Why unity is better than uniformity and Why do we turn to violence and turn away from talking...?

If the pen is mightier than the sword, then our attitudes are more powerful than gunpowder or ammunition.  Yet, our culture has normalized hating the people we disagree with — apparently we all want to be the one holding the microphone controlling the conversation.  But this is to our detriment because when we lose confidence in each other, we lose confidence in ourselves.  We are like cars merging on the highway refusing to yield to one other, causing a catastrophic pileup from our inability to dialogue.  

What is interfering with our ability to hold civil conversions?  Like boiling all of the flavor out, we’ve rendered all of our views down to “either/or” thinking and we’ve lost the “both/and” option because not only do we disagree on what’s best for us all or the path towards whatever is best for us, we lack a mutual respect for opposing viewpoints.

Why can’t the government just make us behave nicely?  Growing up we never had a house key, when I asked my dad why we didn’t lock our doors he told me, “Locks keep honest people honest.”  Stringent laws will not solve our society’s differences, especially the ones that turn violent.  

We need to really examine why we turn to violence as a solution and ask, is all violence preventable?  London England plans to make the purchase of pointed kitchen knives off limits, which makes you wonder how far can a nation go in their attempts to regulate what a criminal can get their hands on.  

As Cain conspired, he never conceptualized or considered a carbine — when deranged people are determined, there’s little to no deterrent that can distract them from devastation.  For example, if we had the ability to legislate morality effectively, then the citizens of Chicago could enjoy walking their streets at night and their rowdier residents wouldn’t look like Swiss cheese every weekend.  

Do differences generate violence?  Any student of the four Gospels knows that Jesus surrounded Himself with a diverse group of apostles, He had tax collectors and fishermen and zealots; the early church had to learn how to deal with different views, if you read the Gospels and Acts it is abundantly clear.  Tragically, we’ve lost sight of the value of diversity as political violence now seems to be an acceptable fact of life.  

There are certain people who we either idolize or demonize, polarizing personalities have the ability to capture our attention, they attract likeminded people, and of course they infuriate people who refuse to be influenced by them.  When it comes to polarizing people, we are either impressed with or intimidated by, we are either drawn to, or threatened by them.  Mature people know how to ignore ideas that are illogical, without feeling the need to shame or insult the people who promote foolishness, immature people on the other hand feel the need to slander everyone and anyone who holds a contrary view that’s different from theirs, but wise people can listen to people with whom they disagree and learn from them too, without feeling hostility towards them.  

Much of the empathy and sympathy that many progressives expressed last month seemed clouded by caveats and clichés, conservatives lack a stellar record of supporting detractors who suffer as well.  What we need is unity, not uniformity -- indoctrination is abominable and conformity is claustrophobic.  Tolerance for and common respect for the rights of others to form and articulate their own views is what is needed now more than ever. 

We have to be willing to accept challenges to our perceptions, if we are to challenge the views of others. We must hear people out as we would like to be listened to. We must give people the same benefit of the doubt that we ourselves wish to receive. We have to find common ground with which we agree upon and build upon that and offer the same amount of acceptance that we would hope to be accepted by.

Consider I Peter 3:8-9 &:15, “[8] Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. [9] Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing…, [15] but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…”  When we lose sight of the reality that the people on the opposite side of the aisle are created in the image of God, that is when we have begun to idolize our ideologies -- we hold so much more in common and our differences are, for the most part, trivial and temporary.  

People who refuse to fight fairly aren’t winning arguments, they’re losing credibility.  Our deepest problem is that we are selfish and the laws our government enacts are powerless to resolve that, violence is the fruit of and ultimate expression of selfishness, once we solve our selfishness all the rest will fall in place.  

Originally published in the Kingsport Timesnews 10/10/25 Click here for the original newspaper version

How to Stop School shootings

Shame on us all for risking the wellbeing of our school aged children, essentially our society has done nothing to protect them. We can’t hide behind our good intentions or political platitudes -- as the old saying goes, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Should we arm all of the school teachers or disarm our citizens? Neither extreme would work.

