What do humans do when they
discover – albeit subconsciously – that everything they've believed in is wrong
– is, in fact, evil? Are folks likely to do a face-palm; shake their
heads; and say, "Can't believe I bought into such
stupidity!"? Sometimes the truly honest among us will do
that, but it doesn't happen often. When the ground shakes under us,
we are more likely to just mindlessly grab for the nearest support.
If we grew up certain:
- that God is just a
convenient fairy tale;
- that the government's
purpose is to take the place of indulgent parents;
- that sexual desires, all
sexual desires should be fulfilled ASAP;
- that people are just the
evolutionary top of the food chain;
- and are merely animals
and therefore expendable;
- that drugs are
enlightening;
- that truth is
nonexistent;
- and that, most important
of all, utopia is within our reach because we know better than God how to
organize a nation,
...then what do we do when we
see even our most important leaders functioning as if there is no moral code? What do we think when the
people we see as special turn out to be sexual predators? How are we
to understand our misery when our children OD on opioids, kill themselves over
Facebook bullying, or kill others just because they are angry or want to be
famous? How do we handle it when we pray to the God we no longer
believe in and get no response at all?
What do we do? Most
people look around desperately for someone else to blame, or even better, some
inanimate object to hold accountable. Ban guns! It takes no moral courage to
blame a thing, but it takes massive internal fortitude to look in the mirror
and blame the unsustainable ideas we've held dear now for several generations.
It's hard to look at the slaughter of our children in a
schoolyard, but we are still willing to kill them by the thousands in an
abortion facility. It's horrifying to see the damage wrought by
social media, but we don't have the stomach to face down our spoiled children
and deny them access. It makes us sick to see the sexualization of
our young children, but we're too spoiled ourselves to limit our own indulgence
in nearly pornographic television. We don't seem to have the
national backbone to admit our part in the destruction of our offspring.
So we demand the banning of guns. We don't fall on our knees
and confess our faithlessness to the God who made us free and
prosperous. We don't change our own behavior, vow to make a go of
our marriages, and raise our children with both love and
discipline. We don't look with a more critical eye at the policies
that contributed to our fractured families; our failing schools; our angry,
drug-addled youths. No. We scream, "Ban
guns!" Maybe if we scream it loudly enough, the guilt will go
away.
And the screamers don't follow up their hollering with careful
thinking about what taking guns out of our society would look
like. There are over 300 million privately owned firearms in this
country. We understand – those of us who know anything about history
– how important it is that we keep them. We know that all our other
rights rest on the right to defend ourselves against tyranny. I'm
not giving up mine without a fight, and I don't think I'm alone in that. The
confiscation of guns in America will be a bloodbath that makes Parkland look
insignificant.
But the deep panic that the unwitting left feels at the blatant,
obvious, horrifying evidence that all their most prideful beliefs are bogus is
not going to allow any self-searching. Will there be curriculum
meetings sprouting up all over the country to determine if we're teaching only
what's truly wholesome and productive? I don't see that
happening. Will
Congress take a fresh look at how welfare policies affect family
structure? Not likely, and if they did, where would we find the
strong, stalwart men to step up and become great fathers? We are
training our young men to be women, so how is that going to
work? Are we likely, as an entire culture, to realize that law and a
godless moral code can't protect us from evil? It's easier to ban guns, or at least to
vociferously demand that. I'm not sure the reality really matters to
the screamers.
I take heart in knowing
that a society can be swayed by only a small percentage of us thinking clearly. I am reassured when I remember
Abraham bargaining with God over Sodom; God agreed to save it if only 10% were
good, God-fearing people. I take heart in our current
administration; Trump seems to be thinking clearly and several steps ahead of
his opponents. His Cabinet appears to understand what is at stake
here.
It was Jesus Christ who said, "And you will know the truth and
the truth will set you free." The truth isn't always
comfortable, or flattering, and when ignored long enough, it can be
excruciating when finally acknowledged. Therefore, truth is under
attack today, but it is still readily available; if we want truth, we can still
get it, though it wouldn't be surprising to find that after they ban guns, the
Bible will be next.
Not a day goes by anymore
that we don't come face to face with the evidence that our progressive
worldview stands on a weak and crumbling foundation. Science is
dealing blow after blow to godless evolutionary theories. Our
liberal educational ideas are proving counterproductive. Our laissez-faire childrearing
practices are evidently inadequate. The way we care for our poor
causes more problems than it solves. We don't want to control our
own behavior, but we resent the police who then have to do it for us.
The Parkland shooting
proves that our culture is a disaster, not that our gun policies
are. We need to be able to face that fact, or there will be hell to
pay.
Deana Chadwell blogs at www.ASingleWindow.com. She
is also an adjunct professor and department head at Pacific Bible College in
southern Oregon. She teaches writing and public speaking.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/02/a_weak_and_crumbling_foundation.html