December 17, 2012 - Not about Gretchen, Peter, or me

I warn you now, this is about the latest shooting in Connecticut and some folks might disagree with me.  If you read beyond this point please keep an open mind and if you disagree please do so politely.

I am frustrated!  Where I work we need to keep the news going 24 hours a day in case something major happens that could affect the power grid.  Every time I went into an area with a TV they were covering the shooting (I think even The Weather Channel was covering the shooting).  Yes, it is a tragedy, but Man is inherently sinful so this should not surprise us (sadden us, yes, surprise us, no).  Mention the story so that we know about it and can pray for those who are hurting but the more we focus on what this disturbed person did and analyze his actions and motives for the entire world the more likely we are to have another incident because the next disturbed person will see how much attention this one got and realize that he can be somebody by killing a bunch of people.

To make matters worse, this is being horribly politicized.  There are already calls for stronger gun control.  This guy took a gun into a gun-free-zone.  Because of that he was able to keep killing far longer than if responsible gun owners had been allowed to posses guns at the school.  Over the weekend I read how the principal and a counselor had raced to confront this young man that was doing the shooting.  The principal was killed when she charged at him trying to stop him (I don't remember what happened to the counselor).  If the principal and counselor had access to firearms and knew how to use them this tragedy would have been much smaller.  Instead we are told we need to put more restrictions on responsible gun owners (which won't solve the problem because the worst school attack in US history - 1927, Bath Michigan, 38 students and 7 adults - was done with a bomb).

Ultimately, the problem is sin and the fact that many churches in the US have abdicated their responsibilities to care for those around them and forgotten their responsibility to the Gospel.  We have asked the government to take care of the needy and hurting but government can only provide things (and not do that very well) and cannot provide the love and forgiveness that the poor and suffering need.

Let me close by saying that I don't have all the facts (I avoided the story as much as possible today).  I am merely commenting on the vulture mentality of the media, the political opportunism of our leaders, and the woeful absence of most of our churches from helping our culture. (would that I had time to expound on that last item, but I am 15 minutes late already)