Fighting for a Generation

I feel the need to respond. Now, normally I would let something like this go. But there seems to be a need for a pastoral response.

First, I need to clarify. I love this country and those who have dearly given their lives for what it represents. I am in full support of constitutional rights and the protection it brings against government corruption. I understand the hesitancy for change within a system and the fear of general policy that effects a small portion of the population.

That being said, I am absolutely for individuals having the right to own guns. However, something needs to be said when individuals who are in places of influence blame video games and porn instead of addressing the issue.

If you look at the maps of mass shooting happening within schools just this year, the majority of them happen in America’s south particularly with young men. Is anybody asking why this is? Apparently some are and their answers are violent video games and porn.

So as a pastor, how do I respond to this? Well, there is always a measure that the world is broken and the darkness of evil exists. This is true and we must grieve what has been stolen from us while we eagerly await the fullness of God’s kingdom.

However, there is another answer. This has to do with culture that we create. Follow me for a second.

If most of the shooters are boys going through adolescence, then we have to conclude that the response of these shootings (as compared with adult mass shootings) are the result of confused emotions and misdirected frustrations rather than broadly categorized mental illness.

So what is the real issue? There are multiple factors which must be addressed. Obviously, these are happening in a cultural milieu in which we live. Social media pushes expectations on us and young men are growing up even more with a sense that they cannot live up to the standard. Now complicate this with the easy access to guns and a home environment in which dealing with conflict is not modeled well, not to mention the greater culture pushing the need to take back what is ours, and we end up with violence being a viable option for their internal turmoil.

To blame video games as the reason for desensitizing our youth ignores the fact that the primary sensitizing and processing of our emotions and experience in life happens in the home.

So instead of blame shifting, we really need to own the fact that we are creating this. We must own the fact that our rhetoric, our blaming of others, and our cultural expectations are damaging. We need to help our young navigate a very chaotic and complicated existence.

It is striking to me just how quickly this whole thing gets played off as political agendas and constitutional rights. It is true that people use these scenarios as leverage for their agendas. However, caring about a policy more than the person in front of us says more about our culture than any policy does.

So what would it look like if we fought for lives instead of agendas? What would it look like to start fighting for a generation instead of fighting for ourselves?

Let me put it this way, if one of our children abuse the use of something, do we not remove it from them until they can learn to use it properly? So how is it that people cannot self-regulate when they are responsible for the misuse. Again, I am not addressing mental illness and access to guns. I am addressing children who cannot have access (because the law is already in place) unless granted to them by an adult.

Honestly, it is time that something be done. And that something is not arming teachers or banning the constitutional right to bear arms. That something starts with us. (That us includes everyone by the way – parents, governmental officials, people in the media outlets, those part of the NRA). If we are irresponsible with what we are creating for the next generation, we are the only ones who can fix it. This means that parents with guns have just as much weight of responsibility as those in influence. It also means those in influence are just as responsible as if the guns are in their own house.

To be truthful, I never thought as a pastor that I would have to write an article like this. I never thought I would hear people blame insignificant things and the stories of children in order to justify their agenda. I also never thought those who have guns to be so flippant with the experience of those in front of us who are grieving and hurting.

At the end of the day I feel kind of helpless. I know that most of you that read my articles are mostly going to agree with me and are those who would do what you can to make a difference. But I also know that this cannot end with a group.

So as a pastor this is my plea: May we begin to fight for a generation instead of using a generation in order to fight for our agenda.