Guns, Good Guys, and God
So it's been a week since the horrific shooting took place in Newtown, Connecticut, and in these past seven days rhetorical shots have been fired by anyone with an opinion who cares to make it known. I've kept quiet on the issue, mostly because I've been keeping to myself during a time of transition. Now, however, I feel as if I have to put my thoughts down somewhere, and this blog is as good a place as any.
First of all, let me say that I don't own a gun--well, technically I own a gun, but it's in the attic of my dad's house where it's been since I was about 18 (I fired it maybe five times). To be more precise, I don't currently keep a gun in my house, and I never plan on keeping a gun in my house. Now, before any of you who found this blog by a simple Google search for the word "gun" begin typing out your irate response about the virtues of gun ownership, let me say that I am not opposed to people owning guns and keeping them in their homes for whatever reason. I just personally have no desire to possess a firearm. Let me also say I don't completely understand the obsession that many people have with owning a small arsenal. I don't understand the impassioned defensiveness of those who stockpile weapons or have the desire to carry guns on their hips as if we live in the Old West. I don't understand the general attitude of defensiveness from those who oppose gun safety regulations. I don't understand a lot of things that surround the "gun culture" of our country, and I try not to be too harsh about the things I don't understand. There are a lot of law-abiding, well-meaning people who own guns and actively defend their right to do so, and many of them are my friends.
With all that being said (typed), all I have to say about gun safety is this: there needs to an open, honest, and civil conversation about guns, gun safety, and the so-called "gun culture" that exists in our nation. Guns may not be the lone problem, but they are a part of the equation whether we want to admit it or not.
Along those same lines, one of the things I've read recently (and heard for quite a while) is the old argument that "the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."It's an argument ripped right out of the old western movies of the fifties. I've heard friends say things like, "If I had been there, I'd have shot the guy as soon as I saw he had a gun..." I've also seen those few stories that tell of heroic "gunslingers" who stopped crimes at convenient stores, traffic lights, and potential robberies simply because they were armed with a handgun. I'll give the internet the benefit of the doubt and say these few stories are true, but I am sure they are the exception rather than the rule.
To get right to it, the most disturbing thing to rise out of the rhetoric following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary is the way in which God has has been dragged into the debate. People have blamed the tragedy on the notion that God has been taken out of the public square. Others have said it was God punishing the country because of same-sex marriage, abortion, or left-wing politics in general. It disturbs me because those who place the blame on God or God's "removal from the public square" have an incredibly small and inaccurate image of God (especially those who claim to be "Bible-believing Christians"). To claim that God is somehow responsible (whether actively or passively) for such a tragedy is nothing short of absurd: it takes the responsibility out of the hands of the one who pulled the trigger.
I don't really intend to argue about God's role in the shooting at Newtown. No, what I want to talk about is the real problem involving God's "absence." I don't believe God is missing from the public square (literally, drive around many public squares this time of year and you will certainly see that God is not absent). Simply by the fact that people like Mike Huckabee (a former minister) get to make such claims on television (itself a "public square") proves that God is not absent from society. Furthermore, despite what people may think about God's own presence in public, God's people are present. We're still out there, and despite what you may hear, we still have the freedom to express our beliefs through our words and our actions. I've always found it ironic that those most opposed to the federal government being involved in our lives are the first ones to criticize the government for trying to keep religion and government separate.
I don't think God is at fault in any way for what took place in Newtown, and I don't think God is absent from the public square. I do, however, think God is missing from one very important place--the hearts and consciences of those who flippantly use God's name to justify their own political and personal agendas. God has become little more that a three-letter word used by political parties and pundits to present an impenetrable defense. Christian values have been reduced to two primary issues: abortion and homosexuality. These two issues are upheld by one particular political party, so conservative Christians have been told that this party is "God's party." Therefore, any other issue upheld by this party is considered canon in the public beliefs of "true Christians," and to speak against these beliefs somehow makes one less of a believer. It doesn't matter what one's convictions are about peace, poverty, health, and justice--if you don't cling to the "beliefs" of the political right, you can't really be a good Christian.
God needs to be reinstated in the whole of our political convictions as Christians. We need to take the convictions we claim seriously. The Bible is more than the Constitution; it's more than just a document to be cited by name in order defend a position. Christ is not synonymous with Ameica. In the wake of events like the shooting in Newtown, Christians should be harbingers of hope, prophets of peace, and creators of comfort. We should not see it as our first response to defend the Constitution. We should place our neighbors ahead of ourselves, and we should truly seek to follow that one who was beaten and lynched by those he came to save. In the wake of such tragedy and in the midst of this season we ought to remember most of all that we are called to follow the One named the Prince of Peace.
CPT
First of all, let me say that I don't own a gun--well, technically I own a gun, but it's in the attic of my dad's house where it's been since I was about 18 (I fired it maybe five times). To be more precise, I don't currently keep a gun in my house, and I never plan on keeping a gun in my house. Now, before any of you who found this blog by a simple Google search for the word "gun" begin typing out your irate response about the virtues of gun ownership, let me say that I am not opposed to people owning guns and keeping them in their homes for whatever reason. I just personally have no desire to possess a firearm. Let me also say I don't completely understand the obsession that many people have with owning a small arsenal. I don't understand the impassioned defensiveness of those who stockpile weapons or have the desire to carry guns on their hips as if we live in the Old West. I don't understand the general attitude of defensiveness from those who oppose gun safety regulations. I don't understand a lot of things that surround the "gun culture" of our country, and I try not to be too harsh about the things I don't understand. There are a lot of law-abiding, well-meaning people who own guns and actively defend their right to do so, and many of them are my friends.
With all that being said (typed), all I have to say about gun safety is this: there needs to an open, honest, and civil conversation about guns, gun safety, and the so-called "gun culture" that exists in our nation. Guns may not be the lone problem, but they are a part of the equation whether we want to admit it or not.
Along those same lines, one of the things I've read recently (and heard for quite a while) is the old argument that "the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."It's an argument ripped right out of the old western movies of the fifties. I've heard friends say things like, "If I had been there, I'd have shot the guy as soon as I saw he had a gun..." I've also seen those few stories that tell of heroic "gunslingers" who stopped crimes at convenient stores, traffic lights, and potential robberies simply because they were armed with a handgun. I'll give the internet the benefit of the doubt and say these few stories are true, but I am sure they are the exception rather than the rule.
To get right to it, the most disturbing thing to rise out of the rhetoric following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary is the way in which God has has been dragged into the debate. People have blamed the tragedy on the notion that God has been taken out of the public square. Others have said it was God punishing the country because of same-sex marriage, abortion, or left-wing politics in general. It disturbs me because those who place the blame on God or God's "removal from the public square" have an incredibly small and inaccurate image of God (especially those who claim to be "Bible-believing Christians"). To claim that God is somehow responsible (whether actively or passively) for such a tragedy is nothing short of absurd: it takes the responsibility out of the hands of the one who pulled the trigger.
I don't really intend to argue about God's role in the shooting at Newtown. No, what I want to talk about is the real problem involving God's "absence." I don't believe God is missing from the public square (literally, drive around many public squares this time of year and you will certainly see that God is not absent). Simply by the fact that people like Mike Huckabee (a former minister) get to make such claims on television (itself a "public square") proves that God is not absent from society. Furthermore, despite what people may think about God's own presence in public, God's people are present. We're still out there, and despite what you may hear, we still have the freedom to express our beliefs through our words and our actions. I've always found it ironic that those most opposed to the federal government being involved in our lives are the first ones to criticize the government for trying to keep religion and government separate.
I don't think God is at fault in any way for what took place in Newtown, and I don't think God is absent from the public square. I do, however, think God is missing from one very important place--the hearts and consciences of those who flippantly use God's name to justify their own political and personal agendas. God has become little more that a three-letter word used by political parties and pundits to present an impenetrable defense. Christian values have been reduced to two primary issues: abortion and homosexuality. These two issues are upheld by one particular political party, so conservative Christians have been told that this party is "God's party." Therefore, any other issue upheld by this party is considered canon in the public beliefs of "true Christians," and to speak against these beliefs somehow makes one less of a believer. It doesn't matter what one's convictions are about peace, poverty, health, and justice--if you don't cling to the "beliefs" of the political right, you can't really be a good Christian.
God needs to be reinstated in the whole of our political convictions as Christians. We need to take the convictions we claim seriously. The Bible is more than the Constitution; it's more than just a document to be cited by name in order defend a position. Christ is not synonymous with Ameica. In the wake of events like the shooting in Newtown, Christians should be harbingers of hope, prophets of peace, and creators of comfort. We should not see it as our first response to defend the Constitution. We should place our neighbors ahead of ourselves, and we should truly seek to follow that one who was beaten and lynched by those he came to save. In the wake of such tragedy and in the midst of this season we ought to remember most of all that we are called to follow the One named the Prince of Peace.
CPT
Well said.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I increasingly feel like this sort of commonsense attitude won't prevail in the church. I suspect that moderate, free-thinking Christians will one day be fully forced out of the church by extremist Christians, in the same way that moderate, free-thinking Republicans have basically been eliminated from the Republican party.
thank you. So much of the conversation about this has just been folks yelling at each other. It is nice to hear someone speaking as a christian instead of speaking as a liberal or conservative or democrat or republican. This has been a great antidote to the cacophony on my facebook page!
ReplyDelete