America has a Problem

The last few weeks have seen a series of violent shootings across the United States.  The motives were every bid as diverse as the targets.  It was racial hatred that motivated the Supermarket Massacre in Buffalo, just as it was racial hatred that motivated the attack on Geneva Presbyterian Church in Geneva California.  Even as our nation reeled from these violent attacks, more soon followed.  Ten days after the Buffalo massacre, a gunman enter Robb Elementary School in Texas, killing 19 students and two teachers.  This particular gunman had a history of making violent threats and abusing animals, clearly illustrating that he was a seriously disturbed young man.  A few weeks later, a gang dispute led to an eruption of gunfire on South Street, Philadelphia, gunfire that ultimately killed three people.  The following day, a shooting occurred at a nightclub in Chattanooga, leaving three more people dead.  The motive of this particular shooting is still unknown.

Clockwise From Top Left:
South Street Shooting in Philadelphia, Victims of Robb Elementary School Shooting in Uvalde TX,
Geneva Presbyterian Shooting in Geneva CA, Memorial to Victims of Buffalo Shooting

Nobody can rationally deny that there is a problem in our nation, but it seems that many cannot agree on what the solution is.  Do we need to start putting armed security in all public places?  Do we need stronger gun control laws & more efficient background checks?  Do we need to ban some weapons altogether?  Do we need to determine the motives of killers and learn how to combat them?  The reality is that there isn't one universally simple answer to the problem in our nation.  Many mass murderers such as those of Buffalo NY and Uvalde TX violated numerous gun restriction laws, but those laws didn't stop them from doing what they did.  Increasing security in public gatherings may help provide better security and possibly even reduce the shootings, but it won't stop them.  The shooting of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in June of 2009 stands as testimony to this fact.  Although armed guards stopped a shooter from inflicting massive casualties inside the museum, one of the guards was still shot and killed.  The truth is that we don't simply need "better laws" or "better security."  We need a societal transformation.  

There are seven areas of societal transformation: Family, Church, Market Place, Media, Arts & Sports, Education, & Government.  Over the decades, our society has witnessed a massive breakdown in the family structure.  Sinful acts such as drug abuse and out-of-wedlock sexual relations have led to skyrocketing rates of incarceration and single-parent homes.  Too often children choose to turn to social media, television, or even the streets for guidance instead of their parents because they either lack effective role models at home, or they have no role models at all.  Too many homes are plagued by lack of an effective father figure and as a result, children don't know who to turn to for guidance.  Many ultimately turn to the wrong people, such as TV celebrities.  Many celebrities & artists are not good societal role models.  Not everyone who talks about Love has Love.  Not everyone who talks about God knows Him.  One can preach about morality but live an immoral life. God knows this, which is why the Bible stresses continually on the importance of a family to children.  

Proverbs 22:6-“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  God admonishes parents to be active in teaching their children, we are not born with wisdom, we learn it.  Children need positive role models in their lives, role models who teach right and wrong, which is where we move past the Family, and to the Church.  

However, children are not the only ones who need to learn God's values, these values are for all in our world to learn.  Too many feel that the values of God are to only be taught in the church, and nowhere else.  However, a healthy church benefits society.  We cannot simply accept that the church "can't be in school, can't be be in the media, and can't be in politics."  The timidity of the church to take an active role in societal matters helped enable Nazism to sweep through Germany as well as Communism through Eastern Europe and much of Asia.  It has in turn led many dark ideas seep into American culture.  One of the ways that these bad ideologies came to dominate was by controlling the media.  The media is a powerful tool, and dictators who desire power & control know this.  Now it is time for the church to utilize it.  The lessons of God, of loving our neighbors and speaking against societal wrongs must be broadcasted.  Too many feel that we can only advance in our society if we eliminate God from all public spheres.  Yet every society that tried to do this eventually fell into darkness.  Our schools are a reflection of this.  Schools aren't simply meant to teach "Reading, Writing, & Arithmetic," they're supposed to teach about morality and values.  Yet our schools have taken God out and replaced Him with Absolute Relativism, which teaches that there is no absolute moral law, that right and wrong don't exist.  However, it's safe to say than based on the reactions of the public to these shootings, most Americans feel otherwise.  However, with so many children not being taught moral absolutes inside our schools and our society, and with Relativism seeping into every aspect of our society, should we be surprised that many individuals find ways to justify doing horrible things like this?

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Not long ago, I heard a story about a village located in what is now the Czech Republic.  In the years prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, this village had no jail & no police force.  It wasn't because the villagers felt that jails were immoral or that police were untrustworthy, it was because the village had no need of either.  In this village, the people put God ahead of everything.  They allowed the church to teach about God, and chose to live by His ways.  It was a village that had no crime, & even when some individuals became angry, they were soon reminded by their Pastor, their parents, or their teachers, of what God taught, & that anger disappeared.  Jesus believed in transforming nations by transforming lives.  God calls us to be influencers in our society because when people change, then governments in turn can change.  Our nation's problem stems not from guns or racism.  It stems from us trying to take God out of our country.

Sources:

Shariat, Dr. Hormoz.  Iran's Great Awakening.  Melissa, TX: Iran Alive Ministries, 2020.