You know, mom always said I never did as I was told and was over opinionated and argumentative. She had no idea what she was saying at the time, but it was indeed a "mom-fulfilling prophesy".
I was told we shouldn't talk about money at the table and never talk about politics or religion. Well, the simple fact is that rich people DO talk about money at the table, politicians DO talk about politics and the faithful DO talk about religion all the time. So we didn't talk about money and we had none. We didn't talk about politics and we had none. We didn't talk about religion and except for Easter, Christmas, funerals and our Communion and Confirmation preps, we had none. Noticing a pattern?
I have got to be out of my mind crazy to have a blog that talks about religion, politics, abortion and guns! Or so sane it's scary. Well, let's give all those topics a try in one article, shall we?
In a recently released
report by the Pew Research center, the tide of public opinion regarding two hot topics of gun control and abortion are taking a more conservative turn toward individual responsibility and morality based on FACT not government/media controlled hype.
Law abiding citizens don't just throw a gun in their pants without thinking long and hard about the possible
consequences of carrying a gun and what it might mean both good and bad. It might prevent crime, might save a life, might take a life. It's a huge responsibility and one we don't take lightly. Most, if not all, should have studied and read on the subject, trained on their weapon, applied for and received the proper permits when required and have weighed the moral questions in their own minds long before publicly carrying for self-defense.
In weighing those questions, we come to understand what religious and pro-life people have been saying for years; the protection of all innocent life is sacred. Pro-gun, pro-Constitution and pro-self-defense people all understand that since life itself comes from God, so does the right to defend that life against any evil that would take it. Make sense? Our founding fathers thought so and recognized that right and merely guaranteed that our government, through the Constitution, would guarantee that which already is ours from God.
You cannot argue that since one person or even a million people might not believe in God that it in any way negates the common sense application of these basic moral principles or the principles themselves. Case in point; I have friends that are atheist and agnostic, democrat voting, pro-life gun carriers so it is possible through the simple use of reason. Here's a great article that speaks to that: "Why the Gun IS Civilization"
We Catholics understand our responsibilities regarding the respect for human life through the church's teachings in our catechism canons 2263-65 and regarding abortion through canons 2270-75. Sometimes that means even respecting your own God given life over the evil that would attempt to take that life from you, perhaps enough to deal a lethal blow only if and when absolutely necessary.
Here we have the dilemma. How can the protection of your own innocent life be so valued from a religious, moral, ethical and legal standpoint that you would be willing to carry a gun for your own self defense, and yet an even more innocent and helpless unborn baby is not protected or defended and laws even allow for it's killing?
Simple. There's no money in it!
There's no money in self-defense, but there is a huge industry in providing you protection using your own tax dollars. There is no money in allowing women to have babies at will, but there is a huge industry in birth control and abortion. Where the money is, there will be the law (and politicians with their hands out).
Personally, I'd be very interested to see the numbers of how many gun owners are pro-life vs how many gun owners are pro-abortion/choice/infanticide. I'd bet there's a huge correlation between the data sets.
We have made into a diabolical art this incessant monetizing of everything around us. We tend to look at things only with a cash value rather than the inherent value given by God, including one another. We idolize things more than people. We would rather watch TV and be entertained than help one another. We've become so hypnotized by the programming that we've failed to see the beauty in our world and in one another and that's exactly how "they" want it.
Fear is big business, perhaps the biggest business of all. Many people today have fear of crime, fear of global warming, fear of guns, fear of having a baby, fear of disease, fear of commitment, fear of AIDS, fear of conflict, fear of responsibility, fear of death. And yet interestingly enough there seems to be little to no fear of God, or no belief in Him at all.
Now I don't carry a gun because I'm afraid; in fact, it's quite the opposite. Those of us who carry guns for self-defense know it's so we can walk without fear. When I carry a gun, you cannot force me under threat of life to do anything illegal or against my will and cannot threaten me with harm. If you want something from me, fear will not work; you must use reason.
