It is part of the twisted nature of the human mind to take
what should be a time of mourning and reflection and turn it into an
opportunity to harp on about pet political agendas and social wishes. The
reaction to the tragedy at
Writing from London, England where gun-control is strictly
enforced, I have already waded through the condescending headlines, Facebook
statuses, and tweets of the ill-informed, illogical, or just plain ignorant on
the subject (NB: related to a country with which they have no affiliation as
citizens) and I can only imagine what insensitive nonsense was coming out of
Jon Snow’s mouth on Channel 4 News last night. To such arguments of British
superiority in the violent crimes department, let me just state a few facts.
Responsibility.
It has often been pointed out, and it must be again, that
guns are not responsible for killing anyone. There is nothing inherently evil
(as there is say, with practicing abortion) about owning a gun and using it.
There is something evil about using
it to murder (def.: the crime of killing another person deliberately and not in
self-defence or with any other extenuating circumstance recognized by law)
someone. When murder is committed, the gun is not tried, found guilty, and
imprisoned. The murderer is. In a police shoot-out, the gun is not the target.
The gunman is. Did the U.S.A respond to the horrors of 9/11 by banning
airplanes, or limiting the number that could fly, or the airlines that could
fly them? Following the logic of the anti-gun lobby they should have, but
instead they went after the people – terrorists and sponsors of terrorists
around the world (granted, the same people who have a problem with guns seem to
have a problem with this as well, but I’ll have to leave that for the time
being). It is a great injustice to the memory of the children and teachers who
lost their lives in this tragic event when everyone blames guns and penalizes
gun manufacturers, as opposed to blaming the depraved individual who committed
the crime and targeting similar such people for police surveillance and
investigation. Adam Lanza is responsible, not Glock and Sig Sauer. Man is
depraved and sinful, and fully responsible for his sin. He is so capable and
culpable of wrong that it is only by God’s restraining grace that he is
prevented from being as evil as he could be. When the restraining hand of God
is removed (in judgement, perhaps) horrific, damnable things happen. Having
gun-control without being grace-controlled is of no use whatsoever.
The big picture
The smugness of the British press and those who regurgitate
it is nothing short of baffling when one gets past the soaring vagaries of
anti-gun verbiage to the nitty-gritty of real statistics. For starters, from
the way people talk you would think that the U.S.
and the U.K.
are similar in size, and therefore it is acceptable to look at the numbers as
if this were the case.
Starting with landmass: the United Sates is two and a half
times the size of Western Europe . The United Kingdom is slightly smaller than the one
state (out of 50) of Oregon .
Moving on to population: the United States
is home to around 311,591,917 people,
whereas the U.K.
has a much lower 62,641,000 residents. A vast country of Fall-cursed land with
millions more Fallen people means that you will read with greater frequency of
Fall-reflecting tragedies.
That said, even
statistically, Britain
does not win the award for a lower violent-crime rate. Figures released in 2009
demonstrate that the U.S.
has a violence rate of 466 crimes per 100,000 residents, whereas in the UK
there is a rate of 2034 per 100,000 residents (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196941/The-violent-country-Europe-Britain-worse-South-Africa-U-S.html).
In summary, when the
math is properly done, the solution we arrive is actually more serious with
gun-control than without it.
A baby was born into
a nation filled with political division, facing significant economic changes,
and fearing the growing interference in daily life of an ever more powerful
ruler and his local pawns. In her hometown, this newborn’s mom had likely been
the subject of coarse talk among the soldiers, evil-eyes from the women, and
probably humiliating rants from her own parents, and quite possibly local
religious leaders – after all, how could a virgin be pregnant? She said that
God had told her that the child was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit.
Everyone else had other ideas. As for his ‘dad’, an older carpenter his mother
was engaged to, when he found out that his fiancé was pregnant it broke his
heart and turned his stomach. Should he press charges? If he did that, the
towns-people would probably kill her. Better to keep things hush-hush. He had a
dream though, and changed his mind. He would keep her as his wife. Together, the
two of them took the long journey on foot to his family’s town to register for
some tax thing required by the government. They couldn’t find lodging anywhere,
so had to sleep rough where the animals were kept. And as happens, at the most
inconvenient time and in the worst possible place, the woman went into labour
and gave birth. They took the bands of cloth still tied around their waist (in
which they were to be wrapped and buried if they died on their difficult journey),
and made the baby’s first clothes. They cleaned out the animals’ slop trough as
best they could and pillowing it with hay, made the baby’s first crib. A group
of shepherds came by. Filthy from the field, their hardened faces broke with
smiles and tears as they jabbered excitedly about an angel who brought ‘good
news of great joy for all the people’, the sign of a baby wrapped in death
bands and lying in a manger, and of a heavenly host that sang ‘glory’. And that
night, there was glory, even in a world of fear and death, for there in the
midst of the dirty shepherds, the braying and bleating animals, and the stink
of rotting food and dung, lay God with us, named ‘Jesus’, for he would save his
people from their sins.
A couple of years
later - still in the little town of Bethlehem ,
though now in a house of their own - Joseph and Mary were probably looking to
the future life and education of young Jesus. They had enjoyed hosting some
surprise visitors, a group of wise-men from the East who had come to give their
son precious and rare gifts. Their guests had gone on their way, and the young
family had settled in for the night, when Joseph had a dream (again). He got
up, woke Mary and the child, and into the darkness they ran, en route to Egypt
and safety. By so doing, Jesus survived the massacre of unnumbered children his
age and younger in Bethlehem
and the rest of that region.
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted,
because they are no more.” (Mt. 2:18)
Last night in Sandy Hook ,
the darkness of a cold winter’s night was pierced by similar cries all over
again as mothers, fathers, grandparents and siblings, mourned the loss of
children who were victims of the crazed plot of a maniacal twenty-year old. The
last thing these people need to hear is ‘gun control.’ Instead, they should be
pointed to the One whose birth we remember at Christmas. He was born into the
same world and experienced the same cruel realities of life in a decaying world
to the point of his own violent death. He was familiar with personal pain, but
he also took up our pain. He bore our suffering. People said he was under God’s
judgement – and in a substitutionary sense we can say he was. For
he was pierced for our transgressions.
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was
oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it
was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isa. 53:5-12).
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isa. 53:5-12).
A crazed 20
year-old? I’m 20 and in and of myself have the same capacity for insane violence
with or without a gun as Adam Lanza. Smug fellow looking in from the
outside and commentating on things of which he knows not? I've lived in Britain
for half of my life and now all that keeps me from being ‘British’ is a form
and fee, I like commentating, I certainly don’t know everything, and I am
capable of smugness. On this level, not much separates me from the criminal or
the critics, but thankfully I do not have to think, say, and do things in and
of myself, because I have Christ. Which is why I wrote this piece: to remind
me, as much as anyone else who might read it, that my only hope is the grace of
God in Jesus Christ worked in me by the Holy Spirit. This Christmas join me, the shepherds of
old, the heavenly host and all who (even in the most difficult and disturbing
of circumstances) have found hope in Christ in ‘glorifying and praising God’
(Lk. 2:20). And invite others along, especially those who are hurting. The peace and goodwill is offered to all
people.
No comments:
Post a Comment