What’s Missing Here

I was saddened and in shock when I heard of the shooting in Connecticut yesterday.  Someone asked me what would cause someone to commit such a heinous crime.  This person said that there must be something missing in a person’s life that would cause them to do such a thing.  I thought this was a good question and it got me thinking.

Listening to the mainstream media, we might believe that the thing missing here is tougher gun legislation.  Ironically, another perpetrator slashed 22 children with a knife in China.  Would tougher gun legislation have stopped the tragedy in China?  Should we ban knives as well as guns?  In addition, Can't cars be used to murder people?  It looks like tougher gun legislation is not what is missing here. 

As I have had some time to think about this tragedy, I have concluded that two things are missing here.  Teachers and administrators lack the resources necessary to make students safe in our schools and classrooms.  We also need to broaden the education of our students to include more than the current traditional academic curriculum.

In order to insure the safety of our schools, we need security measures that include armed security.  It is alleged that in this case, the shooting started in the administrative office and then escalated to the classroom where the children were murdered.  Trained armed security would have been able to subdue the shooter before he got to the classroom thus minimizing casualties, especially the murder of children. 

We also need to include curriculum that educates students on the sanctity of life.  In 1962 we removed prayer and the Bible from our public schools.  In essence, we removed morality from school curriculum.  Since that time we have replaced the absence of morality with secular humanism and post modernistic philosophy.  These philosophies teach that there are no absolute truths so if you believe you have been wronged; you are free to do whatever you believe is necessary to correct the situation.  In the absence of a moral compass, this might include murdering anyone that is perceived to be the cause of how someone has been wronged. 

We still do not know the particulars of the situation so this is all conjecture at this point.  However, what the alleged shooter did are the actions of someone who is troubled and believed this was his only course of action to correct the situation.  We also can observe that the administration of the school was powerless to stop or prevent the tragedy and the shootings only stopped when the shooter was taken down. 

Everyday millions of parents send their kids off to school.  Fortunately, a vast majority of them attends class and get home without any incident.  However, we can do more to insure tragedies like the one in Connecticut do not occur again.  Let us not use this tragedy to advance some anti-gun political agenda and instead learn from it and correct what went wrong.  We owe it to our children.  

Political Fighting is Not New

Many today express concern over the divisiveness of our government as if it is something new.  However, divisiveness and gridlock in government is nothing new and in fact, the founders wrote it into the U.S. Constitution with the division of power between three branches and a system of checks and balances.  We also see political infighting and scheming in the Bible in Daniel 6:1-9

Darius the Mede decided to divide the kingdom into 120 provinces, and he appointed a prince to rule over each province. 2 The king also chose Daniel and two others as administrators to supervise the princes and to watch out for the king's interests. 3 Daniel soon proved himself more capable than all the other administrators and princes. Because of his great ability, the king made plans to place him over the entire empire. 4 Then the other administrators and princes began searching for some fault in the way Daniel was handling his affairs, but they couldn't find anything to criticize. He was faithful and honest and always responsible. 5 So they concluded, "Our only chance of finding grounds for accusing Daniel will be in connection with the requirements of his religion."

6 So the administrators and princes went to the king and said, "Long live King Darius! 7 We administrators, prefects, princes, advisers, and other officials have unanimously agreed that Your Majesty should make a law that will be strictly enforced. Give orders that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to Your Majesty — will be thrown to the lions. 8 And let Your Majesty issue and sign this law so it cannot be changed, a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked." 9 So King Darius signed the law. (NLT)

The first thing we observe in this account is that Daniel got the attention of Darius and was placed in a high position of leadership.  After proving his abilities, Daniel was promoted to a position of leadership over other administrators and princes.  This is where we begin to observe the jealously and political infighting we still observe in our politics today. 

Another observation we can make from this account is that Daniel was a man of explicable character.  Since his political enemies could not find any flaws in his character, his political enemies resorted to attacking Daniel’s faith.  Their scheme involves making it illegal for Daniel to practice his faith so they will finally have a way to arrest him. 

In today’s political climate we also observe this same scheming.  When a person of explicable character runs for office, political adversaries often begin attacking their faith.  They tout the supposed Constitutional separation of church and state as legal precedent for citing that this individual is unqualified to serve in government because of his or her faith.  The only difference in the United States political climate is that we do not throw political adversaries into an actual lion’s den but they are thrown into a political lion’s den. 

The rest of this account provides instruction on how to handle political adversaries. 

