Tragedy in Parkland, Florida. Another School Shooting
It was not long ago that we reacted to the mass shootings in Las Vegas or at Pulse nightclub. Senseless tragedies. Situations where nothing appropriate can be said, except this should never be allowed to happen. When it happens at a school and children are killed, its even more tragic.
Yesterday, it happened in our State, in our second-most populous County. It really hit home.
The mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was the worst school shooting since Sandy Hook Elementary five years ago. Five years ago! Nothing has been done in five years! No gun control measures, no new laws, nothing at all!
Our politicians’ standard reaction in these situations is to say, “our thoughts and prayers go out” to the victims and their families, but what are their “thoughts” and “prayers” going to do to fix this problem? Florida politicians push useless bills to satisfy and enrich the lobbyists and themselves, but completely ignore underlying problems and turn a blind eye to empirical evidence.
As Judge Mark Walker considers the voting rights of felons in Florida, I sincerely hope the Court will recognize how meaningful and important this right is!
Yes allowing convicted felons to vote will help balance our government , because we know our mistakes and know better than this never in trouble what led up to our bad decision making
More prevention and teaching mental health counseling would be huge.
It is a tragedy that this young man with mental issues took so many lives, but the focus needs to be on mental health, not gun control. He was expelled from the school, other students called him a loner, and according to police there were many warning signs posted on his social media accounts. This country has a mental health problem, and more laws aren’t going to fix that – just like a sex offender registry doesn’t prevent first time offenders or reduce recidivism & mental health care does.
J.C., this issue is polarizing, but government needs to consider the views and opinions of ALL those impacted by their laws. I agree that every position is entitled to be taken into consideration and count.
This comment is truthful and correct thank you writing it
How do we lobby Tallahassee ???
Thanks again
I would support the idea of hiring armed veterans to secure all schools.
Wouldn’t that help alleviate two problems at the same time?
Well we see how good gun laws stopped this from happening. He bought the gun legal. What now tougher gun laws and punishment. It doesn’t seem to matter in this case.
I just listened to the discussion about the sex offender registry mentioned in the weekly letter. They tried to defend it was needed in order to protect the children….
But this year has just begun and there have been 18 school shootings….zero protection of children….Every other day an incident. Shouldn’t we pay more attention and focus on other more dangerous situations than sex offenders?? No other country has even near as much violence as the US.
So the solution to this problem is to pass yet another batch of laws designed to restrict even more people’s civil rights? Yes, as much as you may dislike it, if you look at guns, abortion, contraception, LBGT rights, etc, only ONE of those is actually mentioned specifically in the US Constitution. But if you like, we can pass these new laws FOR THE CHILDREN. Sound familiar? It seems like the one of the biggest dangers these day to The Children are OTHER CHILDREN.
So it’s looking like a concerned citizen warned the FBI about this lunatic’s rather ominous Youtube posts back in September. Ban the interwebz!!!!!
But look at the facts that hardly any other country has weapon laws like the US. Very few people are allowed to have weapons and not every kind of weapon. Death of weapons is a quarter of that in the US. So, this proofs that it does have an effect on less tragedy.
Cry about laws as much as you wish, until your own children or loved ones will be killed by such tragedy. Hundreds of laws are created around vsex offenders and nobody seems to have a problem with that….but any other law is such a big issue.
Even if it’s about finding ways to protect the innocent…..
Bur they don’t have our Constitution.
Actually JoeM – several of the issues you mention are in the Constitution. Abortion has been part of the Constitution for many years now.
Karen, please provide me with the article of the Constitution that includes abortion…surely it’s not included in that portion of our national documents that includes “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
SCOTUS decided long ago that abortion falls under the 14th amendment.
https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-14/04-due-process-of-law.html
The Constitution does not have many articles and amendments that are specific. It was meant to be that way. However, when they constitutionality of a particular event or subject is decided it is considered a Constitutional right.
