A Christian's View of Gun Violence

         What is happening in our society? That is the question we have been asking too often today. Every time we read about another mass attack by an individual with a gun, we ask why is this happening. It seems that everyone is in agreement that the gun violence needs to stop. So why does it continue? As our society grows more secular, we cease to look for the spiritual causes of gun violence. Instead, many believe that the answer is simply take away guns. Many good people with good intentions believe that. However, as a student of the Bible, I understand that the problem of violence in our society is a deeper problem than simply taking away an object. If we want to fix the problem, then we have to examine our hearts. Jesus taught in Matthew 15:19, For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. If we do not fix the heart, then violence will continue whether or not guns exist. How did our hearts become so corrupt?

         Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. If we want to know what is happening to our society, we should pause to see what we are teaching our children. We live in a post-Christian society, which means that the Christian worldview is not the dominant worldview. What is the dominant worldview? The philosophies of secular humanism, post-modernism, and cultural relativism (among others) are the dominant worldviews. When these worldviews are combined they teach: that there is no God, we are evolved animals that exist by accident, there is no truth (or at least truth cannot be determined) or absolute morality, humans are the highest authority, and we are not accountable to a higher being. If we teach kids that they are just animals without any fixed morals and no accountability, then why are we surprised when they act like immoral animals who believe they are not accountable for their actions? If we want to change their minds, it begins with what we are putting in their minds.

         Matthew 6:22-23 The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness. The Bible teaches us to guard our eyes. Why? Our hearts are shaped by what we see. Modern pop culture is filled with violence. Take a look at the video games, music, movies, television shows, and books. They are filled with death, murder, and violence. If that is what our society is putting into our minds then why are we surprised when we see it happening. If we want to change the violence in our culture, then we need to examine what we are subjecting ourselves to.

         Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. One of the amazing aspects of our current society is how we no longer know how to talk to each other. When we disagree, we end up calling each other names and accuse each other of evils. Our attitude is that if you disagree with me, then you must be an evil person who hates everything that is good and I will destroy you in arguments until you submit to my will. I will admit, I have even been guilty of this myself. We no longer patiently talk with one another about why we disagree. It is easier to call each other names than it is to bear with one another's differences. Sadly, Christians in the church are just as guilty as non-Christians. Some of the worst accusations I have heard come from Christians who disagree with each other on spiritual matters! We should be ashamed and repent of that sin. There is a danger in calling each other haters, bigots, and evil for disagreeing with each other. It generates true hate and disdain. Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, Christians and atheist are EQUALLY guilty of this accusation. This motivates some individuals to act on their anger. If we want the violence to end, quit using violent, hatefully rhetoric when discussing (not arguing) about our differences. If you insist on using such harsh language, then understand you are part of the problem of the culture that promotes violence.

         Acts 17:31: For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. The Bible is clear: we will be held accountable for our actions. We sin and we have a price to pay. Our society has stripped individuals of accountability. We have provided every excuse for people not to be held accountable for their actions. Our society blames parents, conditions, illnesses, communities, and objects as the problems. As long as people do not believe they are accountable for their actions then, they will not try to control themselves. The violence in our society will continue until people understand it is their choice to commit actions and they can prevent it.

         Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Our society is questioning everything that God called good. We believe we can change God's decree of righteous and wicked behavior and there is no consequences. This is not new. Our society has been doing this for generations. The Bible is clear, when we ignore God's Word we will fall further down the road of sin. We are reaping what we sow. In order to stop it, we have to understand that God's morality is fixed, does not change, and that we cannot rebel. The attitude of rebellion is destroying our culture. If we do not stop, things will get worse.

         We need to quit looking at the world through politics and begin to look at this world through the lens of the Scriptures. It seems that every time a shooting happens, we rush to our political view instead of the interest of human beings. Anti-gun people rush to say that if we did not have guns this would not happen. Pro-gun advocates rush to say if a good guy with a gun were there this would not happen. How about weeping for the loss of life before we make our political points? What about saying a prayer before making a post? The truth is our society has a hard heart about these shootings. We are more concerned with our political point of view than we are about those involved. This is sad, but true.

         2 Timothy 3:1-5 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God-having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them. The Bible reminds us that as a society moves away from God, it will grow wicked. Every generation of Christians believe they are living in the last days. I will join those of the past and say I believe the return of Christ is coming soon. However, I do not know when it will truly happen. I know that my culture is acting like the individuals that Paul described. If so, we will see more violence and not less. That makes my heart weep. If we want to stop the murder, then we need to repent of all wickedness. The truth is once we begin to accept any form of wickedness we will continue down road that leads to more immorality, not less.

         However you view the gun violence in our society, I encourage you to look deeper, beyond the surface, for answers to our problems. We have a problem in our society. It is not a gun problem; it is a heart problem. There are not enough laws that will change a heart; only the gospel of Jesus Christ can do that.