The Greatest Influence Upon Your View Of Guns And Gun Control: Your View Of The Human Condition

There are two common views of the human condition held in America today.  There is the modern secular/humanist view and there is Jewish/Christian view.  I use these labels, but there are some religious people who hold – for all practical purposes – the secular/humanist view.  There are also atheists who adopt much of the Jewish/Christian view, because it is observable and makes sense. 

Let's look at the secular/humanist view first.  Secular humanists believe that man is basically good.  Therefore, when a human being does something horrible, the root cause must be an outside factor.  Therefore, crime in the inner city is a result of poverty – so, they believe, if we provide monetary help to poor people, crime will drop.  If people are prejudice or racist, they simply need to be educated.  In fact, education is the solution to most social problems.  Consider how often education is presented as the answer to moral problems, like crime and child abuse.  When it comes to substance abuse, secular humanists see it only as a disease – they see no moral component to it.  If someone is a rapist or a murderer, they must be mentally ill.  Chuck Colson, at the time president of Prison Fellowship, wrote about this in one of his books.  He used a conversation with a prison warden in Norway to illustrate the secular/humanist viewpoint.  While touring the prison, he asked the warden how many of his prisoners were mentally ill.  The warden replied, “All of them, of course!”  The idea that any criminal might have committed a crime without being mentally ill was incomprehensible to him because of his world view.

Note that she doesn't care in whose
control the gun is - because the gun,
not the person, is evil.

Of course, when it comes to guns and crime, secular/humanists believe that the evil does not dwell in the people who commit crimes with guns – it exists in the guns themselves.  Guns are evil – so if we can reduce the number of crime committed with guns by reducing the number of guns, and it really does not matter who is disarmed.  Hence we see gun “buy backs” where grandmothers bring guns that have been in their attics for years.  These are continued in spite of the fact that there is zero evidence that they accomplish anything.  This is also why they do not want guns in school – no matter how trustworthy the person who is tasked with carrying them (up to and in some cases including police officers).  They do not fear evil people, because their belief system denies the existence of evil people – they fear guns.  This is why, after each mass shooting – stopped by police officers with guns – they actually say that “more guns are not the answer”.  They never stop to think that logically, if they really believe that, they should never call the police because they will always bring MORE GUNS.

Think they will stop at guns?  When
control failed in the UK, they started
going after knives (inc. kitchen knives).

Of course, they somehow think that eliminating guns will end murders.  Funny thing is that this has been done in the UK, and now London has a murder rate higher than New York City.  Their answer?  Asking normal, law abiding people to turn in their kitchen knives.

The second world view is rooted in Judaism and Christianity.  This world view believes that while men and women are indeed created in the image of God, they are also fallen creations – damaged by sin, inclined to do evil.  The story of the fall in Genesis is but one Biblical passage that makes it clear that evil comes from inside of us:

Here King David speaks about himself:
(Psa 51:5 NIV)  Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Here Jesus speaks of the source of evil:
(Mark 7:21 NIV)  For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
(Mark 7:22 NIV)  greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
(Mark 7:23 NIV)  All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"

Finally, we have the Apostle Paul:
(Rom 7:18 NIV)  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

A corollary to the biblical worldview.

So people are both created in the image of God and inclined to do wrong.  We have met the enemy and he is us.  All of us are responsible for our actions.  All of us must find a way to do right.  Of course, this is the object of true religion.  That said, the fact that evil comes from inside of people is an observable fact – so even people who do not believe can still adopt this view of human nature.

Someone with this worldview is much more likely to see guns as a secondary issue and people as the primary cause.  Seeing the reality of evil inside people also can cause people to see the value of firearms as self-defense tools – especially since Jesus Himself ordered that His disciples be armed for self defense.

Does this mean that everyone who holds this world view is opposed to all gun laws or controls?  Of course not.  Some may want all guns banned.  That said, I do believe that folks in this camp are much more likely to demand evidence that proposed gun restrictions will work.  They also are much more likely to value the Constitution, and therefore the 2nd Amendment.  Many, including myself, are pro-gun rights because they have a Biblical worldview.

Beyond gun laws, these world views have very real effects – effects that can be seen in two contrasting attacks upon houses of worship.

First, there is the horrible attack upon the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.  While, thankfully, this  synagogue did have several exits and evacuation plans, they are steadfastly opposed to any armed security because  they are theologically liberal and hate guns.  Even with a very fast police response, 11 people were killed.

Second there is the attack upon the New Life Church.  Having already killed two and wounded two in a previous attack upon Christians, this active shooter attacked New Life Church just after the service ended.  In the parking lot he killed two and wounded two more.  Entering the church, he attempted to reach the sanctuary where over 300 people were talking after the service.  He never got there.  Jeanne Assam, a volunteer security person – armed by virtue of a CCW license - engaged him before he could get there, severely wounding him.  He then took his own life.  In spite of being armed with essentially the same weapons as the Tree of Life attacker, causalities were limited to two dead and two wounded.

Many will be critical of what I am to write, but it is never the less an objective fact: Had the Tree of Life Synagogue done the logical thing for a large Synagogue, and set up armed security some of the people who died would be alive.  Experience with security and active shooters proves it.  Sadly, the leadership show no evidence that they understand what their world view cost them.