Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld -- Cain Kills Abel
Detail-Game: Call-of-Juarez-Bound-in-Blood
The first sin outside paradise—murder. Cain and Abel. The Good News came to change this: “Put away
the sword, those who live by the sword will die by the sword,” -- the last words
of Jesus to his gathered disciples before he dies on the cross. Have we followers of Jesus paid any attention
at all?
Empire State Bldg shooter—latest in a long line of solitary
gunslingers—seeking solace for wounded egos by killing others. Giving out freely the most powerful personal
weapons available, in a country where our national wars have transitioned into
personal battlegrounds, is a bad idea. “Shoot
first ask questions later” and “make my day” are attitudes that promote death,
not right to life.
My friend Jim is an ardent hunter and gun enthusiast. I, though a vegetarian, respect his use of guns. The mass violence of stockyards and slaughterhouse are painfully unnecessary in a nation that has so much surplus food. Jim’s ability as a good hunter makes his method of providing meat for the table less violent than the mass production. And there is some conscious respect in his way of taking life for food.
he multiple murders being perpetrated by the past decades’ self-appointed
assassins, with their hi-powered guns and bullets, are a completely different
use of weapons. Gratuitous fast-and-furious
violence. Guns as people killers. Military hardware brought into the public
sector, to settle disputes in warlike fashion.
This is a disease, this proliferation of quick kill firepower. There is a physicians’ group dedicated to
preventing this socially violent virus.
The membership of the NRA [but not their politicians] wants common sense
controls.
Guns as gods. They can be tools of the Great Deceiver, helping someone who’s lost a job, or been humiliated, turn into a death angel, blasting everyone’s pain to new heights of excruciation, and depths of despair. Yes, it is the mind, and not simply the gun, that does the killing, but why make killing so damnably easy? Kept for protection, they most often fail to protect.** Kept with the intention to murder, they are occasions of grave sin, evil which drags us all down.
Cain kills Abel -- Rembrandt sketch
Can gun owners not help us find some limit to the
mayhem? You know what’s responsible, and
what’s not. Military style weapons in
our communities, concealed handguns in our bars and churches? There has to be a better way.
Christians believe we are saved into eternity by Jesus Christ. “There is nothing that can separate us from the love of our God.” Romans 8:39 We all know that we are going to die. Many of us believe we will be welcomed into a heavenly life after death. Does Jesus ever indicate we’ll get there any more surely, armed to the teeth?
Mistakes that can’t be corrected.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/2012/09/28/conn-man-kills-masked-teen-learns-his-son/oFiHKYNgzNMjqqcILr4I2M/story.htmlhttp://slatest.slate.com/posts/2012/07/23/former_rochester_police_captain_accidentally_shoots_and_kills_son_could_face_charges.html
http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center-for-gun-policy-and-research/
**A gun in the home is 22 times more
likely to be used in a completed
or attempted suicide (11x), criminal
assault or homicide (7x), or unintentional
shooting death or injury (4x) than to be used in a self-defense shooting. (Kellermann,
1998, p. 263).
A 2009 study found that people in
possession of a gun are 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault (Branas)[from Brady Campaign to Prevent GunViolence]
83 Americans killed by guns every day [90 deaths fromauto accidents], approaches being the
major cause of acute violent death in the USA.
http://www.stophandgunviolence.org/Violence Policy Center [includes international]
St. Michael's feast day was Saturday, Sept. 29th. He has been named the patron saint of soldiers. His only sword is the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.
Illuminations by Kathy Brahney
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