Our legislators can pass more and more laws and we will not be any safer. If a person is set on taking life the removal of guns will not have any impact. Next we will have to remove knives; then hammers; then screw drivers; then hard-back books; then bricks; then cars; then gasoline; and on and on. It’s the removal of Judeo/Christian principles in the morals of this nation that is giving us what we have. It’s nothing new. Great empires throughout history have fallen victim to the same destructive forces. What signal did the Supreme Court send to our society when it put the ‘seal of approval’ on the murder of the unborn for convenience sake? What about homosexual activity…one only has to consider what that really is to realize just how disgusting it really is? Then instead of demanding moral activity out of our young citizens we give them ‘protection’ in school so they can debauch themselves in a lifestyle so vividly encouraged by Hollywood on the silver screen. Where parents should be taking the lead in raising their children in a Godly moral atmosphere, many of the children don’t know for sure who their parents are. And our government makes it possible to sire these children for profit without responsibility. Yes, go ahead and pass more restrictive gun laws but nothing will change; only the techniques to continue this lawlessness. The people who make the laws are just as guilty as those who will ignore them.
There is one problem….it’s much easier to kill from a distance than close up. A riffle can kill more than one within seconds…with the other methods
…like a knife you can only kill one at a time…..
Also, close up the victim had better chances to fight back.
I’m very sorry for the victims and families of this senseless tragedy.Someone knew this person wasn’t right mentally and that he had guns and didn’t step forward.I lived at a time when young people left there guns in there cars or trucks or home and settled there differences with fists. To use weapons was cowardly. Who changed that?
Let’s fix this the Marci Horowitz and Ron Book way.
Everyone that has a gun must register on a public registry, list all your vehicles that you drive or have access to,never go within 1000ft of a school. Notify police if you go out of state within 24 hrs . You can’t live within 2500 ft of anywhere there are kids. Once you are on this list you will never be removed. We’ll put a notification on your drivers license and passport so you will be sure and be harassed by everyone who sees it.You won’t be able to get a job because every employer will be afraid of what others will think. Because everyone knows that if you have a gun you have killed someone ,probably hundreds of people,it just wasn’t reported because people with guns have supernatural powers and can walk through walls become invisible at will and many other things. You must go in every 90 day check in with the police dept., so they can humiliate you and waste about 4 or 5 hrs of your time because they don’t have time to deal with you. Then every few yrs we will add more restrictions to this bill for that will surely fix the problem and make me look better too.All this is absolutely necessary for the safety of the children . If you don’t go along with this ,it’s because you hate kids and want to kill them.
Thank You
Ron and Marci.
Mentality
You are so right. Laws against sex offenders are always welcome… Laws about weapons cause such an outcry yet more innocent children are harmed by them every day. But that’s not critical enough to change laws…
Doesn’t make sense to me.
Bea,
Shootings are the third leading cause of death for U.S. children. Researchers found that 53 percent of the gun-related deaths were homicides, while 38 percent were suicides, 6 percent were unintentional and 3 percent were related to law enforcement or undetermined causes (see: http://www.newsweek.com/guns-kids-third-leading-cause-death-627209).
According to the NHTSA, In 2014, a total of 1,070 children 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Of these 1,070 fatalities, 209 children (19%) died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes.
But do we do anything about these things?
But they can always do something – creating new laws and restrictions – trying to protect children from sex offenders. It’s never a problem or issue….how fair is that? Completely unfair and not based on true facts in addition….and they don’t work. Why not creating laws that actually work and there is proof???
Weapon laws all over the world are a proof.
I agree. That’s what our politicians do.
I grew up around guns, my father was in the service and showed me the proper way to handle and fire the weapons. i say that because it was how i was raised that the world can know i will never ever nor any of my siblings ever shoot up anything. i say that because most of the mass shootings are happening in the past roughly 10 years and that is a society of people being brought up on the “everyone is a winner” or “don’t keep score” or “don’t discipline your child medicate them instead”. when that type of mentality is applied to children when they hit real society or they get picked on by fellow classmates, they becomes a loaded gun. they have no idea how to handle the real world and incidents like this one happen. the mental state of these shooters is that of people who have found out not everyone is a winner and not everyone gets a trophy and the real world is hard and don’t know how to handle it. Gun control? more baby the future laws? how about a law that’s been around forever. “spare the rod spoil the child” when this law was being applied to society there were no school/mass shootings. i did not lose my right to bear arms in my case thank god and i can tell the world without pause that i or anyone in my family will ever be involved in anything like what happened yesterday because we were and are being taught what real life is about and what to expect.
why everyone in society goes right to more laws and regulation when all we need is a little more discipline in this country is beyond me. Its all the laws and regulation that started this whole mess in the first place and two wrongs dont make a right.(see RSO’S laws and regulations)
Marci “Hamilton”, not Horowitz.
