Politics

Let’s have a candid debate on gun violence

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence

Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Shootings like the one in Newtown, Connecticut have become common place in the American society. Still, every time a maniac goes on an ego trip and massacred innocent people it is increasingly difficult to come up with a motive. The question is always why. Why would anyone in their right frame of mind committed such despicable and horrendous acts?

The Newtown massacre hits close to home. I happen to live in Connecticut, and while I do not live in Newtown, I feel divinely connected to the victims, especially the defenceless kids. That is the reason I get mad when I ask myself this question: “What on God‘s earth did twenty innocent kids, ages 6-7 years did that deserve to have their lives cut short senselessly?” At the same time, I am fully aware that we will never know the answer–the alleged shooter is dead. However, as is customary in mass murders, so-called experts believe mental health is a factor as well as the lack of stricter gun control.

It is déjà vu all over again. Another mass shooting has occurred, and the question of stricter gun control comes up. We have seen this movie before. Have we not? One can bet his last dollar that, as soon as the news media turned its TV cameras and microphones off and the anti-gun passion has died down the issue will be gentle swept under the carpet. Gun rights activists and lobbyists have done a marvelous job of neutralizing the argument for stricter gun control. Their strategy of ‘no comment until we look at the facts’ is unadorned but hugely effective. Nevertheless, no one with a heart and a soul can truthfully deny that we have a gun problem that needs discussing.

The problem of guns and gun violence is not a new phenomenon in America. Even though, if one listens to and reads some of the comments about the Newtown massacre one would think otherwise. The only new trend in gun violence over the past five years or so as it relates to mass shooting is the drastic change in the locations and the faces of victims. Where as in former years the victims of mass shootings were mostly minority, gang bangers and drug dealers who lived and operated in urban communities, today the victims also include white Americans who lived in suburban communities.

All in all, it is time to have a serious national discussion on guns and gun violence. The scourge of gun violence is no longer an urban problem. It is everybody’s problem. Therefore, politicians can no longer look the other because of fear of loosing their seats. They must stand firm and do the right thing. I do not know how, or what but for the sake of those twenty kids who died in Newtown and every other victim of gun violence–do something!!!

May the souls of the dead rest in peace!!

Might does not always make right.

David with the Head of Goliath

David with the Head of Goliath (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The recently concluded Presidential election campaign reminds me of the story of the duel between David and Goliath. (Romney was Goliath and Obama was David). Goliath on one hand, was tall and brawny, one of the most feared in the mighty Philistine army. He had a reputation of tearing his victims apart. (Romney blew away his opponents in the primary). David, however, was just a boy in a frail body with a sling and a stone and an extremely weak Israeli army to back him up. At least, that was what Goliath and his army thought. (Romney underestimated the Obama campaign). Here, is what Goliath said when David approached him:

“Am I a dog that thou comes to me with staves?” The Bible says the Philistine curse David by his gods. He then entreats David: “Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field” (1 Samuel 17:44). Then David said to the Philistine, “Thou comes to me with a sword and a spear and a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (1 Samuel 17:45)

David had a secret weapon–his faith in God. He knew that the battle was not his. It was the Lord’s. Therefore, if he allowed God to fight the battle for him, he would be victorious.

Similarly, Mr. Romney is perceives as the stronger of the two candidates. He had the power of his millionaire donors behind him. Like Goliath, he was confident that he would rip his opponent apart. However, as we have learned in the David and Goliath story. Might does not always make right. Mr. Obama had the small donors–the people on his side. He knew that the greatest asset in any election was the people. Money is crucial, but money do not vote. People do.

In the end, David overcame the mighty Goliath and his Philistine army and did what he promised. He cut off Goliath’s head and gave it to the fowls. Likewise, Mr. Obama prevails over Mr. Romney. As I have said before, “Might does not always make right”.

Horrific Pictures Of Patients in Military Hospital

I hate war and I detest those who advocate it. Still I am aware that some wars are necessary; such as the two world wars. Nevertheless, war is extraordinarily ugly, and horrific. It should be avoided at all cost. However, there are many who embrace war for selfish reason–money. They either do not care about the pain and suffering that occur on both sides of a war or they just do not care.

Recently there was an explosive Congressional investigation which revealed horrific new details about a U.S. funded military hospital in Afghanistan that kept casualties of or patients in “Auschwitz-like” conditions.

The investigation also revealed that Lt. General William B. Caldwell, then commander of the $11.2 billion dollars a year Afghan training program, tried to block the probe and ordered a cover-up.

There are two ongoing investigations looking into the Dawood Military Hospital abuses: one centered around the Military Whistleblower Protection Act, the other concerned with Caldwell’s politically-motivated decision to delay investigations into the hospital until after the 2010 elections.

