Radio Woes

If you read m sermon, then you will know that I talked a little about the recent school shooting and the subsequent radio discussion that ensued. I actually got fired up enough that I tried to call NPR, specifically the show "On Point", but as you can imagine, the lines were awfully busy, and so I didn't get through. What made me want to cal, you may ask. Well, lucky you, I am going to rant about it.

The show had all kinds of experts on, child psychologists, sociologist, etc. They also interviewed regular teachers and kids in high schools across the country. First, they found that students and teachers are not afraid to go to school everyday- for the most part anyway. There were some home-schooled kids and some kids with anxiety disorders that were afraid, but this is not the norm. I just want to throw that out there.

Clearly that is not why I almost called. So what got me ired up. Many things, and I hope to get to them all in a somewhat logical manner.

First, I want to address most of the callers concerns. What I heard for 1 hour this morning were worried mothers calling to tell Tom Ashbrook how awful violence is. I heard them blame the violence of society on video games and TV and movies. And these things may be bad. We are told by Paul in his letter t the Philippians to meditate on things that are good, and beautiful and pure. And I think there is a reason for this. What we think upon does become us. If we are constantly looking at porn, then we are apt to think of women as objects. So, for me, it is not a large jump to say that if we are always looking at murder and violence, it affects us.

My problem though, with blaming the TV and video game makers is three fold. First, it seems to take some responsibility off the individual, second it assumes that with out these games these kids wouldn't have done what they did, and third, it assumes that these games are driving society and not commentaries on it.

Now, maybe these games and such are to blame, but I am not so sure. I tend to believe that these games are getting more violent because society is violent, and not the other way around. We are a broken people, and all we set up leads toward degeneration and sin. The longer something exists, the more broken it becomes. I feel that this is what we are seeing with the rise of violence in America. TV, movies, etc are commentaries on this. That being said, they may drive it after, but I would say they are a symptom of our brokenness and not the cause.

Here is the next issue not mentioned on the radio. Sure these few kids may have played violent video games and then really killed people, but how are we to know if they would do it regardless of their video game play? I am of the mind that they would have killed regardless. We didn't have video games in the 40's but there were still murders.

Of course the type of murder was not the same. weapons are different, times are different. But that doesn't mean people didn't snap. Also, what about all the kids who play these games and don't kill people. Are they the exception? Are they any less shocked when someone else does decide to take another humans life? The answer to both these questions is no. We value human life more than any other time in history. We have raised health and living to the position of a god. Death is the worst thing that can befall someone today, and a quick glimpse of history will tell us that this is a recent invention.

SO if we value life more than any other time, how can we say that video games are at the same time causing us to devalue life.

Again, I am not saying that these games are good any more than I think porn or drugs are good. But are we to say that it is porn's fault that a marriage fails, or drugs fault that a person robs? Of course not. We are humans, and as such are free to choose. Unfortunately we are also sinful and broken and chose things that are bad for us. We become slaves to them, and save for Jesus, are doomed to live in darkness. But that doesn't free us from our choices. It is never a games fault that someone kills.

Though there was a lot more I took issue with, I will write about just one last item. One of the high school students said, and I quote,"Monsters don;t just exist. Society creates them." Now, I am not necessarily disagreeing with this young man, but there is a larger theme here that runs through his comment, as well as though well intentioned mothers. Everyone, from the panel, to the high schoolers, to the callers ll believed the greatest lie of this century. What is this terrible fallacy that is driving most of the people we meet in a day? It is the assumption that people are good, in general, and do bad things occasionally.

See, if we believe that people are good, then we need to look for reasons that they did this. But we are all capable of what these kids did. We are all evil, sinful, and rotten. In the book of Isaiah, God looks down at His creation and says "there is none who do good, no not one." Jesus himself teaches that no one is Good but God, and we are told in Romans that all have sinned. See we are broken and sinful. We are all high school shooters. It becomes a different problem when we look at it like this. The founding fathers set up this country based on the fact that we are wicked and wretched little creatures. Now I don't buy onto the new "proof" that we were a Christian nation, we weren't, but they drafters of the Constitution still knew enough of human nature to call black black.

The problem isn't games, or movies, or porn, or anything exterior to man. The problem is Man himself. I would say we are all monsters and society tempers us. We would all be killing everyone if it wasn't for fear of jail or execution. Society is not the root of this problem. Society didn't create these kids.

I am sure they had a lot of pain in life. I am sure we let them down. I am sure they were very broken and in need of extra love and attention. I bet they needed some sort of professional help. But that doesn't put the blame on us, or what they chose to watch.

They chose to play those games to get good at killing. They chose to feed their sin. Gods says to sin right before he kills Able that "sin crouches at the door like a tiger." But what did Cain do? He killed his brother when he thought no one was looking. Like Cain, these kids could have chosen not to feed their evil desires, but like all of us, they chose to do evil instead of good.

I am not saying there is not more we could do. Especially as the Church, there is always more we should be doing. But it is no ones fault but the individuals. That was never brought up. Everyone was blamed, but the killers. And that is what I take issue with.

If it were not for common grace working through society, we would all be dead. Instead of pointing fingers, let us praise God that most people are not good enough sinners to try for the really big things. Let us praise God that He created us with fear, so that, even if it is not of Him and eternal Judgement, we are afraid of judgment from our neighbors, friends, and courts.

I am saddened every time I hear that someone was so broken that they decide to take another's life, but what saddens me even more is that my surprise is that it is not more common.

Let us pray for the families and friends of both those shot and the shooters. Let us also pray for the next time, that there may be someone there to offer Hope and Life.