Sorry thank you for the correction
In this and all other similar events, the truth is that no law would have prevented it. Every state and community already has a ton of laws that supposedly prevent these things, yet they still occur. More frequently, in fact. New laws, which undoubtedly will come, will have no more impact than the existing ones.
So the accused in this case had a lot of disturbing things on his social media accounts. There are hundreds, if not thousands of similar postings, 95% + are no more than running off at the mouth with nothing coming out of it. Warnings are always blazingly clear after the fact, but what was LE supposed to do with it at the time? Arrest or civil commitment of all who post them?
The only answer is to increase security at schools, presence of armed LE at least. Unfortunately, that’ll come with a tax increase. God forbid legislators dig into office remodeling budgets or elevator operator salaries to pay for something beneficial.
Don’t be surprised if there’s a release that child porn was found on the accused’s computer, as done with the guy in Vegas, to give them an excuse to pass more ridiculous SO laws. Seriously doubt that’s the case in that there’s no room for sexual deviance in the mind so obsessed with killing.
Also find it ironic that this occurred in Lauren Book’s district and we have yet to hear from her. Doubt she’d say anything beyond the typical rhetoric already said. Fact is, she was powerless to prevent this tragedy and remains so to prevent future ones.
FACT: The 17 kids killed today were not killed by a strange OR a sex offender. They were killed by another kid…someone they knew…just like the 98% of kids abused.
It is a horrific event but the sad truth is that Florida is wasting precious resources monitoring people who do not commit further crimes – so called sex offenders! If those resources had been allocated to do real police work then perhaps this terrible even (or the next one) might have been prevented!
The simple fact is that sex offender laws are just “feel good” laws but do nothing for anyone except provide a whipping boy to publicly shame and to punish again and again and again – you can see why they call these ever harsher laws restricting sex offenders as “feel good” laws.
If the money wasted on the un-American sex offender registry (which has not saved 1 kid) had been put to better use who know…we never will know if this or the next tragedy but one thing is for certain and that is that the money is being wasted and many suffer because of the irresponsible and unnecessary way the government and law enforcement go after the “low hanging fruit” with sex offenders – SHAME ON THEM!
SexOffenderTruth.com
Yup I agree.
Marco Rubio who gets donations of course from the NRA just said on CNN that “gun laws wouldn’t of prevented the Parkland shooting. That if they were going to do something, it has to be something that works”.
:::Cough:::: The same thing could be said of the registry. :::Cough::::
I’ll tell you one thing, this will be an interesting Florida election this year. ” Never let a huge tragedy go to waist during an election year ” as politicians like to say.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/15/politics/marco-rubio-senate-floor-florida-shooting/index.html
This can be exactly applied to sexual offense laws.
“If it saves one child” ?. So who are going to save the kids from gun violence ?? What are people like Lauren Book and others going to do to honor these 17 kids that were killed by gun violence ? Are they going to pass gun laws in their name ? NO they are not. Not as long as organizations like the NRA and special interest groups with deep pockets keep filling the pockets of politicians to do their bidding. It is interesting – The 2nd amendment gives you the right to bear arms even at the expense of the lives of many kids that are killed in the cross fire. Yet, registered citizen’s rights are taken away and punished harshly way deep beyond their sentences forever – all of them in one blanket, even for minor offenses. Forever.
You want to see the registry and sexual offense laws go away quick ? Become a billionaire and fill the pockets of at least half of the Florida legislative branch. The highest donor contributor, wins the politician as a puppet. Sad, but true.
