Viewpoint: Collective change of thought now possible

By the Rev. Kim Latterell, Creator Lutheran Church of Bonney Lake, creatorpastor@comcast.net
 

We can change. It’s happened before on grand scales. A whole nation can find itself at a tipping point and then move en masse in a new direction. A couple of infamous occasions come to mind. One person puts poison in Tylenol bottles, murdering several people and then the whole packaging industry gets new regulations about safety seals. Another person puts a bomb in his shoe, fails to detonate it, but hundreds of millions of people are suddenly willing to take their shoes off at airport check-ins. Suddenly, widespread and willing change can and does happen, all for the sake of safety.

Which brings us to gun-safety laws. After more than 30 years of lobbying
by the National Rifle Association to restrict or abolish reasonable and constitutional actions to limit and track gun sales to civilians, Sandy Hook’s tragic
destruction of innocent children may finally prove to be the tipping point of change
for us as a nation. Oddly enough it remains an uphill battle, yet one that
may finally have the not only the attention but the support of the majority of
Americans who realize that the Second Amendment right to possess and bear
arms in not unconditional.

My pastoral concern centers on the huge numbers of Christians who as yet so vociferously defend the possession and use of assault-type weapons and the stockpiling of ammunition for defense against home invasion and the perceived risk of tyranny. It is an odd stance to take for those who embrace the love and teachings of Jesus. In place of his call to love and pray for enemies, turn the cheek, and lay down one’s life rather than take the life of another, many Christians seem to rather follow the teachings of the NRA, wherein every person, every school and institution, every street corner should be guarded by weaponry, every threat shot dead. Love of guns takes the place of love of neighbors. The rabid language and fervor to defend the purchase of more and more guns by citizens and by Christians is strikingly unfaithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We can change. Perhaps Christians could finally choose to lead the way, rather than go astray.