No Joke

Zombies, perverts in airport security, and now the movie theater seats show the same criminal genius as the movie theater screen. Where did it start?

Rather than thinking legal/policy, just for a moment, connect the spiritual dots. The music and entertainment industry’s blatant agenda, tolerance without wisdom, hate is everywhere, immorality defended, murder aliased abortion, spite for the Ten Commandments…  “Religious rules only oppress people,” they say. What’s wrong with forbidding murder? Wouldn’t it have been nice if the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not commit murder,” had been welcome in a Colorado theater at midnight on July 20?

Movies don’t kill people. Guns don’t kill people. Baseball bats don’t kill people. People kill people. Human beings give power to tools and inspiration  of death and sadness—and we give such power through participation and tolerance of sin. What about giving power to tools and inspiration of Life? We can’t outlaw love for morals, then ban weapons of crime anymore than we can demand more jobs while punishing employers who create those jobs. Bible haters make themselves suspect in such times as these. So do bickering Christians, which only makes society want to get rid of the Christian book! You don’t need to thump the Bible—I don’t. But decent people don’t want to outlaw morality… unless they’re planning something. Whether you’re a Bible thumper or you’re a Bible hater, are you “The Joker’s” unwitting accomplice?

Every good person in America wants airports and streets to be secure. It’s abuse of that security they object to. The TSA won’t admit their reversed priorities, so they assume it’s security people object to… because we’ve tolerated so much immorality that “it couldn’t be TSA’s immorality people object to” right? I’m inclined to say: We need airport security, so get the TSA out and get a real security force. Crime has only increased under Big Sister’s watch, after all. But we shouldn’t go there. TSA problems weren’t caused by Big Sister. The problem goes to the overall sin of society—and all we can do to solve sin is repent. We can only be harmed by sin if we participate in sin. The government bears just as much responsibility for America’s problems as the people who elected the leaders of that government. It takes two to fight. Invasion and perversion. Those words describe most every problem America has—whether America is the victim or the instigator—whether Church or State or School or Security or Business or Family.

I don’t mean to get into debates about which wars are right or wrong, nor am I proposing or opposing specific legislation or policies in this article. Rather, we need to stop blaming TSA, DHS, Obama, Bush, Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, Communists, Tea Parties, Baptists, and Pentecostals. We need to look at the simple words that describe our problems comprehensively. That’s where the sin is. Laws are necessary, so is theology, but our laws and statements of faith have no power over sin. We, as individual Americans, must repent of individual sins we’ve been collectively harboring and turn to the commands of the Lord: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. Only after we do that will our written solutions be able to work. We might even see the TSA become effective and the denominational lines vanish. Wouldn’t that be a miracle!

Until then, we’ll just keep hating each other. Maybe we should repent for that also.

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