The despicable politicizing of mass shootings by both liberals and conservatives is beyond counterproductive, it is repugnant. Seemingly, Gun control is the quintessential Lightning-Rod topic of our age, but sadly while we were championing our positions on gun control we all have perpetually failed to protect our children.

We need more compassion and less condemnation from each other when we are on opposite sides of gun control debates. Is it plausible to think we can alleviate our suffering? Not if we keep fighting each other (left vs right, conservative vs liberal) instead of addressing the actual problem.

We all need to ask: What if gun laws aren’t enough to stem the horrific monstrosity of slaughtering school children? Our children deserve to live secure lives without the fear of being killed in class. While we all agree the safety of our youth is vital, sadly because we are so polarized we refuse to agree on how to keep our children safe.

The missing piece from our not so nuanced National conversation is the fact that slaughtering anyone is a matter of the heart, not of the courthouse. Would you kill children if it were legalized -- of course not, therefore you know in your heart of hearts killing children is not simply a matter of legality.

On a mission trip in the 1990’s my wife and I noticed an absence of garbage cans on the city streets of London. When I asked why there were no garbage cans I was told that the IRA placed bombs in the cans. Maybe you remember the Boston Marathon bombing of 2013, when the bombers used a crockpot or a pressure cooker to construct/conceal their bomb.

Can you imagine a world without a pocket knife of your choice? Today in London it’s illegal to carry a pocket knife over 3 inches long, all locking blades are all illegal, and absolutely no fixed blades are allowed because determined evil people have slashed their way through crowded spaces aiming to kill as many Westerners as possible.

People with the intent to destroy large numbers of others will poison, blow up, bludgeon, stab, derail trains, they will do whatever it takes to wreak havoc. Regulating sane people will not stop insane people from attacking innocent bystanders -- any monster can weaponize a minivan and mow down pedestrians, anywhere anytime.

We have hundreds of mass-shootings every year and there are people who should never own a gun, that is a fact. It’s also factual that sane, upstanding, law-abiding citizens are not responsible for the violent acts of sociopaths.

Sane people do not go around killing innocent people, only sociopathic monsters do. School shootings, church shootings, shootings in shopping malls, theaters, shootings anywhere are driven by deranged people and I’ll add, demonic forces too. Consider I JN 5:19, “We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”

Heaven help us on the day we are persuaded politicians have penned laws that will penetrate the hearts of people. Even ardent atheists will acknowledge, it’s nearly impossible to legislate morality. Laws don’t protect people any more than locking your front door does to keep out burglars.

Once we realize that the killing of other people is a spiritual problem and a mental health issue and not a legal problem, maybe then we can focus on possible solutions to stem the bloodshed. Capitol Hill will never provide the solution for mass murders -- a solution to our national crisis will only be a result of purposefully keeping our children secure.

Our too frequent inexcusable school shootings are a spiritual matter -- the sooner society sees school shootings as spiritual issues the sooner safety solutions may surface. As long as we treat slaughtering children merely as a crime issue that laws could regulate instead of seeing the taking of life as a spiritual problem and start treating life as sacred, we will keep losing precious lives to evil people.

It’s tough to legislate morality but since it’s easier to argue about unenforceable laws than it is to change the hearts of people, we keep on wasting time arguing. We have a killing problem on this planet and in our country not a method problem; take away all the guns and evil people will resort to some other method, as the old saying goes, “If you outlaw guns, then only the outlaws will have guns.” Guns are a smokescreen, they aren’t the problem -- we the people are.

My opinion is simple: Restricting rational people will never deter deranged people from harming us. Crazed, evil, malicious people will stop at nothing from harming others once they have decided to. Lawless, demonic, sociopaths will not be swayed by any laws. We need to stop pointing fingers, quit blaming each other, and acknowledge a painful reality: When our children are in danger, no one in society is safe.

Originally published in the Times News 4/28/23