Articles
The Call for 'No More Prayers'
If you have heard any news in the last few months, you are aware of the number of shootings that have taken place where there were multiple innocent victims of someone’s deranged, senseless violence. As is most often the case, many have responded by making the plea to “Keep these innocent victims and their families in your prayers.” It seems like the response of someone who is genuinely concerned and cares about the suffering of the victims and their families, right? Well, though they may be genuinely concerned and sympathetic, others are loudly proclaiming, “No more ‘prayers’ for the victims! It’s time we started doing something about gun violence!” Okay, let’s do just that.
Start Teaching Children a Standard of Morality: God’s Standard. While I am sure many of those who are calling for “No more ‘prayers’” mean we should make stricter laws for gun ownership or outlaw guns altogether, or make it easier for mental health support, that is only treating the symptoms, not the root cause, and will not ‘cure’ the plague of violence in this country. We need to get back to unabashedly teaching a solid and unwavering standard of morality: God’s standard of morality.
For far too many years, and a few generations now, we’ve been force-fed this pathetic and false idea that “situation ethics” are the only ethics we should practice. Having convinced a generation or two that there is no absolute standard of right and wrong, we are now reaping the consequences of such claptrap. Why do some feel no compunction about shooting and killing multiple innocent people at a time? Could it be because they are using their own standard of morality and ethics, one that says revenge for perceived alights or disrespect is perfectly reasonable?
It’s past time we got back to teaching [and actually believing] there is an absolute standard of morality, and it is that standard outlined within God’s word. Long ago, God’s people were commanded, regarding His standard, to “teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:6-9). The point was, they were to make God’s standard front-and-center in their lives, and they had the solemn responsibility to make sure their children knew that standard, too. When they failed to do that, we read, “another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel” (Jdgs. 2:10). And what was the result? Hear well the very next verse: “Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Jdgs. 2:11). We should not be surprised at the violence that plagues this country, for we have more than one generation who does not know the Lord, nor His work, nor His promises, nor His commands, nor the fact of His certain and final Judgment.
You may argue for new and more restrictive laws, but until we change hearts, those laws will be ignored just as surely as these violent criminals are ignoring the ones that already exist. If you sincerely want to “do something,” then take responsibility for your own children and make sure you are teaching them God’s ways. The wise writer spoke a proverb long ago that applies here: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). And the apostle Paul gives us further, and more specific, instruction relative to this point: “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Training them up in God’s way means teaching them God’s commands, standards, and laws, one of which includes the value for every human life because “in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:5, 6). Right now, human life is devalued to the point of nothing, from the unborn to the aged and weak, so it should not be surprising that some have so devalued human life that they feel no guilt for ending another human being’s life by violence.
Choose and Support Leaders Who Encourage A High Standard of Morality. It seems that, more and more, our society chooses leaders at all levels based on the often-false promises of one candidate or another to give them everything they want, which usually means less restrictions on immoral behavior and some material or financial benefit. Rarely do I hear of citizens calling for a high moral standard, and even less from those who want to run our country, state, or lower levels of government, and just as rarely among business leaders. Why is that?
It’s because we have become so focused on this material world that the material things are the only concern. We don’t teach our children a high standard of morality because we don’t live by one, and usually don’t want one. We want the freedom to do whatever we want, without concern for judgment or consequences. We are choosing leaders just like us.
Long ago, God His people “because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord” (2 Chron. 28:19). The sad fact was, the bad behavior of the leader of Israel affected everyone around him because, as their leader, they looked to him for guidance on what was or was not acceptable, and they were simply following his example. It was his behavior and unfaithfulness to God that “encouraged moral decline.” If we don’t think the same thing happens today, with leaders in government and business affecting the morals of society in general, we are either naive or dishonest. The ridiculous call to “keep their private life separate from their political and public life” is merely an attempt at ignoring and/or evading the question of that individual’s lack of morality. As long as we pretend like our leaders’ personal lives don’t matter, we will continue our own moral decline. You want to stop it? Choose better leaders.
Follow God’s Ways Yourself. Whether as a parent or just a citizen of this country, any attempt at changing society without changing yourself is going to be a meaningless and hypocritical act. It is easy to point the finger at “society” or “our leaders” as the cause for problems in our society, but change for good has to start with me — and you, and every other individual. Go back to that command God gave to His people to diligently teach their children; if you noticed, God said to them, “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates” (Deut. 6:8. 9). They couldn’t just teach it to their children while they ignored it!
In the New Testament, Jesus chastised the religious leaders for binding heavy burdens on others “but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matt. 23:4). He rightly called them “hypocrites” (Matt. 23:13), for they were just that. And so are we if we expect society to get better without us, personally, making a change for the better.
Do you really want to “do something” about increasing violence? Start with yourself, and seek a better and higher standard. Seek God. — Steven Harper
