The Main Thing Answer to Violence

The Main Thing 

Answer to Violence

 

I, like everyone else, have options on gun control

But I believe we must keep first things first.

Address the real issue…

Turning our hearts and minds back to God our Creator.

Everything else is like building a roof before you have a foundation

Answer to Violence

Violence is carried out through many means.

It has been an issue since the beginning of

man when Cain killed his brother Abel.

I have studied world history and wondered

why every period has been marked by violence.

I grew up in the 60’s when

the cry was “peace not war”.

Mankind has tried to address the issue of

violence from the beginning of man.

We have blamed or linked it on mental health, social

conditions, economics, race, religion, guns and more.

It is sad to see that the fight to stop violence has brought

out more violence with assaulting words and

division effecting our schools, jobs and everyday living.

If we are ever to address the issue of

violence we must call it what it is, “SIN”.

 Sin always leads to death.

Sin originates from human nature following

desires other than what God had created us for.

We were created by God and created in His

image, according to 1 John 4:8, “God is love”.

This is God’s intention for all of us,

 not only to love but to be love.

The rest of the verse reminds us that we

have a choice to follow the Creator’s intent or not.  

Whoever does not love does

 not know God, because God is love.

 I typically do not watch horror movies, but in a movie

I saw a man who was about to do a violent act who said,

“When a man convinces himself that there

is no god there is nothing he cannot do.”

How true this statement is.

This God who created us has shown His love for

us by sending His Son “Jesus” into the world.

He also revealed He has no

desire to condemn us.

John 3:15-20

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. ¹⁹This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

If you want to stop the violence, turn hearts

and minds back to God their Creator.

This will return us to love, love for God,

love for yourself and love for each other.

The greatest and first command of God is…

 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 

 Everything else God asked from us

comes out of these two commandments.

The Bible, God’s Word, addresses every

issue of life and how we can have life to

the fullest, the reason Jesus came.

John 10:10

But if we want to address violence and all

its issues we must get to the main issues, our

relationship with God, the purpose He created us for.

Violence is carried out in murder, but the

thoughts of hatred in our hearts is the seed of violence.

It is time for us to become accountable

to God, the God of Love.

To repent of our sin and live

according to the Creator’s will, not ours.

I, like everyone else, have options on gun control

but I believe we must keep first things first.

Address the real issue…

Turning our hearts and minds

back to God our Creator.

Everything else is like building a

roof before you have a foundation.

Scripture Reading

John 3:16-21 NIV

16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.   19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."