Gun Violence in America

France24 has details on today's school shooting in Iowa.

I pray in Jesus’ name that God will give us both the wisdom and the courage to act on the wisdom He gives to end the tragic nonsense of gun violence in our country.

No other advanced Western-style democracy deals with gun violence to the extent that we do in America.

Is there more mental illness in America than in other countries? The data I’ve seen suggests that’s not the case. What the definitive answers might be, I don’t claim to know.

Many of the answers will be rendered in the country's political life and, as a pastor, I stay out of politics.

But, as a Christian who cherishes all human life, just as I pray babies will be kept safe in their mother’s wombs, I pray too that those babies, grown older, will also be kept safe in classrooms.

A Prayer for the United States after the Las Vegas Massacre

Lord, have mercy. Comfort the families and friends of the dead. Heal the wounded. Free us from the scourge of violence and our national addiction to it. In Jesus' name.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. Living Water is a congregation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).

A Bumper Sticker That Made Me Sick

At a red light earlier this evening, I stopped behind a car with a bumper sticker that said, "Make hockey violent again." The sentiment expressed on another bumper sticker on that car indicated to me that the first one was not ironic, not meant as a joke.

And it made me a little sick at heart.

Today of all days, with 58 people dead and 527 more injured after a mass shooting in Las Vegas, the last thing I want to see in America is a bumper sticker calling for more violence, especially in a sport already marked by gratuitous violence.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. Living Water is a congregation of the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).

"Celebratory Gunfire"...Really?

I found it jarring when I was in my hometown of Columbus last week to see a billboard imploring people not to engage in "celebratory gunfire"!

Celebratory gunfire? That's a thing in the United States?

I remember seeing video of Saddam Hussein and his cronies firing off "celebratory gunfire" several times. But I didn't imagine that anyone would be so stupid as to fire off guns to celebrate in this country. Especially in city or suburban areas, where the chances of harming a child are so great.

I'm told that there have been incidents of "celebratory gunfire" in Columbus.

One of my sisters also told me that she saw an interview with a fellow who lives in Ross County, to the south of Columbus, who said that he didn't see the problem with celebrating the new year by firing off a few rounds. When a reporter reminded him that it was illegal to discharge a weapon in such a way within city limits, the fellow said that he didn't think it was so bad if people did it once a year.

He meant, I suppose that when you're happy (and possibly a bit inebriated) on New Year's, it's OK to shoot bullets into the air. Whatever makes you happy, right?

Except, of course, bullets have a way of hitting innocent bystanders and what results is something other than celebratory for them and their families.

Frankly, I think it's nuts that people would even think to fire off a gun to "celebrate."

And the fact that we have to be told that "celebratory gunfire" isn't a good thing is even more nuts!

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Renewed violence in Chicago...and the violence of a nihilist culture

This recent sobering report from PBS on gun violence in Chicago, I think, points rightly to several of the phenomenon's culprits: separation from opportunities and long-term hopelessness rooted in racism.

But more is at play, I believe in the increase in Chicago shootings. It's a factor in world culture today evidenced in different ways among affluent whites, young males in different countries, dishonest people on the make, indifferent sexual partners, and others.

It's what I call nihilism, a belief that nothing matters but being more, having more, conquering more.

As the report points out, the gang members killing each other in Chicago aren't motivated, as members were in the past, to protect their turf, a stupid reason to shoot someone anyway. Now, they're just shooting when someone insults them, crosses them, or gets in their way.

When nothing but you and your survival are threatened, life becomes expendable, cheap. Especially other people's lives. The answer to the question posed by the world's first murderer to God--"Am I my brother's keeper?"--should be obvious to everyone. Of course, we are all our brothers' and our sisters' keepers. Our lives are undeserved gifts from God; caring for each other is one way we express our gratitude for the gift.

Nihilism drives terrorism, dirty business dealings, and cavalier attitudes about sex and family, among other things.

Our penchant for it is inborn. But much in today's culture says it's getting the upper hand.

I believe that the solutions to these issues are many and varied--economic, cultural, social.

But I also believe strongly that every effort to subdue nihilism and promote community and justice will fail unless there is also a transformation of people's hearts and minds.

And that, I believe, can only come from the God we know in Christ.

Christ is the essential factor and the linchpin for any good to come out of any evil. He won't make any of us nor any society on this planet perfect if we turn from evil--evils like racism, indifference, and nihilism.

But when we surrender to Him daily, He begins to change the way we look at others and ourselves. He starts to transform us from the inside out.

Let's pray for an end to violence and pray for our neighbors whoever they are.

Let's pray for an end to institutionalized racism.

Let's do our own bit to contribute to justice and mercy in this world.

Let's love God and our neighbors practically every day.

Let's ask God to renew and revive us through the saving work He's done through Jesus.

Let's trust in Christ and ask Him to make us over in His image.

To find out more about this new life Christ can give to us, keep reading this blog. I write about it all the time. I even try to live it.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]

Another senseless tragedy

A six year old, Jacob Hall, died today. He had been shot this past week as he was heading for the playground at the elementary school he attended. The shooter was a teen who had earlier killed his father and who, after shooting Jacob, drove to the high school he attended and opened fire on people there.

According to The Washington Post:

Jacob Hall had been in critical condition on life support since Wednesday, when he, another student and a teacher were wounded at Townville Elementary School, about 40 miles west of Greenville, S.C.

A bullet struck the boy’s leg as he burst through the school door for recess, striking his femoral artery. He was resuscitated twice and underwent surgery, but he bled so much from the wound that it caused brain damage.

I offer no political opinions here.

But, while homicides are generally down in the United States, we do have a disturbing problem with these kinds of shootings and killings.

They happen at schools, universities, shopping malls, and movie theaters with sickening frequency.

Other first world countries, I'm sure, have as many disturbed people per capita as the United States. But this kind of thing happens with far less regularity in other advanced nations than it does here. The carnage thus appears unnecessary.

I pray that God will give us the wisdom to find the combination of solutions needed to end this horrible scourge. It's almost unbearable to think that more parents and loved ones, like the parents and family of Jacob Hall, should face what they're now going through if we can find ways to prevent such tragedies.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio.]