We cannot solve the issues of violence in America through continued legislation. The issues we are seeing in America are rooted in the heart of mankind. Every person who has ever lived was born into a fallen creation, and the only hope we have is a relationship with Jesus. We’ve allowed sin and evil to infiltrate our homes, schools, marriages, and lives. It is rampant in our society. Evil is a virus that spreads rapidly, but it results from the sinful nature of mankind. The only thing standing between evil taking total control of our world, in practical terms, is God’s mercy and the presence of effective law enforcement officers.
Dealing with violence and crime in America is not something we can expect our elected officials to legislate away for us, it is significantly more complex and a dynamic issue. In 2015, according to both FBI data and CDC data, over 233,000 people died due to firearm related injuries. This data includes violent attacks (homicides), legal intervention, ¹suicide, and accidents and includes all Americans (~330 million) and other visitors to the United States. If you think that’s too many deaths, you’re not alone. But, in perspective, deaths due to firearm related injuries are outnumbered significantly by other causes, such as suicide, heart disease, diabetes, and accidents. We hear a lot about firearm related deaths in America, why not the other leading causes? If any lives matter, all lives matter, so where’s the outcry for the lives lost in large numbers by the other causes?
Have we become so desensitized to violence and death that we expect it now? According to the latest data, there are over 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers and 351,548 were attacked in 2015. Some would suggest these brave men and women died or sustained injuries as just “part of the job.” The hypocrisy of America is we value the lives which we perceive to be more valuable than another. We debate and protest, but at the end of the day, why are we not protesting every death? Heart disease can be prevented in many cases, as could deaths caused by diabetes, and if we cared for every life, who knows what we could change in this world. What can we do, as citizens, to change the course our country is presently on?
For one, we pray. We must pray corporately as a body of believers in the local church, and individually in our own personal lives. Second, we should dig deeper than the headlines we see on social media and in the news and spend time in studying God’s word. Basic research will reveal a great deal of truth. Third, we should support our law enforcement. Standing behind those behind the badge means we support their efforts, lift them up in prayer, and work to have a better understanding of the things they deal with. Lastly, I believe it is imperative that we take time to turn the switch; on tv, video games, all violent and obscene media. Stop tolerating sin in any medium in the name of entertainment. The seed of sin creeps in slowly. It’s time to return to the altar and repent. It’s time to place Christ alone in the center of all we do and seek His healing for our country. As believers, we are first citizens of the Kingdom of God then Americans, and if we want to leave a country for our children to enjoy, we must return to prayer and the basics.
Sources
¹https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
²https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_06.pdf
³http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/ https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2017-preliminary-semiannual-crime-stats-released
