Genesis 2: 7 NKJV
In the past few weeks our nation has been inundated with arguments for gun control on both sides of the aisle. What began as a conversation in the wake of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida has evolved into yet another political hot button issue. But did it need o even go there? In my honest opinion, no. Yet young impressionable students have followed the lead of anti gun adults around them to come together for yet another assault on the rights of others. Don't get me wrong, I feel for the loss of lives which our nation has felt after each and every of these senseless killings. I also realize that when I say that further restrictions on firearms are not the answer to this issue that I will receive more than my share of criticism. Why is it that I feel that more regulations on firearms will never lead to a reduction in violence? Simple, Cain simply used a rock to kill his brother Able in the worlds first ever recorded murder {Genesis 4:8}. Cain used what weapon he had available to do the deed. Had our Lord layed a AR-15 at the feet of Cain, he may very well have used that. The truth is, it wasn't the rock that whispered to Cain to kill his own brother. In fact, the Lord issued a warning to Cain prior to his wicked deed.
6So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7“If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is dfor you, but you should rule over it.”
Genesis 4: 6 - 7 NKJV
So, Cain was all bent out of shape because the Lord had accepted his brothers offering and not Cains. Does this mean that the Lord suddenly had abandoned Cain? We're not told that this is the case. On the contrary, the Lord advises Cain against heeding the desires of his own sin. Obviously he didn't accept his Lords guidance. So, bringing us back into the current raging gun control debate, what is it about more restrictions upon firearms that will curb our own human condition? Will restricting access to guns suddenly erase the sinful desires of those who seek to do harm to others? I think not. The gun control lobby will counter with the fact that restricting firearms will take away the weapons that others would use to inflict violence upon those around them. Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in Oklahoma City not with guns, but with a bomb made from fertilizer. Ted Kacynski, the famous unibomber, used homemade expolsives to kill his victims. Recently, the city of Austin, Texas was terrorized by another series of homemade bombs. Young Mark Conditt would describe himself as a "psychopath" in a confession he left behind. Now, tell me again about the effectiveness of gun control on those who would choose to do violence upon others.
20“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV
One question that I seldom see being raised in the wake of each of these mass killings is that of our human condition. Why did this person choose to commit violence upon others? In my opinion, the conversation of ultimately stopping this epedemic begins and ends with that question. Why do others choose violence? Why did Cain choose to kill his brother? I would say that emotions can add fuel to the raging fire of hate burning within a person. Have I ever experienced such feelings? Sure, but I did not act upon them despite all within me that was screaming for me to take revenge. What makes me different from those who have taken the lives of others? I'd like to say that I realized that there would ultimately be consequences for my own actions, but maybe that's not it at all. We are told in Genesis 2 that the Lord God breathed into us the breath of life and that man became a living being {Genesis 2:7}. So, each and every one of us was created in the very image of our heavenly Father. That is, His Spirit image. How is it that we have so cheapened what our Lord has created? The apostle Paul also tells us that it is Christ Jesus Himself who lives through us today {Galations 2:20}. Created in His Spirit image while Jesus Himself lives through His children. This knowledge alone should be enough to shout from the rooftops that it is not we oursleves who are important, but God. Yet we continue to believe in the lie of satan that we are truly independent from our heavenly Father {Genesis 3:4-5}. Nothing could be further from the truth, for all that we are we have received through Him. It is God Himself who created us with our own human condition. It is God Himself who lives through us today. When we are driven to anger against another, we are in anger against our heavenly Father Himself.
19Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body gand in your spirit, which are God’s.
1 Corinthians 6: 19 NKJV
~Scott~
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