For it is by grace you have been saved...

Monday, April 23, 2007

Gun Control or Sin Control

The liberal wags didn’t take long to begin honking their gun control horn in response to the tragedy of last week. The typical party line is that if this maniac didn’t have access to a gun, none of this would have happened.

Along those lines, one could argue that if England had instituted stricter knife control legislation, Jack the Ripper would have been out of business. Or maybe if Rome had legislated more restrictions on lion usage, thousands of Christians wouldn’t have died in the Coliseum.

Of course those are ridiculous statements; just as ridiculous as those who want to blame this tragedy on the gun. Let’s face it: mankind is depraved. And because mankind is depraved, we will continue to find new and horrifying ways to exhibit that depravity.

Horrific crimes happen every day without the use of guns (and that’s not even taking into consideration the number of murders that happen each day in the legally protected medical sterility of our nation’s abortuaries). The choice of weapon is not the issue. The blackness of man’s heart is.

Our nation needs to once again wake up to the reality that our only hope is in Christ. Only Christ can make the heart new. Only Christ can remake us into people who would rather love than kill. Apart from grace in Christ, we are no better than the Cho’s of this world.

There, I said it. My wife told me not to, but it’s true. “There but for the grace of God go I” is not just a cliché. Without the grace of God at work in our hearts, each and every one of us is a slave to sin (Romans 6), and slaves to sin can be led to do any number of horrific things, including murder. It’s there in your heart whether you realize it or not. And only Christ can remove it.

Our nation isn’t in need of stricter gun laws; we need to remove the restrictions on the Gospel that have been slowly creeping into the national law books. We are in need of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Nothing else will change the black heart of sin.

So let’s get going Church. Push for more “sin control.” Preach the Word. Make Disciples. And to God be the Glory.

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