The precious little children of the Newtown massacre have not even been buried yet and we are hearing about more laws and regulations so “this kind of thing never happens again.”
But can you regulate morality? Can more laws regulate the evil in a person’s heart? Can stricter gun laws diminish hate? Reverse revenge? Dispel anger?
I heard Governor Mike Huckabee observe in a recent interview that we already have a law to stop such crimes as occurred in Newtown. It’s called “thou shalt not kill.”
There is an ironic twist to the calls for regulation to “stop the violence.”
In the past fifty years, I have repeatedly heard that “you can’t legislate morality” when it comes to issues relating to pornography, homosexuality, or vulgarity in the media. People have the right to expression. A freedom to choose. A right to sexual expression. In fact, any suggestion of laws that limits abortion invades a woman’s privacy. Limits her freedom “to choose.” Invades the freedom of her body.
Yet, we can somehow regulate the evil in heart of a madman?
It is also ironic that our politicians, pundits and cultural leaders think that we can enact legislation that will curb violent acts of evil doers all the while encouraging a culture that is permissive, individualistic, and hedonistic.
Long ago the Bible issued a principle that cannot be ignored.
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.” (Gal. 6:7-8)
In the past 50 years we have sown to the flesh. God’s marriage laws have been ignored. Divorce is accepted. Single parent homes are the norm. Entertainment out of Hollywood has become crude, lewd and violent. Condoms are dispensed in schools instead of Bibles. Sexual activity among our youth is not only accepted, but encouraged. God has been removed from the public square. Evolution is the accepted answer for our existence. And Creationism is ridiculed. Christianity is mocked. The Bible is dismissed as outdated and old-fashioned. And anyone who would dare to speak up in favor of the Judeo-Chrisitan values on which our country was founded is denounced in the most vitriolic and vulgar manner.
More laws. Stricter regulations. Tighter controls. These won’t solve our problems. The sickness of our society is spiritual. A return to Jehovah God is the only answer. Through the prophet Isaiah, God called a corrupt Israel to return to Him. “If My people who are called by My name will 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.” The principle of the ancient plea is needed today in the 21st century.
The hatred in a person’s heart that leads to evil and even murder is as old as civilization. When the Savior of the world was born, King Herod, jealous of his power and worried about his position ordered all little boys murdered under the age of two. Jeremiah’s prophecy was unfortunately fulfilled in sad circumstances.
“A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.”(Jer 31:15)
Enacting more laws won’t work. Cursing the darkness is not the answer. Isolationism isn’t what God wants. More than ever Christians are called to be the light of the world. The salt of the earth. The influence for good in the midst of evil. We must point a lost world the one and only Savior who can redeem us from evil, restore our soul, and return us to God. May the reign of Christ rule in our hearts and regulate our lives.
–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman
