Moral Decay

Have you ever tried to find something and looked everywhere, even checking the same places multiple times with no success? Maybe you would just give up and find something else and try to make it work. Then maybe days, weeks, or months later someone says “What is this for?” You look and respond “Where did you find that? I have been looking for that forever!” Then you realize it was right in plain view all the time and you could not see it.

For years politicians have been running in circles saying they are going to get the answers to why there are so many mass shootings these days in America. They read the same script of talking points that were written after the Columbine shooting on April 20, 1999. In that mass shooting event at Columbine High School, Littleton Colorado, 13 people were killed and another 20 were wounded. The two boys then committed suicide. All these years later, after many more students and adults have lost their lives during mass shootings. While these events get a lot of attention and millions have been spent to “fix” the problem, the “fix” does not seem to have any effect on stopping them. During the period 21 years since Columbine, thousands of other people have been killed via violent acts with some of those victims not even making the news for that week.

When a problem goes without being “fixed”, there can only be a couple of reasons. Either the actual cause for the problem has not been found or the cause is “known” but there is no “will” to actually address the problem to “fix” it. Hundreds if not thousands of new gun laws have been written over the years with great “fanfare” and coverage. Millions have been spent, and children have been traumatized with new controls and training to the point of being afraid to be a child and just doing kid stuff without fear. All “solution” discussions focus mainly on the weapon used, clothing worn, method of access to the victims, and what could have motivated that person to do what he did. The goal of each of these “fix” committees is always a noble, find “common sense” solutions. These efforts have all failed because they were structured to fail from the start. None of the committees to this point have actually tried to identify what was the problem before developing the solution! Think about how that has ever worked in your life. ==PAUSE==

At least 75% of all talking points by all participants include comments about AR-15s, large capacity ammo, and how scary an object looks. Phrases like “Weapons of War”, “Assault Rifles”, and “Machine Guns” are used to get you to paint a picture in your brain of the cause of death. Thousands die every year due to car accidents, many are victims of DUI, and some have been run over and killed intentionally, but the car is never described as an “Assault Vehicle” and there are no discussions of banning automobiles. So what are they leaving out of their process?

Every project I have been asked to handle in all my years always starts at Phase 2 and stalls until the message that the project has been poorly defined gets understood. Then and only then can you define the “End Goal” properly. Phase 1 is the most important step for solving any problem in business, in America, and within your personal life. If the problem is within you, you can keep changing everything around you and never fix the problem. If you fix what is causing you to stumble, you may have fixed every problem in your life. The violence in America is not caused by objects like guns, cars, or buildings – it is the erosion of our core moral GPS. We have lost our way, going down a path that has taken us away from God. We still hold onto the name of Jesus so we can say He is a friend. Many would add Him as a friend on Facebook, but then restrict what comments He could see. Many people already post comments and give Him credit for saying those things – things that never came from Him.

America was formed as a Republic and not as a Democracy and there is a difference. The Constitution was developed to be the road map, the legal structure, and the conscience for America. The Bill of Rights was included as the most important set of rules to define what God gives us and to ensure that the government does not have a right to take away from us. How did we lose our GPS and get so far lost and struggle with traveling down roads that just bring more grief and destruction? Well, it has been in plain view all along. When I was a child in elementary school, we started the school day with a morning prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and some positive comments about expectations for the day. Lessons on citizenship and respect were part of our study and practiced. We studied all of the core subjects including history. While religion was not taught in public schools, God was not excluded. When something bad happened to one of the families or the community, we would have a few minutes to think about those affected and to offer up a prayer in the way we knew how. That helped us to focus on other people in our lives in a different way. You cannot pray for someone and have hard feelings for them at the same time.

I remember the honor I felt when I was chosen for the week to be the “safety” patrol (whatever it was actually called), I would wear that belt and hold the safe-crossing flag in front of the school to let the kids cross the street. Younger people don’t know that kids did that years ago. There was an adult there watching, but the child got to experience watching out for others. I remember what it felt like to be taken down to the Principal’s Office to get a good talking to and swat with a wooden paddle for something I said or did. Really bad for me because my Mom worked in the kitchen at the school. That would have been a bad walk home that day with my Mom not turning loose of me. The phrase “Wait until your Dad gets home!” became the most fearful word I did not want to hear. We were raised with discipline, but not abuse. We knew where the road was and what would or could happen if we ran into the ditch. Stores were closed on Sundays and churches were open. The family was very important to us and the kids at school were our neighbors and friends. Some of us still have friends from those days in elementary school.

Today, God is not allowed to be discussed or implied at school and normal relationships now include relationships that most people had never thought of and certainly never discussed in public, let alone in classrooms. Children are being taught how to tell if they are a victim and who is guilty of causing that harm to them. They are being taught that their failure may be caused by others or worse that they should not be treated the same way for grades, expectations, and punishment. All of these changes cause lifelong harm to our children. Today, children are given drugs to help control their actions to replace the discipline and excuses for what they did. Children are given devices to occupy their time and devices to watch videos about subjects as a replacement for actual person-to-person teaching. Children are not allowed to have time to play as children and find ways to have fun using their minds to think of ways to play. Children have access to information, games, and pictures that develop unhealthy ideas. While a child teasing other kids should not be encouraged, it has always been there. How it is handled has changed and that has caused real harm. Today, if a little girl is teased by a boy about her hair it can cause a huge issue for all involved. In the past, the Mom would tell her daughter to not get upset that maybe he is teasing her because he likes her. That is on the “teasing” end. Today, if a student or teacher has done bad things, the school district may try to keep it out of the public view. Students may not receive any punishment because of some specially protected class. New discussion groups have been formed and supported in our schools that teach behaviors that are not normal but taught as normal. Each new behavior that can be described with a new name is added to the protected class of individuals. Anyone that has issues that are described as “hateful” or even “terrorist” has been used for individuals that quote or say what the Holy Bible says about acceptable behaviors.

When God was removed from our schools, Satan filled that void. Where God’s guidance was used to help define how to handle disappointments or disagreements, Satan has provided an aggressive replacement to turn the issue into a “war”. God has always been the gravity to pull us toward peace and righteousness, while Satan is always tempting us to take the next step away from God. The other big factor that has been part of this slide away from God is the drugs. The use of “legal” medications to try to treat an emotional problem, most of the time does not solve the problem, it only masks the problem. Our governments have changed over the years, that has occurred because more of the people that rejected God and did drugs as youths got into politics and/or teaching at universities where they pushed their lifestyles with Satan’s help, they got enough people indoctrinated to believe by accepting those changes our problems would be solved. When each idea was presented, all they asked for was to be just allowed to live as they want, that’s all. Today, those are “protected” classes that must be endorsed by all, or you will be fired or you will be forced to close your business.

All of these changes occurred during my lifetime. I have watched them happen and it is clear as the morning sun what the real problem is here in America – it is not guns of any name, size, shape, or how they may look or feel. If you don’t make changes that deal with the moral decay in America, with the control that Satan has on our government, on our communities, our families, and our individual hearts, it will only get worse. All of the answers to our problems can be found in one place – The Holy Bible. It is God’s word to us divided into two parts: The Old Testament and The New Testament. God has addressed every problem we can face in life with examples of how they begin, what grief they cause, and the solution. All of that is there as “History” or His Story to be used to keep our GPS functioning as it was designed by God to function. The Apple Store cannot repair it, it can only be “fixed” in God’s workshop.