What has happened has just justified Trumps firing of top FBI heads. They have failed the American people. They are so infatuated with what the Russian s are doing in politics they are overlooking the safety of the people there supposed to protect. They say this fell through the cracks . I say it wasn’t caught because someone saying there going to be a school shooter wasn’t important enough to get there attention. If he had said he was a so he would have been found and stopped within 24 hrs.They can’t see the forest for the trees
I firmly believe that the root of this problem is the failure of the ‘family’. When I was in high school I had never heard of such an event happening. I spent part of the 8th grade at my grandmother’s in Western Virginia while my father was deployed overseas. The high school boys who had pickups would drive them to school with their rifles in gun racks in the back of the pickup so they could go hunting after school. They were parked in the school parking lot. Never a single problem. Back in those times I didn’t even know anyone who lived in a single parent home. Even though my mother was sometimes left to raise us kids while the Navy called dad away, we were always family. When dad passed away they had been married 59 years. We went to church on Sundays and both of my parents set a good example. Not many kids today can say that, thus we have what we get. Laws will not correct a ‘sick society’. Moral lifestyles lead by moral, God-fearing leaders is the only way it will be corrected…and I don’t see that happening anytime in the near future. Throwing money at it is not the solution. Only a nation that respects the Judeo/Christian foundations will correct the problem. Criticize me if you care to, and watch problems get worse.
Excellent Capt .
I agree with Capt. Munsey, people have removed God and basic Judeo Christian values out of the public school system, government, and their personal lives. There are in my opinion too many assault style rifles out there. They are designed for killing people, not hunting. There were none of these types of weapons available to the general public 40 years ago. Just a real tragedy what is happening in our schools and streets today. Also, I saw on the news where they are investigating how the shooter got past school security. They were probably preoccupied, worried about some sex offender dropping his kids off at school. That’s all they seem to be concerned about, sex offenders. Instead of concerning themselves with the more serious and pertinent threats that exist.
Politicians/lawmakers, being the mostly natural idiots that they are, keep focusing on sex offenses when there is an epidemic of violence and mental issues in this country. I guess they too should be to some extent included into the group with mental issues, seeing as they turn a blind eye to the real problems in this country, but push Bullshit laws that have no merit on people with any sex offense. Disgusting and pathetic. This country badly needs a revolution, a revolution against blatant stupidity.
I think we need a combination of gun laws AND mental health improvements. FL gun laws are a joke – you have to wait 3 days and be 21 to buy a hand gun but you only have to be 18 and pass a background check to buy a AK15 and all the ammo you want and walk out of the store that same day! Gun control does not translate into abolish all guns – it just means to use common sense. A gun should be for protection or sport (hunting) – anything that surpasses those needs is not necessary in the hands of the general public. Just like with RSO laws we cannot predict or punish people for what they MIGHT do in the future but we can try to eliminate or curtail these horrible incidents. Actually some of the best suggestions are coming from the mouths of the young survivors
Ugh – look at what all of you are doing. Some say it is about Christian values (where does that leave non-Christians?) – some say it is about FBI and Trump is right in what he did – others can look at it as though Trumps erratic behavior and finger-pointing has handicapped our government agencies. Just cut it out – this is about tortured souls and the ease of obtaining weapons that cause massive damage in a short period of time. Think about this – what could have been done? It is a waste of time to point fingers after the fact – it is just smoke and mirrors to avoid fixing the problems. The young man DID NOT BREAK ANY LAWS until Wednesday. It is not against the law to make generic threats. Look how many times the local police were called to his residence in the last few years – I believe the number was 36 times – he was not arrested. Please stop promoting YOUR political agenda as a solution. It is not a solution – it is a handicap toward a solution. One huge step would be to stop making it so easy to get those types of weapons but it is not the only solution.
I agree with almost all of the postings here. Mental health is the number one issue. Prisons cannot replace the psychiatric hospitals of old, yet the mentally ill are sent to prison by the thousands because not enough politicians have the cojones to stop building prisons and start building hospitals. Every law enforcement agency in Floriduh, the FBI, Homeland Security, and Federal Marshalls are laser-focused on creating more and more sex offenders, mostly by entrapment, to keep the prison machine and their income streams flowing than they are with actually protecting children. They don’t give a damn about children unless there’s profit involved.
