Violence in America

“Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15)

America has a spiritual problem. 

So this post is not political. This is not for, or against, the 2nd Amendment. This is not about gun laws or politics at all. So don't make it about that.

This post is about why kids are killing kids in schools across America.

And that's what is not really being talked about in this nation, especially by kids. Why are kids killing other kids? They want to make it all about guns. And find someone to blame. The administration. The president. The NRA. Whoever.

Almost all these school shootings are being committed by kids. Adults are not sneaking into schools and killing our children. Children are committing the murders.

Why is this happening?

This week's mass killing in a Texas school was committed by a kid who reportedly was interested in a girl and she rejected him. So he later came to school and killed her, a teacher, and several other classmates. 

I was rejected by a few girls when I was in school. I certainly didn't go home and get my dad's guns and come back and shoot my classmates. Neither did any other kids in all the schools I went to. 

Ever.

So what has changed?

When I was a kid, I was taught respect—for my parents, for my teachers and principals. For all adults. 

I was also taught respect for the laws and for the police. We were a family of hunters and as kids we were required to complete a local hunters safety course. Safety, awareness and respect for people were number one at all times.

We also didn't have video games back then. The movies and television shows we did watch were not ultra violent and graphic like they are today. We didn't have violent lyrics, scenes and images programmed into our impressionable little minds from earliest childhood like today's kids are subjected to. 

More importantly, my parents closely monitored the shows we did watch or the music we listened to. They taught us right from wrong. And we learned that there were tough consequences to breaking the rules. If we did wrong, there was real punishment attached to it. We learned many painful lessons. My dad had a belt that he spanked us with when we deserved it. The principal's office at school had a big wooden paddle hanging on the wall with holes drilled in it for higher velocity. We learned there were very real consequences for our actions at home, and at school. 

This kind of discipline is virtually non existent today.

Also different in my youth was there were very few people in my school that grew up in a broken home. I think I knew one kid whose parents were divorced. He lived with his mom and he could stay out late and basically do whatever the heck he wanted to. Back then we thought he was super cool. But now I feel sorry for him. He was always getting into fights and into trouble. He never mentioned even knowing his father.

My parents also spent plenty of quality time with us. They took an interest in us as young people, and as individuals. They paid attention to who we hung out with. When my grades suffered, my dad and mom helped me with my school work. Dad grounded me from the things I liked, like fishing, if I was blowing off my homework and getting bad grades. 

My dad and mom loved us. They didn't give us lots of stuff to occupy ourselves with just so we wouldn't distract them from their own interests. My parents love for us was sacrificial. They could tell when something was not right with me and they would talk to me about it and find out why I was sad, or angry. 

I can only recall one or two kids who were bullies in school. But they were typically dealt with severely by the assistant principal with his big wooden paddle. Their parents were called and they were usually suspended when they acted poorly. Again, there were consequences.

My mom was a Christian all of her life. My dad had no interest in Christianity until much later in his life. But my mom's godly influence and love for Jesus was the glue that held our family together. I never had any doubt of my parents love for me. And I think that is what's missing in many people's lives today. I meet so many single parents. Broken homes are the norm. The traditional 'family' is out of style. Spiritually, the culture in America is circling the drain. Christianity is a joke to many, especially young people. So many parents are spiritually lost, many addicted to drugs and other things, and their kids are only following their lead. Mental and spiritual illness is epidemic in America.

So back to the kid in Texas who killed the girl who rejected him... Although he was certainly spiritually ill, and probably mentally ill as well; at the heart of it all he simply wanted to be loved. To be wanted. To be accepted.

And isn't that what we all want?

Jesus Christ said:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed.” (Luke 4:18)

To heal the broken hearted.

Much of the world today is dying from a broken heart.

And only Jesus Christ can heal our broken hearts. Our empty lives. Our aching souls. Our oppressed minds.

Jesus said:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

The loving Savior Jesus was the only hope for humanity 2,000 years ago. And He is still the only hope for humanity today. The only solution to violence in America. 

The only hope for our children.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.

Created Equal

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (U. S. Declaration of Independence 1776)

Having watched hundreds of 'Cowboys and Indians' movies throughout my life, what I have seen in most instances are the native American Indians vilified as "bloodthirsty savages" and the white settlers and U. S. Calvary were the "good guys" who were the ones being attacked by the "savage" Indians.

But in reality, the native American Indians—who were here first by the way—vastly outnumbered, over time, had their lands stolen, property confiscated, were killed off, and those who remained were herded like cattle and contained onto Reservations.

This is how the West was won.

How is your conscience with that? 

Mine is not okay.

From the beginning of the European colonization of the Americas, Europeans often removed native peoples from the lands they wished to occupy. The means varied, including treaties made under considerable duress, forceful ejection, and violence. 

The first effective Indian reservation was established for the Powhatan tribes in 1658.

It has been said that for much of North America, the American Revolution was more of a battle against the Indians than a war against the British. So when the war was brought to an end with the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the treaty was generally understood by American officials to strip the Indians of all property rights east of the Mississippi River. The treaty was seen by Americans as a confirmation of their conquest of Indian land.

The passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 marked the systematization of a U.S. federal government policy of forcibly moving Native populations away from European-populated areas.

One example was the Five Civilized Tribes, who were removed from their native lands in the southern United States and moved to modern-day Oklahoma, in a mass migration that came to be known as the Trail of Tears. Some of the lands these tribes were given to inhabit following the removals eventually became Indian reservations.

In 1851, the United States Congress passed the Indian Appropriations Act which authorized the creation of Indian reservations in modern-day Oklahoma. Relations between settlers and natives had grown increasingly worse as the settlers encroached on territory and natural resources in the West.

Reservations were generally established by executive order. In many cases, white settlers objected to the size of land parcels, which were subsequently reduced. A report submitted to Congress in 1868 found widespread corruption among the federal Native American agencies and generally poor conditions among the relocated tribes.

Many tribes ignored the relocation orders at first and were forced onto their limited land parcels. Enforcement required the United States Army to restrict the movements of various tribes. The pursuit of tribes in order to force them back onto reservations led to a number of wars with Native Americans which included some massacres. The most well-known conflict was the Sioux War on the northern Great Plains, between 1876 and 1881, which included the Battle of Little Bighorn. Other famous wars in this regard included the Nez Perce War.

To this day there are approximately 326 Indian Reservations in America.

And yet our own Declaration of Independence proclaims; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

"All men are created equal."

But our nations history seems to prove otherwise.

Now imagine a completely different history.

Imagine that you were here first. And a much larger population of foreigners started immigrating here from a distant land. And they kept coming, and coming, by the tens of millions. Taking your land. Seizing your property. Killing off you "savage natives" who were only protecting your land and homes and families. Herding you into reservations meant to contain you so they could enjoy what was once yours.

Two thousand years ago Jesus said:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

And,

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

The history and actions of America are hotly defended today as that of a "godly Christian nation."

How is it then that our forefathers left an oppressive nation and came here to live as free men and freely practice their religion apart from tyranny, and yet they themselves became the oppressors?

God will hold this nation accountable.

“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Corinthians 5:9-10)

Gracious Lord, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.