What follows is an extremely disturbing look inside the Dawood National Military Hospital. It was compiled with sworn eye-witness testimony from the three U.S. Army colonels who blew the whistle on the scandal, as well as never-before published photos obtained by BuzzFeed.

The photos and corresponding descriptions were collected by U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.
The images are extremely graphic. Click here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rebeccaelliott/horror-hospital-the-most-shocking-photos-and-test

Where was God in Aurora Massacre?

It’s been one week since the Aurora theater massacre, and people are still searching for answers. Some are even asking,” Where was God in Aurora massacre?” CNN asked the question on twitter. The following is some of the responses. What do you think?

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

(CNN) – Where was God in Aurora?

It’s a fresh take on an age-old question: Why does God allow suffering, natural disasters or – if you believe in it – evil?

We put the question to Twitter on Tuesday and got some starkly different responses.

“In short, God was in complete control, exercising His will,” wrote @PastorRileyF, who leads a church in Bethune, Colorado.

That riled @TheTrivia Jockey, who tweeted, “If that was God’s will, God is definitely not deserving of my worship.”

Watch: Survivor of massacre says he forgives gunman

@trentpayne also took issue with the Colorado pastor: “I’m going to respectfully disagree with you Pastor. God gives free will to man, but it wasn’t his will that they die.”

The back-and-forth provoked other believers to chime in on the theological issue of God’s sovereignty vs. human free will, with many Christians seeking to explain how a sovereign God could preside over seemingly senseless bloodshed.

“It is not God’s will or want that people died in Aurora,” wrote @GospelBluesman20m. “God allowed man’s inhumanity to man, rather than intervene.”

The conversation and debate continued in the comments section of this post, with some insinuating that the massacre might be a kind of divine punishment, or at lease divine neglect:

Lenny
We as a country have been telling God to go away. We told him to get off our currency, get out of our schools, get out of our Pledge of Allegiance, take your Ten Commandments out of our courthouses, get those Bibles out of hotels and no graduation ceremonies in our churches. How can we expect God to give us his blessing and his protection if we demand that he leave us alone?

Jesse R
Liberals have made it impossible for God to be anywhere during the upbringing of a child. Can’t have any religious connotations in schools, libraries, government offices, etc., etc. Young men (and women) are growing up with no real sense of right and wrong. … We no longer have the right of religion, but rather the right from religion. Parents no longer have the ability to discipline their children. We are always looking for the excuses … violent video games and movies, bad teachers and schools … when we should be looking in the mirror. We as a society are the reasons these massacres happen. We have allowed our children to become social misfits that lead to the kind of carnage we have seen on several occasions since religion and God disappeared from what the Founding Fathers once said was a necessity of a successful democracy … faith.

Lots of readers used religious takes on the shooting to challenge the whole idea of God:

Who invited me?
How do you know the people that were killed didn’t go to hell?, and how exactly does any of this show there is a reason? Reason is obviously something that you have replaced with belief, and you threw out logic with it.

Kyle
“God doesn’t exist, so he wasn’t anywhere. Get over it. A man was evil, and he was evil because he was crazy.

Plenty of others said the shooting was the devil’s work:

Harleyxx
Evil things like this happen because Satan is the god of this world … for the time being. God will undo all the damage caused by Satan’s rebellion and man’s disobedience when the time is right. In the meantime we all experience trials and tribulation due to living in an ungodly world. That is why Jesus taught his followers the Lord’s Prayer … ‘to pray for God’s kingdom to come.’

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Whose side are you on?

English: Michmethath__which_is_before_Shechem

English: Michmethath__which_is_before_Shechem (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes I think it is terribly difficult to tell whose side some of my Christian brothers and sisters are on. The words we communicate with our mouths are quite different from the things we do with our hands. Furthermore, we often get engulf in the issue of the moment, and we frequently say and do things that we later regret.

For example, on May 31, 2009, abortion Dr. George Tiller was shot and killed, while he served as an usher in his Wichita church, by anti-abortion activist, Scott Roeder. Many anti-abortion Christians celebrated the heinous act, lauded the shooter and commented that Tiller got what was coming to him. Can two wrongs make one right? No. Fighting fire with fire is most certainly not the approach Jesus would use when attempting to resolve a conflict. Suffice it to say, Jesus did not respond in kind, when he was violently nailed to the cross. Instead, He said: “Father, forgive them, for they know what they do.”

So, whose side are you really on? Is it Jesus’, (whose life is the epitome of love and all its attributes? The man who says, “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,’) or is it the devil’s?

When the Patriarch Joshua was nearing the end of his life, he became worried for his people. Many of them fell back into their old ways. He felt afraid they would fall even further when he is gone. The Bible says, “Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Then he challenged them in the following words.

And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. However, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

That day the people of Israel renewed their covenant with God and declared that they will serve the Lord. Will you do the same today?