Wow – I have to say I am a little shocked at some of the opinions here – Capt. I usually applaud most of what you say but I had no idea that you harbored some of the opinions you have – especially for someone in your position. I had a much longer post written but erased it – there is nothing more to say….
I have been writing a weekly e-infogram since November 2015 on politics and the church. I started when a Methodist pastor informed myself and a group of Via de Cristo brothers that politics doesn’t belong in the church due to our placement of voter guides in the Narthex. He could not have been more wrong. There is a difference in the church controlling the government and the church influencing the government. It was Judeo/Christian principles that laid the foundations for this nation. In those days the term “religion” meant nothing other than Christianity. No other religion was involved. The Bible is full of politics. If you would like to receive my weekly commentary on politics and the church contact me at n2aircraft@bellsouth.net and I will be glad to add you. I believe that moral decay and family disintegration are the two leading factors in our failing society. Just because SCOTUS declares something legal doesn’t make it right. Abortion has never been part of the Constitution only an addition for man’s convenience.
It’s good to see many trying to learn from the past. If you don’t know where you’ve been then you don’t know where you’re going.The term Christian is a very broad brush. Even the Bible shows Christianity would not remain pure Acts 20:29,30. That happened quickly after the death of the 12 apostles. About the time of the invitation of the printing press in the early 16 th century. People were able to actually get copies of the Bible for the first time. They noticed many things they were taught were actually lies. So movements were started after attempts to change the existing church failed. You had the Huguenots,and later the Calvinists.The Huguenots did not believe in standing up with arms .In 1565 at a wedding the then established church backed militia killed an estimated 30,000 to 100.000 which was the start of a 100 yrs religious war it was fueled further by the Calvinist who did take up arms. Hundreds of thousands fled mostly from France and other close nations,and most fled to what is now America. 22 of our presidents claim descent from the Huguenots. Our Constitution was developed because of there experiences and hopes of these types of things never being repeated. It has worked for many years. Laws can not stop these things completely Jeremiah 10:23 ( Bible) only by changing thinking can things change.
David, I wish I had time to respond in detail but I have a busy evening planned with the HOA board meeting. You are correct in that Christianity did not remain pure. As soon as evil men saw an opportunity to use Christianity and the church as an instrument of their greed, envy, and quest for power they took advantage of it. Jesus said,”Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.” Even though many were to say they had served God, His will, and done miracles in His name, He said,”I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”. [Matthew 7:21,23]. We can not base our evaluation of Christianity on the actions of everyone who claims to be one. The terror you described was not an act of God but an act of evil people wanting power and willing to kill to get it. Our founders wanted to get away from governments that were using their definition of Christianity to control the people. At one time in history it was a crime to own a Bible. It was up to the church run government to tell the populous what it needed to know. Our founders wanted a Christian influenced government, not a church run government. Even today we have hypocrites who would claim to be Christians but their lifestyle is anything but. The Bible tells us we will know them by their ‘fruits’ and these Christian fruits are found in the Bible. In closing for now, I must ask anyone interested, what would the United States be like without Judeo/Christian principles as a foundation? Unfortunately we have those in our society today who would like to find out. Lack of ‘forgiveness’ is just one of those fault ring foundations. There is so much more I could say.
Capt.
I agree with all you said.keep on keeping on . I’m with you.
Well said sir
Thanks again Capt
Captain Charles you attended an HOA meeting? your allowed to live in an HOA with your status? i have yet to find one to allow me in.
Same thoughts been eating at me as well. How did you pull that off? Especially if im not mistaken being on probation?
Im totally against hoa’s regardless but may be nice to know if its even possible to get past one to live nicely.
I have lived here since March 2004 and have served on the board. I made sure that my community know about me in writing when I first moved in to my new home and I get along fine with everyone. I was chairman of the ERB and still provide inputs and comments to the board meetings.
