“We must ban anyone from possessing a gun. This will eliminate all the senseless killing.” “Yes,” says another, “but, we must also ban script knives. Remember the kid at the Texas College who stabbed and cut fourteen people?” Another lawmaker adds, “Probably should include all knives. The same day as the Sandy Hooks shooting, a man stabbed 23 children in a primary school in China and don’t forget the 911 hijackers used box cutters.” The committee chairman interrupts, “I agree! All these are important, plus after recent events, we also have to consider what to do about pressure pots. They are found in almost every kitchen in America and look at destruction just two caused. People won’t like it, but if we outlaw and confiscate all these items, there will be no more violence and killings.”
No, I am not making light of any of the recent tragic events. Yet, my hypothetical dialogue illustrates the absurdity of blaming the instruments of crime instead of the real cause. If ridding the world of the implements used for violence, then every ‘weapon’ ever used must be included: hammers, blunt objects, hands, fists, feet, poison, and even water to prevent murder by drowning (FBI Chart: Weapons of Homicide). The truth is registering, banning, or eliminating all these, will not change anything. If it did, there would be no violence and murder in prisons.
The real problem is a subject that no one wants to discuss anymore. It is extremely politically incorrect even in some churches. It is SIN. An array of less offensive synonyms has replaced the word: deficiency, error, fault, imperfection, misdeed, offense, peccadillo, shortcoming, bad upbringing, etc. The result is the problems of society are blamed on everything but sin. People do not like to think of themselves as bad or evil persons. They seem unable to grasp the concept of sin as an inner force, an inherent condition, or a controlling power. However, despite political correctness, sin is a reality. Until the world accepts this, acts of violence will continue to increase.
The New Testament uses several different words for sin. The most common word means to ‘miss the mark’ as an archer shoots his arrow and misses the target. Another word has the idea of drifting off course. Herein lies the problem; you need a target in order to miss it or a road in order to get off course. When men remove God’s Word, the Bible, as the only transcendent absolute, they are just shooting arrows in the air or wandering in a desert with no roads. It is not as mankind has not had the opportunity to know the truth. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse (Rom 1:20). Paul also explains what man did with the truth. They suppress the truth in unrighteousness (v18). The word translated for suppress means to hold down. The imagery behind it is as if wicked men put God’s truth in a box and sit on the lid in order to hold it down and suppress it. The truth of His word is the only target or course that can bring about an end to violence. Of course, that will ultimately happen only after the return of Christ.
So, what do we do until then? We do not need to sit down in defeat and wait. God has given us divinely powerful weapons. The Message translation says our weapons from God can demolish entire massively corrupt cultures. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ (2 Corn 10:4, 5). We may not be able to end all violence in this life, but we can make a dent.
I am reminded of an old often used illustration. After a storm, a little boy was walking down the beach, which was covered with sand-dollars washed ashore by the squall. They would soon die unless they got back in the water. One by one, the boy picked them up and hurled them back into the ocean. A man watching laughed and told him that he was wasting his time because there were too many. The task was too great! Looking at his scorner, the little boy continued his effort and with each rescued sand-dollar, “Well, that’s one, here’s another one and here’s another one . . .”
It is easy to look at the world situation and wonder if we can do anything to bring about change. We must remember that we possess the weapons of God that can open up boxes of suppressed truth. The truth is powerful and it sets people free. Recently, when I came to the section on Christianity in my world religions class, I asked the LORD how I should approach it. I knew that I could not evangelize, but the Holy Spirit led me to read the Word. I did not lecture; but read scriptures from every New Testament book. I read the Roman’s Road. They heard the Gospel, and now God’s powerful Word will work within them. Only God knows if perhaps one of them may have been a future mass-murderer but changed because of the Word.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Learn, speak, live, and manifest the truth—it is a powerful weapon God has given you. One by one, open the boxes holding down the truth.