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America Must Face Reality: It’s Not Gun Vices, But A Spiritual Crisis

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America Must Face Reality: It’s Not Gun Vices, But A Spiritual Crisis

By Yvonne Sam
Contributing Columnist

Yvonne Sam -- newOver the years, when referring to America, there are some questions that no longer form part of my repertoire of inquiries, such as: What is wrong with America?

Although America has referred to itself as a Christian nation, its moral and social problems are far too many. I do not want it to appear as if I am using religion, or church, as a convenient ruse to shift focus away from the guns. No way! Despite the massive loss of lives every year in America, she has repeatedly failed to pass major gun control legislation. Neither am I going to make any prediction about whether this is the massacre that will do it, or whether it is the next one, or the one after that.

However, we have to question the cause and effect relationship between torching the social and spiritual values that once united Americans, and what they are now experiencing. In the media much has been said, and continues to be said, about the mental health of such mass murders, fair enough. But, very little is said about “spiritual health”, resulting from one’s thought life. Simply stated, we become what we think about. The Good Book cautions, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Following the recent school shooting in Uvalde Texas, Lieutenant Governor, Dan Patrick, in a television interview said: “If there are some people in this country who are not believers, that’s fine. I respect their right not to believe. But for those of us, who are Christians, we need to take hold of our country. And we do that through prayer. You cannot change the culture of a country, without changing the character of the people, and you just cannot change character without changing a heart. And you can’t do that without turning to God.”

Mass killings have become all too common a part of American culture, often perpetrated by angry and demented young men. However, sad to say, but as horrendous as these insensible mass killings are, we should look for a continuance of such acts — in the absence of faith in a loving God and respect for the enormously high esteem that He/She has placed on human life — ‘“made in His image.”

Some of these now-prevalent tragedies were inconceivable and unimaginable when a God-fearing generation was raising us. I pride myself on being a relic of the past, but I am old enough to recall, when we said a passage from the Scripture and then bowed our heads and prayed a silent prayer at our desks at the start of every day. Yes, in public elementary school. Say what you will, but at that time we felt safe in our classrooms.

One of God’s well-established laws is that nature cannot  abide in a vacuum. So, remove the God of love, and godless and dangerous worldviews rush in – often the ones that do not “choose life”.

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things ..… and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9).

On the flip side, dwell on thoughts that are untrue, lacking in nobility, wrong, impure, unlovely, not admirable and not excellent or praiseworthy, and the God of peace will not be with you.

Some of these now-prevalent tragedies were inconceivable and unimaginable when a God-fearing generation was raising us. I pride myself on being a relic of the past, but I am old enough to recall, when we said a passage from the Scripture and then bowed our heads and prayed a silent prayer at our desks at the start of every day. Yes, in public elementary school. Say what you will, but at that time we felt safe in our classrooms.

With America’s division over even matters of life and death, like full-term abortion, she remains a nation no longer united, by even the most basic respect for human life. Additionally, life has been ruthlessly cheapened in the hearts and minds of young people, as educators uniformly insist that they are the by-product of some random, cosmic accident. It is the most pessimistic, nihilistic worldview ever perpetrated on a generation of young people.

The nation’s once beloved dream has soured into a nightmare, from which she must awaken.

Some serious soul-searching  must be done, if not  tragic and grievous events, like the Uvalde school massacre, are not over, not by a long shot. The “one Nation under God” must return to the safety and security of His umbrella of protection, and live up to the words of its first official motto:”In God we trust”.

The consequences of forgetting God is well expressed in the country gospel song, ‘“If We Forget God”, first released in 1954 by American musical duo, the Louvin Brothers:
If we forget God, His mercy will flee
And sin will cover the land and the sea
If we forget God, Satan will rule
If we forget God, our nation is doomed

In order to overcome the forces of grief and blood, America must return to the God, whom the nation pledged to trust.

Aleuta continua — the struggle continues.

Yvonne Sam, a retired Head Nurse and Secondary School Teacher, is the Chair of the Rights and Freedom Committee at the Black Community Resource Centre. A regular columnist for over two decades with the Montreal Community Contact, her insightful and incursive articles on topics ranging from politics, human rights and immigration, to education and parenting have also appeared in the Huffington Post, Montreal Gazette, XPressbogg and Guyanese OnLine. She is also the recipient of the Governor General of Canada Caring Canadian Citizen Award.

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