Does this mean there is hope? Does your community then in large accept a rso with a family? This is huge and unheard of. When we become elderly we cant even stay in a nursing home nor can we stay in a rehab home after a major surgery in florida
I cannot speak for all of Florida…only my situation. Of course when I first moved into my new home there were some skeptics, but I gave them a two page outline of my history and welcomed any questions. Then I lived by the rules of the HOA and maintained my home so as to be an asset to the neighborhood. One fellow told me when I first moved in that he wanted nothing to do with me. Today we are good friends. The biggest obstacle we have to overcome is the media hype, the paranoia, and the neighborhood ‘biddies’. I always attended HOA meetings to let people get to know me. I did not want to be a ‘shadow dweller’. One woman years ago brought up my status at an HOA meeting. I invited her to come to the front and give all there the details of my background and offense. Of course she couldn’t so the HOA president told her to sit down and I’ve had no problems since. I would be on the board today if it wasn’t for Brevard County Ordinance 2006-31 that would keep me from being a totally effective member because of distance restrictions. I was active with the board until that ordinance started being enforced by probation…not the sheriff or the HOA. The key I feel to becoming a part of the community is to live a ‘squeekie’ clean life; don’t be afraid to discuss your background; be a positive contributor to the community; and be the kind of neighbor you would want living next door to you. Always be truthful to your probation officer. As the Bible would put it…”If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his forehead. Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.” [Romans 12:20-21]. As I read this, don’t give the ‘enemy’ any ammunition. Your present and future reputation will carry much weight. Protect and defend it with all your might. Do not open yourself for criticism. I think you will find that those who are most likely to complain are those with the most to hide…’Pass the heat!’.
i think your story is tremendous but i have tried hundreds of places that have hoa’s or big corporations that own homes and i cannot get past the background check/ the hoa heads or the heads of the corporations wont even take a meeting. i am not even allowed to live in trailer parks because of my registration. i am not on probation and i i dont have the restrictions a lot of rso’s do so i can live by parks/schools etc.. unless the city has an ordinance but what keeps me out of nice areas or a decent place to live is the hoa/corporate application.
Once again I do not know about all HOA’s but when I picked out the lot to build my home on all I needed was my PO’s approval for its location. The HOA rules do not deny residence to anyone as long as the home site is in compliance with county restrictions. Yes, the sheriff’s office did come into the neighborhood and pass out flyers but I had enough confidence in myself to not let that bother me. One of the first friends I made in the neighborhood was my next door neighbor. He is a retired NYPD lieutenant and his wife worked for the New York education system. For years they have been staunch supporters of me. I even have a key to their home so I can watch it for them when they are out of town. The home across the street has three kids living in it and I get along great with their parents. The kids play outside right in front of my home and their parents have no concern that I will be a problem. My victim, my daughter, visits often. We have put the past way behind us. I understand the ‘source’ for those who would like to bring it up and deal with them in prayer. They are the ones with a problem; not me. I read an interesting article during my morning devotions…in the early morning peace and quiet. It was about mercy over judgment. It’s amazing how our politicians are ready to affix judgment and punishment but declare the punishment unjust when it is applied to them. God warns against judgment without mercy. [James 2:13]. We are to act as people who know how much we’ve been given and forgiven…and extend that mercy to others. Some legislators have yet to learn that lesson. I happened to hear our favorite Florida senator…Lauren Book…on TV yesterday. Having years of experience in evaluating others and being evaluated, my evaluation of her is that she has developed her position on RSO’s from textbooks and not actual experience…facts be ‘damned’. I could write for much more but I have a lawn that needs to be raked so I will close.
Karen, do not give up fighting the damage that religion has done to the world. Its time is well over and no longer needed in the modern world. Conservatives hypocritical fear of sex is what has caused nearly all of the ridiculous sex offender laws we have right now!
Thank you Lee – actually I believe in the actual Christian values – for instance, that we should all be tolerant and love one another. However, all religions have deviated (at times) from that and used the power of religion to justify acts of intolerance and worse.
