"It's Not The Guns Folks" (And Other Observations)

After looking at the following three Fox News articles this morning regarding recent tragic events, here, here, and here, this writer's conclusion is, "it's not the guns folks" (there is also a car listed in the above three tragedies). If anyone wants to do us harm, they can do so with just about any object available (yes, even a pencil).

The cause of the above tragedies, of course, is Sin. Sin comes to pass when the thoughts and intents of the heart are not right with God (see article). With sin, there is an associated chain of progression, as well as consequences and a solution. Sin (literally, "missing the mark" (see #2) originates from our thought patterns, i.e., Mark 7:21-23 (note the contrast of ungodly thought patterns in Genesis 6:5 NKJV vs. the godly thought patterns in Philippians 4:8 KJV). See this article and note the word "thought."

The spiritual training of our children (and continuing generations) from an early age (2 Timothy 3:15), is key to preventing the above tragedies (Ephesians 6:4; Psalm 78:1-8). The Bible has solutions -- are we willing to implement them?

From today's morning walk, I made the following two observations:

1) Lovers at the park. There were two young people hugging, kissing, and fondling one another across the street from where I was exercising. Beloved, there is a time and place for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8), and a public park during the early morning hours, is neither the time nor the place for PDA (public display of affection).

2) Noticed a young male millennial (yes, he was looking at his smartphone while crossing the street). He also had a skateboard in his hand. After crossing the street, he proceeded to board his skateboard and dash down the sidewalk. The only problem was, that it had just rained during the night, causing the skateboard to not have have much traction on the sidewalk. He actually had to walk! While there are benefits attached to skateboarding (see here), there are greater benefits in walking (here and here are two of them), and walking doesn't put undue pressure on your knee joints (no quick twisting and turning).

---Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets