White Hats, Black Hats
As a child Saturday mornings would find me with at least some of my siblings in front of the television set. The Lone Ranger Show and the Roy Rogers Show were 2 of our favorites. Even if you came into the room late it was easy to tell the bad guys from the good guys. The bad guys wore black hats and the good guys wore white hats. Nothing ever blurred the obvious line between black and white. No foul weather or foul fights turned any hats gray.
Those distinctions were fine for children's television but not for real life. The black hats versus the white hats became one of the relics of the past as many t.v. shows and movies began to often focus on more complex characters. Even though this part of the media has made this transition, another media has not.
We now live in a society where many people reject at least in part the idea of absolutes. That seems true until there is a shooting especially a school shooting. As soon as a shooting occurs we are inundated with pronouncements as to the cause of the problem. The most popular cause is guns. Gun control if not gun banning is what many have decided is the answer. Those who choose this one usually view guns and their ownership as an absolute evil. Others because of the mental health history of the last shooter are certain better handling of such people would make a great difference. Other pundits have decided blame lies at the feet of those who create violent video games.
Wouldn't it be a relief if just by pointing a finger at one group or another we can begin to solve the problem? It is not that easy. Many gun owners never aim a gun at a person and those who have may find that they are part of the solution to gun violence and not the cause of it. There are statistics and anecdotes to back this us. There may be some of these shooters who have a history of mental illness. Many of us who have experienced some of the vast array of mental or developmental problems never have a problem with the kind of violence that makes the evening news. A greater number of these shooters are reported to be the good dad, the nice neighbor, or the pleasant high school student, with no obvious reason for their violent behavior. In the past 14 years there have been 2 notable shooters that have focused on violent video games.
We think we should be able to clearly label evil and know how to deal with it effectively. Meanwhile we have already decided that if we are going to care about what God thinks it's only when it's convenient for us. No matter what, we continue to dispense to whoever will listen the the fluffy advice "Follow your heart." That sounds like a line from a greeting card but it's God in the Bible that expresses a more accurate assessment of how things are. Jeremiah 17:9 says The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it?
Perhaps the best answer to all of the evil in our society is to look to ourselves and deal with our own weaknesses and sin. Understand what God desires for us. Make that our focus rather than advice from the latest pundit or celebrity. Do you understand the grace that God has shown you? Is His standard the one you use as you deal with the people in your life? Are you quicker to judge than to offer a helping hand? Are you willing to help with the quick fix for someone's problem but not stay around for the long haul? I think I'd rather go back to pointing fingers. That's a lot easier than saying I have some kind of responsibility in all this.
The problem of evil as seen in school violence is not the product of the 21st century. In Michigan in 1927 a man detonated his 3 bombs, killing 38 school children at the Bath school and injuring at least 58 others. A problem of such long duration needs an answer that has stood the test of time Looking to the principles of God's word has much more hope than a pointing finger.
Those distinctions were fine for children's television but not for real life. The black hats versus the white hats became one of the relics of the past as many t.v. shows and movies began to often focus on more complex characters. Even though this part of the media has made this transition, another media has not.
We now live in a society where many people reject at least in part the idea of absolutes. That seems true until there is a shooting especially a school shooting. As soon as a shooting occurs we are inundated with pronouncements as to the cause of the problem. The most popular cause is guns. Gun control if not gun banning is what many have decided is the answer. Those who choose this one usually view guns and their ownership as an absolute evil. Others because of the mental health history of the last shooter are certain better handling of such people would make a great difference. Other pundits have decided blame lies at the feet of those who create violent video games.
Wouldn't it be a relief if just by pointing a finger at one group or another we can begin to solve the problem? It is not that easy. Many gun owners never aim a gun at a person and those who have may find that they are part of the solution to gun violence and not the cause of it. There are statistics and anecdotes to back this us. There may be some of these shooters who have a history of mental illness. Many of us who have experienced some of the vast array of mental or developmental problems never have a problem with the kind of violence that makes the evening news. A greater number of these shooters are reported to be the good dad, the nice neighbor, or the pleasant high school student, with no obvious reason for their violent behavior. In the past 14 years there have been 2 notable shooters that have focused on violent video games.
We think we should be able to clearly label evil and know how to deal with it effectively. Meanwhile we have already decided that if we are going to care about what God thinks it's only when it's convenient for us. No matter what, we continue to dispense to whoever will listen the the fluffy advice "Follow your heart." That sounds like a line from a greeting card but it's God in the Bible that expresses a more accurate assessment of how things are. Jeremiah 17:9 says The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it?
Perhaps the best answer to all of the evil in our society is to look to ourselves and deal with our own weaknesses and sin. Understand what God desires for us. Make that our focus rather than advice from the latest pundit or celebrity. Do you understand the grace that God has shown you? Is His standard the one you use as you deal with the people in your life? Are you quicker to judge than to offer a helping hand? Are you willing to help with the quick fix for someone's problem but not stay around for the long haul? I think I'd rather go back to pointing fingers. That's a lot easier than saying I have some kind of responsibility in all this.
The problem of evil as seen in school violence is not the product of the 21st century. In Michigan in 1927 a man detonated his 3 bombs, killing 38 school children at the Bath school and injuring at least 58 others. A problem of such long duration needs an answer that has stood the test of time Looking to the principles of God's word has much more hope than a pointing finger.
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