Karen, just remember that Christianity and religion are not the same. Religion can range anywhere from God worship to devil worship. Anything that replaces our concern for God, family and other people can become a religion. The worship of money, self aggrandizement, pleasure, and material has become a predominant ‘religion’ today. I believe that is why our society shows so little concern for others and why forgiveness has lost a place in society. By the way, forgiveness is a Christian trait. Many of our politicians claim the be ‘christians’…note small ‘c’…but the Christian trait of forgiveness is totally missing. The church one attends does not make one a Christian. The traits one exhibits…those that reflect God’s Words…are what helps us identify who is and isn’t a Christian.
Just a note : the loss of Christianity in schools etc. was not a factor in the fall of any major civilizations. As a matter of fact, the fall of the Roman Empire was helped with the spread of Christianity. Most major civilizations disappeared because of globalization, assimilation, and corrupt leaders and government.
It was Christianity that helped reveal these corruptions.
Actually, although the country was based on Christian values (because the founders were Christian) they also acknowledged many times that not everyone was a believer or that their were many other religions in the World (many of them a great deal older than Christianity). Christian values will not keep families together. Any family that stays together because of religious doctrine is are together for the wrong reasons. each person is entitled to their own opinions, that is clear, but it is a fallacy to believe that the colonists came to this country because of religious oppression. They did not – they came because they wanted to freedom to start their own doctrines. No one was oppressing them.
My point? We need solutions and saying that Christianity is that solution is not practical. You cannot force anyone into buying a doctrine they do not believe in. However, that does not mean there are not solutions to this issue.
In case you are wondering, I am a Christian – I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic and I raised my children that way also, I do not however, think that that helps to solve the out of control gun issue in our country. Our Constitution has been changed many times in the past when needed – slavery for instance – you know, that original Judeo -Christian value that was in the original Constitution?
Christians not being oppressed is another subject I can address in length, but today I will address the impact of the abandonment of Christian values has had on this nation over a long but evolving time frame. Statistically the general citizenry of the United States is not happy with the direction the nation is currently taking, has no confidence in the ability of the church to correct that path, and believes that the government and politicians are more concerned about themselves and securing their position than about the well being of the nation. Major policy and procedural changes during our lifetime paints a clear picture of who we as a nation have chosen to be and the values the nation has chosen to ignore…values that can be termed ‘Christian values’:
– Removing the Bible and prayers from public schools [In founding times the Bible was a textbook]
– Legalizing abortion…infant murder for convenience [The Bible tells us that God abhors the taking of innocent life]
– Legalizing same-sex marriage [‘a slap in the face’ to the direction the Bible gives us and ‘twisting’ of the word “LOVE”. As Christians we are to love the sinner but hate the sin]
– Government spending beyond its means [Like a college kid with a credit card…how is such a misuse of our gifts leading young people into a life of financial servitude?]
– Treating the Sabbath as just any other ole work day
– Protecting pornography as free speech [Labeling some perversions as OK while others are not…no wonder such confusion]
– Facilitating divorce [Relegated to the status of ‘going steady’, causing many to question ‘Why get married’?]
– Penalizing families, including homeschoolers [Required to support the very public schools they want to avoid via taxes]
– Reducing religious liberties [Threats of addressing politics from the pulpit even though the Bible addresses just about any political situation we know; addressed primarily at Christians]
– Instituting unprecedented expansion of entitlement programs [Discouraging personal responsibility and encouraging/rewarding dependence on the government at the expense of tax payers and increased national debt; the Bible tells us that if one is able to work and doesn’t, that person will not eat]
– Creating countless ‘laws’ through judicial rulings and executive orders…in violation of the Constitution
– The creation of entertainment that includes killing, adultery, destruction of property and thinking that saying it’s suitable for adult audiences only makes it acceptable
– Vilifying history rather than using it to learn from past lessons, both bad and good
Over the course of the past three hundred years, we have recklessly diluted our nation’s founding purposes and turned our collective backs on the beliefs and practices that made America unique and special. We have mentally (and, in a growing number of cases, on paper) rewritten our history so we could become a nation dedicated to diversity, tolerance, happiness, and comfort rather than a nation devoted to the pursuit of holiness, humility, submission to God, and gratitude for His blessings. Once a foundation is destroyed the rest of the building collapses. I have seen intolerance in other parts of the world, and it’s not pretty. A United States without Judeo/Christian principles would not be a nice place to live.
All I can say about that Capt is wow just wow.
Well said Capt.
Since there is another David on this sight I’ll be going with David M from now on.
I feel like laws are a lot of the problem. In the beginning God gave man and women only one law .But they also had a. Perfect conscience. That law not to eat of the one tree showed them that God had the right to tell them what to do. They failed ,and so said in effect we don’t want you to tell us what to do we want to decide for ourselves,and so we have the results today.
The Jews were given about 600 laws ,by the time of Jesus the Pharisees had added to it so that there were over 6000 laws.Jesus exposed there hypocrisy in doing so. Today every time something happens new laws are added.the more laws we have the more unjust the system becomes
Jesus gave 2 laws love of God first love of neighbor second. When we go beyond that we get into problems. Many of the laws we have can be covered under those two .but many go far beyond that. Then we get injustice and laws that show a hatred for God and Neighbor.
Karen hate to be the one to tell you but you are much mistaken. You really need to catch up on your history.google Huguenots or go to the Huguenot museum in New York.Religious persecution was the main reason for the first immigrants here and it was supported by the Catholic Church. They were responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands. Of those that didn’t believe the way they did.
I just want to add dwelling on this is non productive so I hope we can move on to things that can actually benefit our reason for this web.
When you have a Masters in History then you can school me on brushing up on my history – one thing I learned when I was getting mine was how to use critical thinking to weed out facts from biased interpretations. As requested I will focus on the reason for this site – religious fervor is not something I desire to debate – just to mention not once have I personally singled out any one’s religious beliefs, however, your cut towards my church was noted. On a side note the Huguenots did not start coming to America until the late 1700s – long after the colonies were formed. My original statement said that the colonists (in the 1600s) did not come because of religious persecution.
OK – no point in fighting among ourselves.
Karen, I would love to reply to your comment on the reason the colonists came to America but I agree we must move on to subject matter that matters. It’s good to have an education in history but we must be cognizant of the source of history. For example, my nephew has a doctorate in finance and is a professor, but he still denies that the social security trust fund ever existed..go figure. The SS web site is not aware of this fact. Karen, have a good day…no, a fine Navy day!
Karen, you stated that “I am a Christian” but went on to say that you were born and raised as a Roman catholic and raised your children that way also.
Does that mean, you believe that Christianity and Catholicism are equivalents?
Please re-direct the comments to the topic.
I agree – and I apologize to FAC for participating in the road leading to this discussion. It is hard. however, when ones’ buttons are pushed. 🙁 One of my pet peeves has always been those that profess to be Christians but in the same breath have intolerance for other children of God. Also, I have never ever understood why the idea that Catholics are not Christians has persisted in this age of knowledge. Thank you FAC for being tolerant…. 🙂
We are to love the sinner but not be tolerant of the sin.
Wow. News has now broken that FOUR COWARDLY deputies waited outside while Cruz slaughtered 17 students and faculty. This is a systemic problem with Floriduh. These cowards are used to pushing around so-called sex offenders and their families while scared sh*tless to confront a REAL criminal. Broward County sheriff should be fired and prosecuted for 17 counts of manslaughter as well as his cowardly deputies who did NOTHING to stop Cruz.
Get to know the real so-called “Sheriff:”
http://dailycaller.com/2018/02/23/broward-county-sheriff-has-history-of-controversy/
There has never been a government or religion that was effective in providing peace or civility. We have and continue to give up our freedom to people that try to convince us they can fix our problems. They want us to pay them and allow them show us how we are to live. We have to look inside our selves for the answers. Most people want to live in peace and raise family’s in love. It has always been difficult but our civilian approach has to change and we need to return to join together in our communities to fix things ourselves. As long as we think that we have to resort to paying government politicians to do what should be taken care of by volunteers we will remain hopeless and defenseless. Why have we allowed a system to be set up so that one man can become the most powerful man on earth ? Why would we think that we can expect one man to fix everything for us? Sounds silly doesn’t it?