We are just days removed from the shooting in Los Vegas that uselessly and shamefully took the lives of 59 people and injured 500 more. Our hearts grieve with the families of the victims. Many are asking, “Why do crimes like these continue to happen, and happen more frequently?” Of course ideas abound, from lax gun laws to a lack of psychological counseling. But there was a day when we had neither, and crimes of this nature were almost unheard of, at least in America. Common sense suggests that we take a look at what has changed in the intervening era.
Perhaps the most notable change in these passing years has been our bent on getting God and “religion” out of the hearts and minds of the cascading generations. The premise for such a change has been the misconstrued and misrepresented first amendment, which has been foolishly defined as “Separation of Church and State.” These brief paragraphs are not sufficient to explain, but let it suffice to say that our founding fathers had something drastically different in mind. They knew that a nation without God would soon cease to be a nation.
Secondly, there was a day when even those who professed no faith in God were respectful of the principles of right and wrong found in His Word. In our day, children and adults find murder, carnage and immorality entertaining. Video games, movies, and other media bombard the moral gates of society. Our unrestrained appetites of the flesh gorge themselves. Shooting innocent people in real life is simply living out the fantasy that is composed in the minds of the godless.
When Israel of old had strayed from God and were declining, God told them, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2Chronicles 7:14).”