In March of this year, a “transgender male” (a female pretending to be a man), assaulted a private Christian school with guns. She killed three nine year old students and three adult staff before being shot dead by police. The incident itself was bad enough, but there was an element of the response to that shooting that was incredibly evil.
Often after an incident of this type, people from all over express their sympathy with the victims and their families by saying something like, “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families.” This is just a normal response by people who are deeply saddened by a horrific tragedy and want to express some kind of comfort to those who are suffering.
But these days, it is not unusual for those kinds of sympathetic expressions to be mocked by people who don’t believe in God, and who have a particular political agenda they are wanting to advance. Typically, the mocking is done by people who are promoting gun control. They argue, that “thoughts and prayers” are platitudes that offer no actual help at all. These people commonly respond by saying things such as, “How in the world can you offer ‘thoughts and prayers’ and not pursue something that will actually make a difference – like getting guns off the streets?”
Gun control is the bottom line goal of these people. They don’t take anything else into consideration. They are convinced that if we could just eliminate guns from society, all of the murders and assaults would just stop. They don’t even consider the possibility that the real problem is not the guns but the people using them.
Besides guns, there are a lot of things used as weapons to kill people. People use cars. People use knives. People use hammers. People use their fists. People use poison. People use narcotics. People use explosives. People use baseball bats. People use fire. And the list could go on and on.
Interestingly, we almost never hear reported the things used to kill people that are not guns. And when they are reported, there is no outcry to ban these things. You never hear of politicians clamoring to ban cars, knives, hammers, martial arts, baseball bats, and the like.
Now understand carefully: My purpose here is not to advocate either for or against gun control. Guns are not society’s problem. The root of the problem can be found only in the hearts and minds of human beings, and are outwardly expressed in the values that are accepted by society. The biggest problem is not in the fact that people are getting killed by guns, but that people who hate God are gaining more influence in society. More evil minds equals more evil acts.
Why in the world would a person be upset to hear an expression of sympathy for someone’s tragic loss – no matter what instrument was used to cause it? The truth is, those who disparage people conveying sympathy are expressing the exact same hatred of the heart as those who pull a trigger, ram a car into a crowd, or walk into a crowded public space with a suicide vest. Every evil deed was an evil thought before it was ever outwardly expressed. Jesus Himself said, in Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
The fact is, people are mocking Christians because they themselves hold an entirely different set of values – values that originate from a place of evil. And they are attempting to make these evil values the new default in modern society.
This mockery is happening everywhere. The sports media mocked professional hockey player Ivan Provorov’s faith because he refused to participate in Pride festivities before a hockey game. Various reporters mocked football legend Tony Dungy because he attended the March for Life in Washington, D.C. as a means of demonstrating his support for life. The entertainment media mocked actress Candace Bure for taking a stand for the traditional family by leaving the Hallmark channel. And the power brokers in modern society will mock you if you stand up for biblical values.
These days, standing boldly for our faith in Christ is becoming more costly. But it is a stand that must be made. Beyond that, it is a stand for what is actually true. Those mocking Christians are the ones standing on and expressing false beliefs. And the best way to repulse attacks based on false beliefs is with the truth.
Sadly, most Christians have not equipped themselves with enough knowledge to confidently stand against the false beliefs that now dominate society. But it is not because the knowledge is not available. You should make a decision today to get up to speed. It will serve you well as you attempt to live your life for Christ in our increasingly hostile world.