2-26-18<\/p>\n
Even since last week the \u201cgun debate\u201d in America has intensified, taken on a new tone. What\u2019s next?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to change hearts, not laws.\u201d Cliches generally become cliches because they are true. Laws are useful; often necessary, but raise false hopes and can be cruel tricks if people believe they will bring Heaven on earth. And the extreme of firearm confiscation or severe restrictions will only remove hardware\u2026 not hate.<\/p>\n
I can write a book, or deliver an hour-long sermon, but my counsel for ending gun violence and similar social maladies can be summarized simply. Not Washington; not Congress; not the President; not laws; not armed guards. Simple\u2026 but not easy:<\/p>\n
America, stop glorifying violence. Hollywood, stop making movies that preach violence \u2013 and guns \u2013 as the tools of justice (and stop the hypocrisy of those same actors rallying against the violence that makes them rich). Christians, stop letting your kids go to such movies, and play such video games. Choose.<\/p>\n
America, stop destroying your families. Girls, stop having babies and start having weddings; men, start respecting yourselves and your girlfriends \u2013 wait until they are wives. Churches, teach your children standards. Black Church, why are 75 per cent of your teenage moms single? White church, why are your divorce rates as high, or higher, than in the general population? Choose!<\/p>\n
America, get off drugs, get off drink, get off the cell phones, start eating together. Guys, pull up your pants and wear your baseball caps straight, and not inside the house. Teenage girls, stop trying to look like women your moms\u2019 age when you go to the mall. And moms, stop trying to dress like teenage girls. CHOOSE!<\/p>\n
America, stop the secularization. Re-institute prayer in public places; return Bible readings to classrooms. I am not ancient, but I remember opening each day with Bible readings in the public school. Did it \u201csave\u201d anyone? Maybe not, but it implied \u201cvalues\u201d to all. The Jewish kids read from the Old Testament, and one Hindu girl read from her holy book; two kids from atheist families were allowed to read or stay silent or however they felt comfortable. Choices.<\/p>\n
A nation that is raised \u2013 as ours now is, make no mistake \u2013 not on DIFFERENT values than previously, but taught that there ARE no values; that nation is doomed to die. And worse than die, its children are consigned to respect no rules but their own. When they do not respect themselves, they cannot respect others \u2013 which I believe is why there are so many PC Thought-Police today: at our core, we all still desire rules and standards, so secular nonsense is imposed by elites. \u201cDo as they say…\u201d <\/p>\n
A generation ago, \u201cstiff-necked bigots,\u201d as we were called, predicted that if we disconnected God from our nation\u2019s formal workings, our nation would fall apart at the seams. \u201cHurting the feelings\u201d of minorities, atheists, etc., became more important than affirming our own standards. We predicted that if heritage and tradition became loathsome values\u2026 that we risked raising a generation of self-indulgent, morally loose, selfish kids who largely were more interested in pleasure, even drugs and alcohol and sex, than the earlier generations of kids who made American great, and sustained that America. Silly predictions?<\/p>\n
The answer is easy. \u201cRepent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord\u201d (Acts 3:19). Easy… but not simple. Holy behavior, often empty, is not the true way to Jesus, but Jesus truly is the way to holiness. <\/p>\n
Do-able? America just has to decide between a return to morality and Biblical values; repenting of personal and social sins; giving up immorality and self-indulgence, leading to a safer, happier, more just society \u2013 or deciding for more of what America has become. Arguments, hate, lack of trust and respect. More shooting, more guns. If fewer guns, then more knifings. If fewer knives, then other forms of ugliness, pick \u2018em. Hatred can be very inventive, as we see. <\/p>\n
The answer is sincere changes of hearts. Brother Billy Graham, who recently died, was represented on TV by clips of his quotation of the simple Bible truth: \u201cWide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life\u201d (Matthew 7: 13,14). <\/p>\n
Without making such a simple choice, America\u2019s fate is to endure more rot in society, more anguish, more mothers\u2019 tears and fathers\u2019 grief; more bitter fights within families. Worse Thanksgiving dinners and family picnics\u2026 more, and worse, school shootings. <\/p>\n