In which Preston Sprinkle nails it

Just ran across a great post by Preston Sprinkle on a theoretical discussion about the old "killer at the door" scenario. Here's a brief excerpt, but please read the whole thing.

Me: Okay, so let me get this straight. A preprogrammed robotic human is breaking into my home with a gun. Any attempt to stop him without using violence is taken off the table, despite the fact that nonviolent attempts to apprehend bad people with guns does actually work in the real world. And in your “real world” scenario, I have quick access to a loaded gun in the house which happens to be no threat to my four children. I’m a pretty good shot but not that good of a shot. God exists in this scenario, but despite the fact that this God typically answers prayer, for this scenario, the heavenly phone’s off the hook. And this cyborg would rather kill me and my family rather than walk with $300,000. And this is somehow your real world?

NRA: Yes, yes, that’s the scenario. What would you do?

Me: I would pinch myself because I must be in a dream. Your supposed “real life” scenario is not the real world at all. It’s a world where Jesus is still in the tomb, prayer doesn’t work, a deistic god stands off in the distance, and the deception of power has clouded your Christian thinking. But my world, the real world, has a crucified Lamb, an empty tomb, and direct access to the heavenly throne which is more effective than 10 tons of C-4.

I don’t live in a theoretical world; I live in a world turned upside down by a God who justifies the ungodly and calls us to love our enemies.

<idle musing>
Amen and amen! Why is it that we have to cordon off God in these discussions? It's as if he doesn't really exist in our daily lives. Of course, maybe he doesn't for some people. I call those people practicing atheists...

Just an
</idle musing>

Overreach

To enhance its image the Gun Empire boasts of pure American values, yet preaches insurrection and plots the overthrow of a democratically elected government. It asks to be approached as one of the great religions of the world, yet lies to the American public. It claims God-given rights to be armed, but refuses any public responsibility for safety. Such pronouncements may in the short run wield significant power over a minority of gun zealots and a majority of apathetic citizens, but in God’s long run, it is doomed: “The Kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever” (Rev 11:15).

The Gun Empire carries within the seeds of its own destruction, particularly in its classic overreach and promotion of violence. As it seeks more power through devious means and grasps for more exclusive privileges, it sets in motion undeniable and unconquerable spiritual forces that will inevitably lead to its own defeat. Its outrageous methods will eventually bring about its own demise. It will die as all Empires die, by claiming way too much. God still “scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts, puts down the mighty from their thrones, exalts those of low degree, fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich and powerful away—empty” (Luke 1:51–53).—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 204

Violence is the answer!

When violence and guns are destroying the character and moral fiber of our nation, it is of infinite importance that the faith community wake up and boldly negate the nonsense that is noised that guns do not kill and the answer to gun violence is more guns.

For citizens to carry their guns everywhere (homes, schools, college campuses, bars, churches, athletic contests, and courthouses) is not an acceptable solution. If the signs for gun free zones are removed from our schools, bedlam will ensue. Relying on more firepower to reduce violence is not a message that faith communities, peace fellowships, the majority of NRA members, or the general populace could embrace. Our faith traditions, should they be honestly consulted, provide much more effective alternatives.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 203

<idle musing>
Ah, there's the rub. "Our faith traditions, should they be honestly consulted, provide much more effective alternatives." But they won't be. Why should we listen to those old dead things? After all, we have smartphones!

Maybe the phones are smart, but I doubt we are! When we think that we are the measure of all things, this is the logical result: violence and death. We reap what we sow—in spades! We sow the wind, we reap the whirlwind. Or, as I saw someone recently write, when you sow dragon's teeth, you shouldn't be surprised when dragons sprout!
</idle musing>

I'd say it is an epidemic

Every American today lives on the slippery slope of gun violence and each of us is endangered because public safety is not a national priority. Many Americans are armed with powerful guns and shoot their fellow citizens with increasing regularity. The total number of people shot in the United States each year has risen significantly from the beginning of the new century to 2008, the latest year for which complete federal data is available. Between 2000 and 2008, a total of 272,590 people died of gunshot injuries in the United States—an average of 30,288 per year, a number shocking by comparison to any other developed country. During that same time period, an estimated 617,488 people suffered nonfatal gunshot injuries in the United States. The total number of people shot in 2008 totaled 110,215—the highest total recorded during the nine-year period surveyed by the Violence Policy Center.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 199

Making the world safe...

