Mental Health, Prayer in School, Assault Weapons, and The Gospel

(My old reflecting pool from when we lived in Nottingham)

If you had a chance to read my last post, you may recall that I spoke about the notion of 'trite answers'.  Our culture specializes in short, trite, and oftentimes overly-simplistic answers.  If you aren't sure about this consider the following: the number of bumper stickers you see expressing political and religious views, the reality of that each 1/2 hour show on television is almost half made up of commercials (how does one expect to have meaningful dialogue in snippets between advertisements), and that Twitter by its very nature makes its users to share in only 140 characters.  Now before you avid Tweeters and bumper sticker-stickerers get all up in arms, I'm not saying that all of this is bad.  What I am saying that when addressing a monumental issue like the Sandy Hook shooting, we cannot think that we can summarize or even start to deal with it in a few moments.

Is Sandy Hook about mental health?  Certainly.
Was a firearm used in this massacre?  Clearly.
Does our culture (and perhaps most cultures throughout history) glorify violence? Yes.
Are broken families and broken communities playing some role in these mass killings? Again - yes.
Do we need to research why it is that young males from often upper-middle class families are the perpetrators?  Of course.

Does the Gospel speak into this situation?  Undoubtedly.

As I have listened to the pundits and politicians speak, I came back to the same refrain again and again in my head, "Well, yes...sort of...".  Many shared truths, but most shared incomplete truths.  And I do not attempt here to offer the whole picture of how to think about Sandy Hook - no person in his or her right mind would attempt that.  What I can offer, however, is a Gospel-centered worldview response to the tragedy.

While I realize that many who read this blog are not followers of Christ, I would be remiss to not be clear on not only my, but the stance given by the Bible: people, concepts, laws, health care - change in all of these areas fall short of what we need which is a life that is internally transformed by the saving grace of Christ.    We can pass laws to make the world safer, and  we likely do need to consider legislation in dealing with education, violence, firearms, and assistance for those with mental health issues.  Consider, however, that changing the external does not necessarily change the internal.  Consider that Martin Luther once noted he needed no scantily-clad woman to lust - his imagination was enough.  Consider the words of D.L. Moody that "If a man is stealing railroad ties, and we put him into prison and educate him, when he gets out - he will steal the entire railroad."  Laws that allow prayer in school or laws that keep prayer out of school - these do not fundamentally change things.  The Gospel of Christ changes things.

Changing legislation may help, but it is a band-aid on a gaping wound, the wound of a darkness that lurks within not only the heart of mass murderers, but in the heart of every human.  Many will read this and smirk or roll their eyes, but truth bears witness over time.  When people give themselves as whole-hearted, Spirit-led, transformed Christ followers, they become different people.  Not because Christianity is 'America's religion', but because a gracious God comes to abide within anyone humble enough to say, "God, I don't just need help - I need to be changed by You."

This transformation is exactly what our world often avoids because it is costly, time-consuming, and it does not happen overnight.  It is not trite, it cannot be wrapped up in a sound-byte, and I cannot be Tweeted, but it can and does bring lasting change in the lives of those who bow with the once Doubting Thomas and say to Christ, "My Lord and my God."

- tC