Guest Opinion: Sandy Hook and Gun Control. Can Lawmakers Stop the Killings?
point to the 2008 figures from the American Religious Identification Survey that, although showing a decline, still say that 76% of Americans define themselves as "Christians". A recent Gallup poll was interpreted to show a decrease in the number of Americans who are "pro-choice", but that conclusion was inaccurate. What the poll said was, "Since 2001, at least half of Americans have consistently chosen the middle position, saying abortion should be legal under certain circumstances, and the 52% saying this today is similar to the 50% in May 2011. The 25% currently wanting abortion to be legal in all cases and the 20% in favor of making it illegal in all cases are also similar to last year's findings."
The reality is that a large majority, 77 percent, of Americans support abortion being legal in all or "certain circumstances," and just 20 percent of Americans are actually "pro-life" in the sense that they do not support legalized abortion under any circumstances. In other words, most Americans are actually pro-choice even if they sometimes identify themselves as being pro-life. There are actually more Americans who think abortion should be legal in all circumstances (25 percent) than think it should be illegal in all circumstances (20 percent). How does this square with the 76% who define themselves as Christians?
The answer would appear to be that people no longer know what it means to be Christian any more than they know what it means to be pro life. We have systematically re-created God in our own image, applying the same relativism to His Commandments that modern day jurists apply to what they consider a "living" Constitution. In this juridical wonderland, laws have no historical, or in the case of the Commandments, eternal, validity; they mean only what their interpreters decide they mean.
This issue arose in Jesus' time as well. In Matthew 19:3 we read: "Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?" He said in reply, "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate." They said to him, "Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss (her)?" He said to them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries commits adultery."
In other words, the people had overwhelmed poor Moses and simply would not abide by God's law, so he gave up and acquiesced to their demands. This is what has in fact happened in our "Christian" churches due to Modernism - one by one the precepts of the faith have been bludgeoned to death by an increasingly self-occupied "faithful" who insist that God's law is no longer "relevant" and must be "progressive" to be in touch with the changes in society. Jesus, however, threw a wet blanket on that sort of thinking. He in effect told them that regardless of what may "seem" reasonable to them, like eating the apple "seemed" reasonable to Eve, divorce was a sin. Period.
Abortion, whether it is promoted by people who quibble about when the embryo or fetus becomes a "person", or whether they talk about how "unfair" it would be to the mother to raise an "unwanted" child, particularly if that child was the result of incest or rape, or whether they bemoan how much work and expense would be wasted on raising a child with a disease or deformity that could easily be diagnosed in utero, is similarly always and everywhere wrong, because it is the murder of an innocent child. It is what it is.
In some primitive societies, such as the Aztecs in Mexico, human sacrifice by horrific means, such as cutting out the living heart of the victims, was carried out on a grand scale. The citizenry was forced to witness this, under penalty of death, in order to inure them to this sort of carnage. The same sort of habituation is being promoted by our pro-abortion government. It has now gone so far that businesses owned by pro-life Christians are being forced to pay for insurance that includes coverage for contraception and abortion for its employees. Tax dollars are being used to fund abortions, and abortion has been redefined from the killing of an innocent child to a "maternal health" service.
In this sort of moral vacuum, where even the most precious and basic freedom, that of life itself, is no longer respected, a society that is increasingly violent and barbaric is bound to arise. We see the effects of that culture daily, and that is the real problem we face. Even if all the guns in the world suddenly disappeared, the carnage would not cease. The Chinese assailants had no guns, the Aztecs had no guns, and Planned Parenthood uses no guns. Perhaps the boy in Connecticut who killed his mother thought that if the law permitted his mother to kill him in, or on the way out of, her womb, he should have the same right. Indeed, some radicals have already said that this no-fault killing period should extend into infancy.