Enough people believe more guns will resolve human conflicts to make this country the most dangerous in the developed world. With 300 million guns in private hands and three million more coming off our assembly lines every year, our citizens are armed and dangerous. The guns we purchase for self-defense inevitably become the instruments of murder and suicide among family and friends.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 198

It's all around you

Violence is the ethos of our times. It is the spirituality of the modern world. It is accorded the status of a religion, demanding from its devotees an absolute obedience to death. Its followers are not aware, however, that the devotion they pay to violence is a form of religious piety. Violence is successful as a myth precisely because it does not seem to be mythic in the least. Violence simply appears to be the nature of things. It is what works. It is inevitable, the last, and often, the first resort in conflicts. It is embraced with equal alacrity by people on the left and on the right, by religious liberals and religious conservatives. The threat of violence, it is believed, alone can deter aggressors. Violence is thriving as never before in every sector of American popular culture, civil religion, nationalism, and foreign policy. Violence, not Christianity, is the real religion of America.—Walter Wink as quoted in America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 198

<idle musing>
I would have to agree with him. Or, as Walter Brueggemann says, the unexamined metanarrative of our culture is militaristic consumerism—which really boils down to the same thing, just in a shorter phrase with bigger words : )
</idle musing>

It's a slippery slope, but not the direction you think...

Those who live in the mountains are most aware that every mountaintop has more than one slope. The purpose of this book is to alert people of faith and others of good will of another slippery slope on which we are living today and it is far more dangerous. It is a huge threat to our children and grandchildren because we as a society are obediently following the advice and counsel of the idols of power and deadly force. We are living as prisoners of the principalities and powers and have forsaken the ways of the loving God who has redeemed us and placed our trust in sophisticated weapons to “guarantee” our security and preserve our nation’s most cherished ideals. We live on this slippery slope because we as a people find it almost impossible to shake free of our fascination with and devotion to violence in all its forms. We say, “violence has worked for us in the past, why search for other ways to solve our human conflicts?” That is the slippery slope that scares me.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, pages 197–98

<idle musing>
And one of the front-runners is a great fan of violence, and I don't hear any of the other ones denouncing violence as an option...slippery slope, indeed. And it leads straight to more violence and death. : (
</idle musing>

More gun violence—but it won't change anything

In the six years and nine months since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, through December 2009, 4,400 American servicemen and women lost their lives. In the same timeframe approximately 202,500 Americans lost their lives through gun violence on our own streets.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 194

And when money talks, death results

For decades church folk pleaded with elected leaders to enact balanced legislation, but they turned a deaf ear. They listened only to those whose guns had become idols and whose checks made it into their coffers. They believed supporting any restriction on guns was a losing political strategy. Knowing what we know today of the pervasive power of misinformation, we are not surprised when we learn that the total effect of Congress’ inattention to guns made it easier for violent people to buy guns and harder for law enforcement to arrest them or those who sold them weapons illegally.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 193

Which will it be?

I concede that stories of stopping a crime are more compelling. They are like an account of our Navy SEALs killing Osama bin Laden. People hear these accounts and they are energized; they want to cheer, “guns save lives.” On the other hand when people hear of gun tragedies they moan. These are “downers,” which remind the public that guns actually do kill. The former reveals our human desire to be in control of our life situations; the latter underscores our total lack of control and vulnerability. The facts are: there are between 150–200 justifiable homicides every year, largely carried out by law enforcement. But in 2007 there were 12,632 murders and hundreds of thousands of injuries.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 189

<idle musing>
So, which will it be? The 1–2 compelling stories with the 12,000+ murders? Or the thought that maybe I'm mortal and guns actually kill people?

I know. Why bother asking? Nobody wants to admit that they are mortal and not in control...and so the holocaust continues. And not just murder by uncontrolled weapons, but murder by abortion. Murder by drones. Murder by capital punishment. Murder by malicious thoughts that "other" people made in the image of God.

Did I leave anybody out? If so, it was unintentional; everybody is guilty of murder. But, even if we can't do anything about that—only God can, through Holy Spirit transformation—at least we should attempt to reduce the holocaust!

Just an
</idle musing>

Same old same old

At a mass shooting, the only germane question is how. How were thirty-two people killed and fifty-seven injured in just a few minutes? How was Cho able to follow through with this despicable crime? The answer is very simple: this terribly sick young man was able to buy two of the world’s most efficient killing machines and use them for the purposes for which they were made. That is how.

As long as we permit elected leaders to visibly hide on the irrelevant safe ground of speculation and avoid the pertinent questions of how dangerous individuals continue to get guns at the drop of a hat, other mass shootings are waiting to happen. It is not a matter of if they will happen; it is when. And when these disasters shock the country once more we will all be subject to the same lame speeches from those who refuse to act, but call us to pray fervently for the survivors.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 187

Of course it's logical—which is why it won't happen

The gun lobby will loudly proclaim that gun control will never work because “the criminals will always get their guns and good law abiding people will be always at their mercy.” To the contrary, keeping guns out of dangerous hands does work, not only in other countries but in our own. Indeed, it works very well! Strong intentional laws which keep guns out of the hands of felons, terrorists, and the mentally ill save lives. note the evidence in the chart below: The five states with the strongest gun laws have much fewer gun deaths and the five states with the weakest gun laws have far higher death rates. That not only makes sense; it works!—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 166 (emphasis original)

<idle musing>
Rule number one: Never use logic when discussing idols. It doesn't work. Witness Isaiah's critique of idols. Did the Israelites cease worshiping them? No. What about Habakkuk's scathing critique? Did they stop then? Nope!

