More tragedy? I've had enough...

I'm tired of reading about gun control issues.  I'm tired of ridiculous ideas such as arming teachers or principals in elementary schools where children are supposed to go to be safe.  The rhetoric around assault weapons and their connections to these rash of school shootings has worn me down.  The conversations on social media are really only of limited help since the people talking often are not talking to one another...

Why don't we stop talking about the symptoms of the problem and deal with the cause:  Evil.
Yes, evil exists in the world.  It has existed for some time, it still exists today, and I am afraid will be around for some time to come.  Evil excels at finding new ways to shock us as it creatively seeks paths, avenues, and people to twist and corrupt until we have the terrible situations that exist in the world.

Since this is the Christmas season, I found myself reading the birth story of Jesus- you know what happened shortly after he was born?  Herod ordered the deaths of all male babies under the age of 2 in attempt to kill Jesus.  His parents fled to Egypt of all places to escape.  Even Jesus, the Son of God, could not escape evil.  He could not escape it as an infant.  He had to deal with it in his earthly ministry.  And ultimately, evil brought him to die on a cross.  Fortunately, his death revealed the limitations of evil and asserted forever that God's love has the capacity and power to overcome the power of evil that would lead to death.

And even with this witness, evil continues to spread it ugliness in our world.  Let's be honest about this past tragedy- this one man's access to the weapons in his possession helped inflate the tragedy of those children and adults who were killed.  The access the shooter had to guns and ammunition made it easier for him to kill and to kill over and over.  However, it was not those guns that made the decision to start his spree against innocent children and teachers and no amount of control will be able to stop evil people from performing evil acts.

Don't allow the symptoms of these issues to distract us from the nature of this conversation.  Our desire to empty the world of evil can only be accomplished as we fill the world with love.