After the horrific killings in Newtown, a lot of conversation has centered on the cause of the incident. Most of it has been disappointingly predictable and centered on guns. Many liberals have talked about the need for additional gun controls while being unable to name a single control that would have prevented this tragedy. Conservatives have talked about the need for teachers to be armed to protect their students.
Gun control wouldn’t have prevented this (indeed a story from China about the knifing of 22 children shows the folly of it), a pistol packing teacher mitigated the tragedy. Neither would have prevented it. We’re dealing with a type of evil deep-seated with the heart of our nation.
The problem comes down to this: We are no longer a God-fearing nation. This is not to say that we are atheists or agnostics, far from it. And this is not a Jerry Falwell style, “Atheists, agnostics, abortionists, and homosexuals caused 9/11” rant.
In some ways, the non-religious person is more honest than many American professed Christians. Americans serve a designer God, a convenient God who fits their needs. We want a God who approves everything we do, who calls us to nothing higher. We want a Santa Claus in the sky who will help us out. We want a God who allows us to be comfortable, who allows us to fit in. We want a God who is flexible enough to change with our times.
Or perhaps we just want a God whose up there but stays out of our business.
This isn’t the God of the Bible. This isn’t the God of our Founding Fathers. This God is an amorphous blob, an impressionist painting splattered on the wall that can be whatever you want it to be. We are a nation with no fear or reverence for God. God is merely a mascot and symbol we use in pursuit of what we want.
In prior generations, people would avoid even taking God’s name in vain and would apologize if they did. Now, “OMG!” is a frequent throw away phrase on chat. ” Today, God is sport for the denizens of Comedy Central and Hollywood make of Christ and His sacrifice.
We are surrounded by an entire culture from every generation that treats God as either non-existent or irrelevant whether its politics, business, or entertainment, the story is the same.
The question ultimately is whether a culture that dishonors God in sexual relations, in marriages, in the workplace, in child rearing methods, in education, in politics, in business practices, and in every other area of life can truly expect anyone or anything else to be treated as sacred. As long as we are a nation that tells people that it comes to morals that God doesn’t care and that you can, “Make it up as you go,” then we can expect that some of this improvisation will end up hurting people who will in turn hurt others.
We like to feel powerful, like there’s . In politics, our leaders like to think they can do something to fix every problem. We like to think there’s a simple way we can fix things. Even comic book writers do it. J Michael Straczynski and his fans have come up with their own seven point proposal. There has to be some amazing magic legislation that can avoid this.
However, to paraphrase Ecclesiastes, “Of writing many blog posts, there is no end…Fear God and keep His Commandments.” That advice isn’t popular, but it’s the only that will work. And the implementation doesn’t begin in Washington DC or some state Capital. It begins in your house and mine which makes easier and harder too, but it’s the only thing that will work.