Idolatry blinds people to logic. We're seeing that in this election season. Blind patriotism has become an idol, blinding people to logic. Don't touch my idols or you die!
</idle musing>

Feel Safer?

A gun kept in the home for protection is at least 11 times more likely to kill or wound a family member or friend, or be stolen and used in a crime, than it is to stop an intruder.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 
162

Yep. The US is in first place...

When all murders of civilians in all the developed countries of the world are tabulated, 86 percent occur in the United States.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 
160

In the United States, we register births, marriages, divorces, and deaths; we register cars, trucks, boats, trailers, bicycles, houses, lands, dogs, and cats—everything but guns.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 
161 (emphasis original)

<idle musing>
Think there's a correlation there?
</idle musing>

Defenders of democracy?

I believe Americans demonstrate their ultimate power through ballots, not bullets, and our national genius was found in the free and open exchange of public discourse and debate, not in disparaging our institutions of government or taking up arms to fight duly elected representatives, should you disagree with them.

The most undemocratic or anti-democratic proposition yet put forward by the Gun Empire is that citizens of the United States should be stockpiling guns to protect their freedom from a tyrannical government. That does not make us safe. That does not enhance our security. That does not keep us free. That is not democracy. That is insurrection.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 143

Insurrection!

The Gun Empire is not a defender of basic American values. Its mantra is that if the government does not agree with its understanding of freedom, then it will have no other recourse than to take down the government with stockpiled guns. Should this sound alarmist, remember that I am quoting from the speeches of leaders in the Gun Empire.

To increase their influence in America, the idols of power and deadly force are reaching out to their most ardent right-wing zealots and promoting suspicion and hostility, not only to the Obama administration, but also to America’s long-established democratic principles and social institutions. When the Gun Empire cries “freedom,” it has in mind preparing for insurrection.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 141

<idle musing>
Question: Why is it that generally the more conservative voter wants a strong military, a weak central government, and the freedom to carry automatic/semiautomatic weapons to defend agains the very military they want to have?

I don't understand it. Please explain it to me, if you can.
</idle musing>

Ambrose on violence

There's a great post over at Missio Alliance taking a look at what Ambrose (340–397 AD) thought about violence and Christianity. By all means, read the whole thing; he doesn't offer any easy answers because there aren't any, but he comes down on the side of nonviolence. Here's the final paragraph:

Ambrose reminds us well: God loves all people equally, and we are called to do the same. This central conviction prevents us from finding any easy answers to questions of guns, war, and self-defense. However Christians ultimately settle on these particular issues, we are compelled to constantly return to peace and non-violence as central Christian values that lie at the heart of the Gospel message of a compassionate and self-giving God. These convictions should be protected, and privileged highly, as we make moral judgments; as Ambrose does.

Tolle! Lege! as Augustine (one of Ambroses's converts, by the way) would say.

Let's keep swallowing that camel

Prolonging the reign of absurd laws to uphold the mantra of gun rights exists only in America and requires the blood of the innocent and the most vulnerable. When five persons are hospitalized in the Southwest with e coli found in spinach, the government immediately shuts down the entire spinach industry, putting it under surveillance 24/7 and quarantining suspected farms. When more than 30,000 Americans die by gun fire, Congress reacts to protect guns, along with their institutions, factories, distribution systems, and private sellers which only guarantees there will be more human sacrifices in the days to come.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, pages 132–33

<idle musing>
Isn't that a bit weird? You can sue toy manufacturers, but not gun manufacturers. That's just weird! You can shut down an entire agricultural industry and recall (and destroy!) the entire crop because a few people got sick. But, you can't require a recall of guns...in fact, to suggest such a thing is considered un-American and insane.

But that's not idolatry, is it?
</idle musing>

And that about sums it up

Richard Shaull reminds us that when guns are made absolutes, an abstract entity that cannot give life to people takes on an existence of its own and becomes an end in itself. When this takes place concern for what happens to women and men has secondary importance, if it is taken into account at all.—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 132

Unintended consequences

If your child is invited to play in a neighbor’s home, please, please inquire if they have a gun. If they do, parents must then ask if the gun is locked up. If there is an unlocked gun in your neighbor’s home, it is not safe for your child to play there. You can invite the neighbor’s child to come play in your home. My friend, Carole Price, who told her young son, “Sure, you can go play at the neighbors,” knows firsthand the agony I seek to prevent. She says, “If you think asking your neighbor if there’s a gun in the home is hard? Trust me. Picking out your child’s coffin is worse.”—America and Its Guns: A Theological Expose, page 110