We also understand this is a very serious responsibility and as such, law abiding gun carriers are responsible for an estimated 2.5 million legitimate and legal uses of guns for self defense each year in the U.S. That means about 2.5 million thefts, brutal beatings, hate crimes, rapes, murders, etc. avoided or prevented
We know that knowledge conquers fear, but so does faith. As a Christian I don't fear death and really don't fear anything that man can do to me but it does pain me to see us heading down a path of unnecessary suffering as a people, a nation and a world so I do what I can to help push, pull, lead or whatever to those that will listen. What I do fear is God and the eternal fires of hell. I would rather live a life in respect and fear of a God that can condemn me to the eternal fires of hell than in a life with no God at all.
Since we know that fear is profitable, which do you think is easier to profit from? A world full of people that fear only God and nothing else? Or a world that doesn't believe in God and fears everything else? Are you seeing the picture yet? Do you see why it's in "their" best interest that you not believe in God and in your best interest to believe in God?
Where there is no faith, let knowledge first conquer fear. So what can we do to turn things around? How can we get more people to believe that the protection of ALL innocent life is sacred? Simple. Start with their own life. Appeal to that common self-preservation instinct in each of us. According to the report, we need to work harder on getting more women to understand the facts about guns and self defense and rightly so since they're the targets of most violent crimes. Nothing puts a 100 lb woman on equal footing with a 300 lb rapist like a trained woman with a handgun.
I challenge everyone reading this who owns a gun to take a woman or an anti-gun friend to a shooting class or to a range. Safety is paramount of course. There is nothing like seeing the face of an anti-gun person shooting for the first time and watching all that fear and doubt just melt away.
Once they learn the simplest use of the tool, then then can begin to understand the moral responsibility that goes along with gun ownership and perhaps they might even begin to understand the need for self defense of their own innocent life. From there it's only a small step to understanding that ALL innocent life is worth defending. Nothing changes people's minds like the truth whether it's about guns, self-defense, fear, politics, abortion or God.
In the approximate 8 minutes it took you to read this article, there have been:
.24 Murders
1.3 Rapes
8 Robberies
14 Auto Thefts
14 Aggravated Assaults
21.8 Violent Crimes
96 Larcenies
160 Property Crimes
480 Innocent Unborn Babies Aborted
Me? I'll be clinging to my guns and my bible. Please pray for all victims of crime, especially for those 480 that can't pray for themselves
God's Blessings,
Bob
Some excellent web resources:
http://corneredcat.com/Ethics/mrsdutoit.aspx
and
http://corneredcat.com/TOC.aspx
http://www.womensdefensecenter.com/crime.htm
http://www.2asisters.org
http://gunowners.org/sk0802.htm
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We are indeed a church of saints and sinners. We can produce pope's like John Paul II and pope's like Alexander VI. People like Blessed Mother Teresa and Mother Angelica and people like Nancy Pelosi and Kathleen Sebelius.
I have got to be out of my mind crazy to have a blog that talks about religion, politics, abortion and guns! Or so sane it's scary. Well, let's give all those topics a try in one article, shall we?
Where there is no faith, let knowledge first conquer fear. So what can we do to turn things around? How can we get more people to believe that the protection of ALL innocent life is sacred? Simple. Start with their own life. Appeal to that common self-preservation instinct in each of us. According to the report, we need to work harder on getting more women to understand the facts about guns and self defense and rightly so since they're the targets of most violent crimes. Nothing puts a 100 lb woman on equal footing with a 300 lb rapist like a trained woman with a handgun.
Me? I'll be clinging to my guns and my bible. Please pray for all victims of crime, especially for those 480 that can't pray for themselves
To be honest, Dan shows his ignorance of Christianity in that while faith is important, of the three; faith, hope and Love, Love is the greatest. You can have all the knowledge AND faith in the world but if you have not Love, you have nothing!
Then how much blasphemy is "enough"? Even if the movie was 90% fiction, 5% fact and just 5% blasphemy, is that good enough for you to watch it? Or bad enough for you to not? Would you drink from a glass that contained only 10% poison? How about 5%? Perhaps just 1%? No, of course not! Only a fool would do such a thing and yet how many times each and every day do we drink from that same cup. Who is it that plants these seeds of doubt in our minds? Ask yourself this. Would you let Satan in your home and your life for just 10 minutes out of your whole life? How about just 5 minutes? Perhaps just 1 single minute?