If we truly want to prevent further school shootings in this nation, we need to stop fooling ourselves with utopian "feel good" solutions like passing some more anti-gun legislation. We need to look inward and see that, as Pogo famously said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
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Dr. Frederick Liewehr is an endodontist who teaches and works in private practice. He converted from Protestantism to Catholicism in 1983, having been drawn ineluctably to Christ's Church by the light of Truth. He is a member of St. Benedict parish in Richmond, a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus and a Cooperator of Opus Dei.
- - -
Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.
Keywords: Sandy Hook, Newtown, Gun Control, Massacre, President Obama, Dr. Frederick Liewehr
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And by the way, son... here's a little more reality for you. I don't care what video games you've aced, how good you are at paintball, or what movies you've seen. The TRUTH is, until the shooting actually starts, you have NO IDEA- NONE- how you're actually going to react. Not a CLUE. I've seen much more arrogant and confrontational people than you cave, and far more docile and even meek people become heroes than you can imagine. Better get that part straight before you presume to lecture a veteran, kid: you don't know. Anything. You have no idea what it's like, and you have no idea- though you THINK you do- how you'll behave. Learn to communicate with some respect... if not for your elders, than for your betters.
Jason? My man... reality check time, kid. I'm a doisabled veteran, wounded in combat. Tell me more about how you're gonna serve the country, and know all about gun violence. I'm ready to be judged now.
Really? The gun is and was used to kill, so as long as i have a gun? I will have the right to protect myself. The Church TODAY- Not in the bible- Allows us to be in the armed forces which means that they are excusing people from killing. That allows for gun use. That allows for me, Since i'm willing, to join the military, which i will do. I will be one of the thousands that keep your sorry little beanbags safe at home typing hate comments while playing XBox in your mother's basemnet with no job living off of obama.
The Bible is quite clear as to what God expects us to use as "the weapons of our warfare." He discusses "The breastplate of righteousness... the helmet of salvation... the sword of the Spirit, etc.
In fact, the only "weapons" the scriptures authorize the believer to carry- despite the efforts of some to equate the average citizen with the soldier or policeman, or to justify their own deadly weapon by misuse of Jesus comment about a sword... no... the ONLY weapons we're authorized by scrioture are spiritual ones. Nowhere does it mention the assault rifle of personal vengeance, or the nine millimeter handgun of saving your own butt, or the shotgun of defending personal beliongings that Jesus told us wwe should always be ready to part with anyway.
No. There is no justification for the idea of a gun for "defense." Not in the Bible, not in our faith, not among a people who claim so stridently to be "pro life" with regard to the behavior of others. Simply, NO.
Honestly, we're all at least one form of a christian sect or another. So seriously, Jerry, Sara,
LAY OFF and quit spammin the comments about taxes. Because I just looked at it and said, what a waste of time. And Jerry? The first use of the gun? IT WAS TO KILL. Not to shoot in the air like a terrorist. TO KILL! that means YOU are wrong.
This issue, like so many others, devloves into a political side show....it will pass and we can continue to consume weapons of warfare to our heart's content.
yes, the Church teaches against violence, war (although they teach about just war), death penalty, with rare exceptions, and prays for peace.REAL PEACE. all good.
But force to stop an aggressor is also teaching, explained in the Summa Theologica and the catechism. Not all people who are stopped with a gun are killed, as we still do not have freedom to just plug people with holes just to plug people with holes. Some are stopped from the agression just by knowing it is there.
If the Church teaches as Karl is implying, then the Pope would have no security carrying semiauto weapons, or swords for that matter. Those guys are Catholic guarding him, right? and they do have guns.We assume they are not prolife? Let's be real. Then, the Pope would not be pro life? Hey America, the Pope is only pro birth!
(how many guns does the President have in his house, by the way. He's not pro life, then just on this fact, right?and when he said he was glad he had guys with guns around his daughters-oh the humanity!).
