Let me preface this post by saying that I am not a member of the NRA. I don’t hunt, don’t own a gun, though I think I could enjoy target shooting—something I last did as a Boy Scout 55-plus years ago. I want to elaborate on the previous post, coming at it from another direction besides as a proponent of gun control.
One could argue that this American culture is growing more godless by the day, and it is killing us. Literally. Whether or not any religion is actually based in fact and reality or is rendered irrelevant by science is beside the point. When people have a faith life and at least try to practice what they hear and read and what pastors and priests and rabbis and imams preach about peace and turning the other cheek and loving one another, they are more likely to give thought to being accountable to others, give thought to more peaceful ways of thinking and talking and acting.
If people have hope, if people know that others care about and are aware of them, the temperature will drop when it comes to anger and despair and frustration.
Even this won’t cure us of the scourge—some people are, sadly, broken, and others are gonna hate—but it would greatly reduce the daily parade of headlines reporting more senseless violence and heart-rending loss. We might be able to utter the word “civilization” without thinking it ironic or offering up a derisive chuckle.
We need grounding in something other than wild west fantasies and the paranoia of a looming Doomsday. We need a course correction that moves us away from the distractions of self-absorption—which isn’t at all easy, because at every turn our culture is heavy on temptation and appeals to self-indulgence and fulfillment, while being light on appeals to and tools for gaining self-control.
Consumption as obligation—seems like this most days. When we’re busy buying that lie, we are losing our way and our connections with one another. Religious faith- and I can speak only of Christian faith with any degree of experience and expertise- offers us a different approach to life, a different voice calling us from our navel-gazing tendencies toward a different posture of raising our heads and becoming aware of a bigger world that has needs we can address.
Maybe it’s time more of us decide to kick the tires, give faith seeking understanding a test drive. Despite the daily evidence of how Christianity gets corrupted and misappropriated and given a black eye, at its core there is much to be commended– guidance born of love and selflessness.
Human beings are not inherently moral and upright. There is no internal moral compass always pointing to True North, whatever that means. We are flawed, we all walk with a limp. Call it sin if you want.
So, we can use the help. Let me recommend reading Romans 12:1-21.
Please don’t stop at the Ten Commandments.
3 Cents' 