A Few Thoughts on the Uvalde Shooting

I wanted to share today what my daughter wrote on her Anchor for the Soul social media sites this past week. I think it’s important because it goes to the root of what we see taking place in culture. But it’s not a popular perspective. It’s much easier to dig our heads in the sand and pretend that this “just happened”. It’s much easier to ignore–or even deny– the really good reasons behind what we see taking place in the current culture.

And, I might add, what happened in Texas is the extreme of what we see taking place. The world is made up of so many hurting and broken people who only care about themselves and their dreams and their desires. Society has changed dramatically and much of it is because of what Jess writes below.

This is a hard read but it is true. If we believe the Bible and that what God says is best for us both personally and societally than we know this must be true.

Scripture makes it abundantly clear that we won’t change the culture. But we can change ourselves. And that’s all the Lord asks of us. Submit, obey, be transformed by the renewing of our minds. And, in this process, He will use us to help change and encourage others.

Here’s what Jess had to say over on Anchor for the Soul—

 

So, let me get this straight.

We take moms out of the home, leaving their children to be raised by daycares, schools, coaches, and the television. We cheer for them as they sacrifice their children on the altar of their career dreams.

Divorce rates skyrocket. Kids are shuffled back and forth. Children are increasingly born to single moms or unmarried parents. It’s rare to see fathers actively involved in their children’s lives for a full 18 years. The stability and security that the family was intended to give children crumbles.

We schedule their sports and their camps and their after-school activities. We force them to study to get those straight A’s. We medicate them when they can’t sit still for 6 hours in a row. We skip church because we’ve got sports tournaments to go to. We want them to be the smartest, the most athletic, the most liked. Meanwhile we steal away their very childhood.

We tell kids to follow their heart and that truth is whatever they want it to be. Don’t tell them no. Gentle parenting, remember? Just redirect. They don’t need to obey. When they misbehave, we label them with some disorder instead of calling it sin. We take away God, discipline, values, and morality and then we’re somehow surprised when we see the consequences of that.

Our boys play video games in isolation for hours upon hours while they use guns to shoot real or cartoon characters. Kids spend hours watching things that glorify evil and darkness. Then we pretend it won’t affect them.

Parents don’t care enough (or “don’t have the time”) to instill value and worth in their children at home. So they’re faced with an identity crisis. They join whatever group gives them attention or helps them fit in. We tell them it’s normal to switch genders or be both genders or whatever it is their heart desires. Then we applaud them and pay for their life-altering surgeries while we ignore the statistics that show most plummet into regret, depression, and suicide.

As they grow, they give into peer pressure or the allure of a new experience and try smoking and drugs. They don’t have parents who have time to check up on them. It’s easy to hide. They don’t have a family at home who is providing them with acceptance and fun times together so they have to find them somewhere else. Then they face a lifetime of addiction. We shrug it off and call to decriminalize it. It’s no big deal. Just a coping mechanism.

We cry about these 10 year old children while simultaneously fighting for their deaths if it was 2012 and they were tucked away in the “safety” of their mommy’s wombs. We shout about how banning abortions will only ban safe abortions while claiming gun laws will somehow stop these people from obtaining a weapon.

We throw out morality and turn our backs on God’s rules, His design, and His way and then somehow act surprised when one of these children walks into a school intent on killing 4th graders. It’s horrible. It’s heartbreaking. But it’s not surprising. And we should expect it. This is the result of unrestrained, evil hearts. Access to guns did not create this problem. We’ve created this problem. Our God-hating, self-worshipping, reprobate culture.

And the Bible told us these evil days were coming. Days like the days of Noah. We won’t change the culture or the world as a whole. So what can we do?

Pray that the Gospel might shine a light in Texas through this tragedy. Hold on and fight against these cultural norms in your families. Christians are just as guilty of many of these things. Stand firm on the Word of God and do not waver. Be ready to be used by God to change individual hearts with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pass on your faith to another generation. And do your best to snatch any children God puts in your path (in your church, your family, your classroom, your home, your team) out of the fire of this culture.