Dan 6:10-18

10 But when Daniel learned that the law had been signed, he went home and knelt down as usual in his upstairs room, with its windows open toward Jerusalem. He prayed three times a day, just as he had always done, giving thanks to his God. 11 The officials went together to Daniel's house and found him praying and asking for God's help. 12 So they went back to the king and reminded him about his law. "Did you not sign a law that for the next thirty days anyone who prays to anyone, divine or human — except to Your Majesty — will be thrown to the lions?"

"Yes," the king replied, "that decision stands; it is a law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked."

13 Then they told the king, "That man Daniel, one of the captives from Judah, is paying no attention to you or your law. He still prays to his God three times a day."

14 Hearing this, the king was very angry with himself for signing the law, and he tried to find a way to save Daniel. He spent the rest of the day looking for a way to get Daniel out of this predicament. 15 In the evening the men went together to the king and said, "Your Majesty knows that according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, no law that the king signs can be changed."

16 So at last the king gave orders for Daniel to be arrested and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to him, "May your God, whom you worship continually, rescue you." 17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed the stone with his own royal seal and the seals of his nobles, so that no one could rescue Daniel from the lions. 18 Then the king returned to his palace and spent the night fasting. He refused his usual entertainment and couldn't sleep at all that night.  (NLT)

Daniel stood his ground and did not compromise his faith and principles.  Daniel knew he would be thrown into the lion’s den but he also knew his God would deliver him.  It is important for our conservative politicians today to stand their ground.  Like Daniel, they need to stand up for Godly principles and not give in even though it means being thrown into the political lion’s den.  When they do, they will be delivered from the political lion’s den and instead their political adversaries will be thrown into the political lion’s den. 

Let this be a warning to any conservatives in Congress who may be considering compromising with Democrats over the fiscal cliff negotiations.  Stand your ground and do not compromise your free market values for if you do, you will open the door to further compromise on other issues such as abortion and gay marriage.  Be like Daniel and stand your ground knowing god will deliver you from the political lion’s den.  Otherwise, we the voters will have no choice but to elect people like Daniel who will stand up for what is right.  

I Support the Separation of Sports and Politics.

We hear much about the so-called separation of church and state but this posting is not going to discuss this issue.  However, after the halftime tirade of Bob Costas I do support a separation of sports and politics. 

As you know from my previous postings, I am involved in politics.  You also know that the results of the last election were not what I wanted them to be.  Sports and music are my escapes from the ups and downs of politics.  The last thing I want to see when I tune into a football game is a sports commentator using the tragic murder suicide of someone to tout his antigun opinions. 

Mr. Belcher had many problems.  From what I have read, he had problems with pain killer addiction and alcoholism.  Yes, he used a gun to murder his girlfriend and take his own life but the gun was only a tool doing what his hands directed it to do.  The real issue to me was this man needed help and apparently was not getting it. 

One of my favorite bands is Third Day.  They are a Christian rock band and released their newest CD ironically on Election Day this year.  The title of the CD is Miracle.  The inspiration for the title song came from a story they heard from someone at one of their concerts. 

The song tells the story of a man who had lost everything in his life.  He had lost his job, home, and family and was planning to take his own live.  He drove out into the woods and planned to hook up a hose from the exhaust pipe into the car.  As he was getting ready to take his life, he turned on the radio and the Third Day song “Cry Out to Jesus” came on. 

The happy ending to the story is that he did what the song said and cried out to Jesus instead of taking his life.  God worked a miracle in this man’s life and a tragedy was averted.  I have to believe that someone at some point in this man’s life planted a seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in this man’s life.  We do not know if anyone planted such a seed in Mr. Belcher’s life but there are valuable lessons to we can learn from this tragedy.

Jesus said in John 16:33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."  (NLT)  Life comes with many trials.  Jesus is not telling us here that our lives will be a piece of cake even if we are believers but that when we find ourselves in the middle of a trial, He will be there to help us. 

We also have this promise in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”  (NLT)  We as believers can rest assured that no matter how bad the trial we find ourselves in it will work out for our good as long as we continue to obey God’s calling on our lives. 

Perhaps you are going through a trial right now and you see no way out.  Perhaps you either have considered or are considering taking your own life or the life of someone you love.  I urge you to reach out for help before it’s too late.  Do as the Third Day song says, cry out to Jesus and then take the next step and find some professional help.  Find a Christian church in your community that teaches the Bible and share your situation with the pastor.  Pastors are trained and have a heart to reach out to troubled individuals with the love of Christ. 

It is my prayer that there be no more tragedies like we saw this weekend, instead I pray there are more miraculous deliverances such as the man experienced who reached out to Jesus.