considered against the law and the only ones who are now armed, apart from the military and law enforcement, are those that have no regard for the law to begin with.

So, what’s the answer?

Stop evaluating a system according to the way it’s abused or ignored
Stop looking to the government for that which needs to be done in the home and in the community and…
Start holding individuals accountable for their behavior

In other words, stop asking, “Is it legal?” and ask, “Is it right?” And start asking those questions before the individual in question has resolved to commit a crime. In other words, focus on the person pulling the trigger rather than the trigger itself. Only then do you arrive at any course of action that is effective let alone wise.

As a sidebar, there are elements within our political infrastructure that would use this issue to undermine the Oval Office, the Republican party and anyone who doesn’t agree with reducing the scope of the Second Amendment. The press is attempting to blame President Trump for the shootings in Florida because of a bill that he signed back in February of last year that supposedly made it easier for people with a mental illness to acquire a gun. What the press will not tell you is that the Obama era rule was instituted in the context of the government deciding if you were mentally ill, which is a violation of both your second and fourth amendment right. Click here to read more. In addition, there are other sinister dynamics at work in that the media is, apparently, hiring people to pose as victims in order to proliferate the notion that those who oppose Gun Control are heinous. Click here to read more.

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