Yes, it's too late for that. The horse has gotten out and is stampeding across the land. There are many who will poo-poo this latest post...as they have many others. But, that's okay. We live in a world of many different thought processes, beliefs, traditions, cultures and points of view. What a boring place this planet would be if we all thought alike.
While watching the news of the latest, senseless massacre in my country, a selection of verses from the Bible kept coming back to me. I have studied the Book almost all my life. Not just read it...but intensely studied its pages from front to back and back to front. For those who do not have even an inclination to believe it, then what follows from here will either bore you to tears or make you laugh. Either way is fine with me.
Paul the Apostle wrote in Second Timothy, Chapter 3, beginning in Verse 1, the following:
This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent (more on this later...my note), fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof; from such turn away. (Paraphrasing the following verse) For they are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now, I am not foolish enough to believe that all of the traits listed above never existed in the past. Of course they did. What hasn't existed in the past, on a global scale, is the prevalence of all that listed above. After all, there is almost seven billion people living here now, more than has ever existed on Earth. We are practically crawling over one another.
Paul goes on to write in the same chapter:
But evil men and seducers shall become worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
So, what we have after the lastest tragedy are many....many many many...who wish to find an answer so no such thing will ever happen again. More security, more guns, less guns, a government commission on violence and how to stop it, debates, debates on the debates, and talking heads from FB (of which I am one) all the way up to Congress and the 'news' media.
The fact is, if you believe the Bible, it is only going to get worse and worse. If every sword were to be beaten into plowshares...with the present governmental systems we have in the world...it would only get worse and worse. Oh, there may not be the massacres as was seen in Newtown, Ct. But it would still get worse and worse.
Please understand this is not a pro-gun post. I'm past that, now. This is a 'reality check' post. Those who become serial shooters or rampage shooters fall into the 'incontinent' category that Paul listed above. It doesn't mean what we take it to mean today, as being one who can't hold their bladder. It means something else entirely. It means lacking in self control, unable to control one's temper, unrestrained by consciensce, or any sense of morality or law. It can include those who have an unrestrained sexual appetite, an unrestrained desire to get high, and even an unrestrained impulse to commit crimes of a less violent nature.
According to the Bible, there will be one who will come and seemingly have all the answers. The world will flock to this person as the next great leader, surpassing all others in history. For three and a half years there will be an unparalleled peace, never before seen in mankind's existence. It will appear that man has found the answers to all his problems and that he has finally turned the corner on civility, equal rights and peace among nations. Yet, it will all be a lie. After that period, according to the Bible, there will be death on this planet of a scale you nor I can fathom. It will make WWII look like a fight between two grade school children.
But, as some of you may well know and have already figured out...the Bible is a book of myths and legends. It can't be taken seriously as any kind of roadmap on how we should live our lives and base our faith. It is old and out of date, needing to be placed on a shelf somewhere...out of the way...and looked at only as an oddity. God is dead, and man is supreme. We shall find our own way and do our own thing in our own time. Why should we heed what anyone said back in the first century A.D.? It cannot possibly apply to us. So, eat...drink..and be merry this Christmas and welcome in the new year with fervor and parties and a positive outlook on the condition of man. More laws will be passed and government will lead the way to a new prosperity, a new peace, and even a new beginning for our race. If God is involved, it will only be as a small part of our personal itinerary as we forge ahead. If he doesn't get up to date, we shall leave him behind. After all, we are ever learning. As far as the knowledge of the truth...each individual already has that sewn up in their own mind.