Right, we cannot pick and choose who lives and who dies (unless you are a mother who does not want her unborn child) (or a citizen that the administration would deem a threat, without due process if need be-Habeus, who needs him). (how's that gonna work for future health care, by the way-I'm not too sure about that)
But the result of death, in the case of legitimate self defense is an unintended effect, as taught by the Church. Would we not either be able to defend someone with our arms, our fists, I've seen death result in that too.
But no, peace-loving, pro life gun owners in America are now being treated as the agressors-anti life. (You know Holder says we must brain wash people into thinking things like this)You hear the calls to shoot and kill these people. There is no excuse for this. This should be condemned by legislators on both sides. But I think the government rather likes this fevered pitch, so it can have more excuse to take extreme measures, just like when they thought blacks shouldn't have guns in this country. They couldn't be trusted to protect themselves or their families wth guns either.
many police officers and others I know have guns in their homes-some even carry at Mass on Sundays, (by the imprinting I see). Some even encourage their spouse to protect themselves when they are on duty. A judge I know, recently held someone at bay with his Glock 45 after a break in in his home. I wouldn't conclude he was not prolife-no one died there. Gosh, never heard that from my pastor or bishop that they are all against life.
Murder, as Karls says abortion is, on the other hand would indicate an premeditated intent to kill a human being. This is never condoned by the Church. There is no teaching on prudential judgements here. It is mal en se, (unlike an innanimate object in the home) and no government should promote this, by common reasoning of natural law. and no Catholic polititians should promote it either.No Catholic citizens, if they know thier faith and live it should promote it either. Taxes providing for these inhumane acts are gravely immoral. Forcing the Church to directly provide for anti-life procecures is also gravely immoral. We, as Catholic, need to keep ALL of these things in mind when government is making decisions on account of us, especially when claiming crisis situations and by- passing normal debate. and we must be aware of those who try and twist our faith, and the intent of the 2nd amendment.
Look... either you've got a gun for protection or dou don't, and if you do, the simple truth is that its purpose is to kill a human being... you cannot say "Kill him" and "Pro life" and be reasonable, Sara. It's just not truth.. You're either pro LIFE or you're not. This is why the Church DOES teach against violence, does condemn war, does condemn capital punishment, and why we pray for peace. you don't get to choose who is worthy of life and who isn't; you're either pro LIFE or you're not.
Thank God all our mothers were pro birth at least once! Amen, let us celebrate pro birth-after all, it is the Christmas season-the time of our dear Savior's birth
By your logic, Karl, even the Pope would not be pro life.
this is not Christian teaching of my faith, nor anything close to 2nd amendment rights of our Constitution, based on thousands of years of common law practice.
I live and work in a world surrounded by death,drugs, violence, and poverty-the wounded, young and old, in body and spirit, bed bugs, bullet holes and all, surround me. Few see what is really happening in the bowels of society, including babies, living and dead in toilets, the lost and forgotten children in America, many of which no statistics are collected for. It is all too real for me, but of course they are just blobs, so I should feel nothing in my conscience for them, or their mothers who suffer their loss.
What I see contributing most to this violence and disorder is a tremendous spiritual poverty.
The children live without structure or positive family life. Someone coud be dying infront of them, but as long as they can still watch Oprah on their tv, they really don't give a crap (no lie). It is sad to see this loss for all of humanity.
The answer will not be found where this government looks for answers.
This is a government of the culture of death; its agents have given weapons to criminals. (including the weapon of money to the likes of those who kill the young in the womb)
I have killed no one with a gun, nor do I intend to.
(On the other hand, I do have a freezer full of venison).
KarlVDH: "The sole purpose of the thing, then, is to kill another human being."
Karl just added another rather obvious lie to the plethora of unrepentant lies he has already posted in this discussion thread.
Anyone with even a modest intellect can name a dozen or more productive and safe uses for privately owned firearms, including the main one which is to protect life. It is exceedingly pro-life and pro-liberty to also be pro-2nd Amendment rights.