Nena Arias | June 28, 2021
“If you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you,
but you must rule over it.”
(Genesis 4:7)
I have been appalled at hearing of how many innocent people are getting assaulted on the streets of our cities for no apparent reason. Someone just decides to aggressively beat a passerby or at a traffic light they just start shooting. The random mass shootings happening at family gatherings and other events and venues is increasing. Silly idiotic things like a waitress not getting the order right triggers some lunatic to assault, mistreat or even start shooting. At a nail salon a lady shot the owner due to a discussion over prices. Several mass shootings have been reported, including the murder of spa and massage workers in the Atlanta area and a grocery-store massacre in Boulder, Colorado. We can no longer say, as we could just a short while ago, that we are living in the safest country in the world.
All misdeeds have their origin in sin. The complexity of sin is what we have to grapple with every day. This has been part of human history since the fall of humans into sin. But what is happening when crime and violence are on the rise and authorities seem powerless to stop it or at least slow it down? What is left when people lose respect for their fellow human beings and authorities and even attack law and order officers. Some lawbreakers do get arrested but are soon set free and suffer no real consequences for their lawless acts.
We know that unless a person feels the impact of the consequences befitting their crime, they won’t stop. Just like a spoiled child who doesn’t get properly disciplined in their behavior, they grow up spoiled, unruly, uncontrollable and lawless.
If a slap on the wrist and a short jail time is all criminals get it does nothing to deter them and is not incentive enough to change their wrong behavior. It also encourages others to break the law when they see that others have not paid severe enough consequences for violating the law and hurting others.
Life goes upside down when we ignore, disrespect or rebel against God and his structure for life.
God’s Word is the perfect rulebook to guide us on knowing how to deal with crime and violence. All significant misdeeds whatever they may be are dealt with in the Bible. We are told how to eradicate lawlessness from among us.
This past year, much of the crime and violence has been falsely attributed to the effects of this global pandemic. There’s no doubt that the effects of the pandemic go deep with so much loss of life, economy, business and education. But the solution is never to pull away from our fellow human beings and hurt one another rather to draw closer to one another and help each other the best way we can. When that doesn’t happen, the only other conclusion we can come to is rebellion of the heart and people opting to choose pure godlessness above decency.
At heart, rebellious people always want to blame others for their misbehavior. The excuse Adam gave to God was first to blame the women, Eve, for why he fell into sin. Eve blamed the serpent. Since then, it is the pattern most people follow to try to justify why they do what they do. The modern mentality is infected with the Freudian view that bad behavior is always the result of the wrong behavior of others toward us, our environmental surroundings and the sex drive. Making it easy for people to reason away their wrong way of living.
Without a doubt this huge surge of violence among the citizenry is making this year the most violent year of the century in our communities all across the country. We must humble ourselves and acknowledge our rebellion before God with a repentant heart and turn from our wicked ways so we can have God’s aid in turning away from this disastrous path we are on. We must re-educate the younger generations with virtues, morals, and ethics from God’s life manual—the Bible. People can squirm and reject that thought all they want to, but it won’t change the fact that only God’s order for life is the one that works in all generations.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
(2 Chronicles 7:14)