In the Aftermath of School Shootings Why Are We Not Talking About "Culture Control"?

In the wake of Parkland, the question of guns is interesting.  But even more pressing is another: “why do we continue to tolerate a culture in which humans feel they can kill other humans?”  And: “why do we continue to tolerate a news media that reaps increased profits from sensationalized tragedy?"

American have always owned firearms, even semi-automatic or fully automatic firearms.   And school massacres have also always been with us, even before we became a nation.  

What is different today is the increase of American school shootings.  And our culture:  It’s different, too.

Our American culture today treats life and death indifferently, starting even before birth. If allowed to live, children are often unwanted, or poorly nurtured.  Sons and daughters far too often have no fathers or almost useless fathers.  We give lip service to eliminating sex slavery but continue to patronize the pornography that feeds it. A violent entertainment culture of video games and movies glorifies shooting and gore. And we murder with our tongues:  using words like racist, homophobe, white supremacist, bitch, queer, kike, and worse.  

Even if all firearms were magically removed, children would still be killed in their schools.  Islamic terrorists in Europe have recently killed more citizens with heavy trucks than have been killed in recent American school massacres.

And, the first recorded school deaths in America involved children being killed with melee weapons like knives and tomahawks. School children in some other countries are more commonly massacred today with melee weapons than firearms.  Explosives killed 38 children in the worst American school massacre ever.

The issue is a raw one for me today.  The beautiful, loving granddaughter of a friend was killed in this most recent massacre.  My heart is trebly broken, for my friend, for the families of the slain and for my country. 

Like all reasonable Americans, I want this to stop.   Making firearms more difficult to legally obtain for those who should never have them may help.  I could support this.  But, as I believe I have demonstrated, "doing something about firearms" might feel good, but won’t fix the problem.

Let’s become intolerant of the horrible parts of our culture that glorify hatred, indifference, slavery and death….and the parts of the culture that profit from these things.  That will feel good AND do good.

The Fountain of Life and the Snares of Death

Twice in the Book of Proverbs, Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes of "a fountain of life" and "the snares of death." It is worth unpacking these words a little more. There is impressive meaning here.

In the first instance, Solomon writes "the teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death." In the second instance, it is "The fear of the LORD" that is that fountain of life that turns a man from the snares.

The teaching of the wise and the fear of the LORD are not contradictory. Solomon's father, King David said it this way: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding." Solomon would have understood "the teaching of the wise" and "the fear of the LORD" as being interrelated.

The fountain of life concept has less impact to us who live in water rich areas of the world. In the semi-arrid Middle East, a fountain of water would have been a source of life.....not just an expression of art. Water brings the land to life, and a fountain or a spring would have meant a place of abundant life. Fountains are also moving water, constantly refreshed.

Creatures caught by snares do not meet death quickly, and that is the image we should see in this passage: slow death. Snares are hidden in small animal pathways in the brush. The animal caught by them has neither seen them nor smelled them as great care has been used in the setting of them.

So it is with sin. The enemy hides the deadly snares of sin carefully in the brush of popular culture. Sin is deceptive....it often seems free or fun, or both at once.

How then to avoid the snares of death? Fear the Lord and heed the teaching of the wise. It remains as true today as when the pen first scratched the words some 3,000 years ago.