Cain said to his brother Abel: 'Let us go into the field.' Now it came to pass that while they were in the field that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Genesis 4: 8, Concordant Old Testament
It wasn't supposed to happen this way. The restrictions which were laid down were supposed to cut down on the violence being brought against our own. Yet, this morning I was reminded once again of the senselessness of violence against others. This morning, in Chesapeake, Virginia, a Walmart store employee took a gun and killed six of his fellow employees before turning the gun on himself. I'm not familiar with the specific firearm regulations in the state of Virginia, but I'm sure that there were more than a few in place with the intent of reducing the threat of gun violence. Here in Oregon, voters narrowly approved measure 114, which imposed some of the strictest measures on gun ownership in the nation. Now, a lawsuit has challenged measure 114 on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. I would tend to agree. I voted against measure 114 simply because no matter how hard we try, we will never find a gun control measure that addresses the human condition. One could argue that way back when Cain killed his brother Abel that there were no measures in place to prevent the first act of violence perpetrated by man. They would be wrong. For that which was needed for the prevention of Cains violence was already present in man. That is, Cains love for his brother. Somewhere along the way, Cains jealousy overcame the love he felt for his brother and he took matters into his own hands. This is all part of our human condition, the choices which we make. Far too many left-wing radicals blame that piece of fabricated metal for the evils of the violence that we have seen far too many times. However, the old adage is as true today as it was yesterday...guns don't kill people, people kill people. Yet we continue to believe that if we simply remove the access to firearms that the violence will go away. Yeah, good luck with that. With each and every gun grab legislation that we have seen, little is done to address the human element of the problem. That is the issue we continue to face today.
If anyone should be saying that "I am loving God," and should be hating his brother, he is a liar; for he who is not loving his brother whom he has seen can not be loving God whom he has not seen.
1 John 4: 20, Concordant New Testament.
For the most part, the mainstream church clergy has often remained on the sidelines of the gun violence issue. However, when measure 114 passed here in Oregon, one of the main contributors to the specifics of the bill was local reverend Mark Knutson. This surprised me, for too long the church had washed its hands of the issue of gun violence, perhaps preferring to let it shake out in the courts. In their silence, more people died. I believe that one of the most effective anti gun violence legislation we could ever consider must address the human condition. What is it that causes one to take a gun and kill? What emotions overtake someone who knows in his heart that what he is doing is wrong? That is the human condition. Until we address this human condition we are simply spitting into the wind on this issue. It is certainly tough to separate our emotions from logic at times. I am reminded of the simple truth of our very existence. That is, that we are all created in the image of our loving heavenly Father {Genesis 1:27}. When we allow ourselves to be controlled by our emotions and take the life of another, we are destroying a life which God has given. In effect, we are placing ourselves above God by deciding whose life will be taken. This smacks of the lie of the accuser which was spoken to Eve in the garden. That we would be like God {Genesis 3:5-6}. I listened the other day as a radio pastor questioned why it is that God could allow such violence. Again, we're on the wrong side of the issue. Our question should be, why are we so damn arrogant that we would ever believe that we could be like God?
~Scott~
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