The sword

You've heard the saying, 'Those who live by the sword will die by the sword.' It comes from the Gospel of Matthew:

Then Jesus said to him, 

“Put your sword back into its place. 

For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.

Matthew 26:52 ESV

I'm not sure we'll ever know for certain why the shooter killed all of those innocent people in Dayton. Not that the answer would make things better. Some of us from my office went to lunch at the Trolley Stop yesterday, driving past Ned Pepper's for the first time this week. It was sobering.  A chill shot through me. Seeing it on TV was one thing, but being there, even just for a few seconds in a moving car filled me with so many simultaneous emotions. I felt anger at the killer for bringing this darkness to our city, for doing this heinous crime that will change so many lives forever. I felt sorrow and fear and grief. And I do want to know 'why' even though it can't possibly make sense to the average person. The victims and survivors didn't deserve this; no one deserves to die in this senseless manner for whatever senseless reason the killer made himself believe. It breaks my heart.

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Step One

Last night I was watching yet another show about mass murders and what we can do, what we should do, and what our lawmakers need to do to prevent this from happening again ("America Under Assault: The Gun Crisis"). The host/moderator (Chris Cuomo) said something I hadn't thought about...There's no one thing that can be done to stop this. It will take several different measures, but since we can't implement all of the measures at once, no one (in government) wants to do just the one or two things that they can do right now because it will be ineffective. I'm greatly paraphrasing what he said, but I believe that's the gist of it. Why can't we phase in all of these measures one by one, or two by two? At least if we take that first step, then someday, maybe, we'll be like other countries and not have mass murders be a common occurrence anymore.

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, 

adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Matthew 15:19 ESV

Submit yourselves therefore to God. 

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you

James 4:7 ESV

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power

Weapons of mass destruction

Police photos of weapon used in Dayton shooting

Why are these types of weapons available to civilians? The common excuse is that if they weren't, people would just modify other weapons to do the same thing. That tells me that they're only needed for mass shootings.

During the Assaults Weapon Ban (1994 - 2004) the number of mass shootings was an average of 1.5 per year according to several online news sources. "There have been 2,128 mass shootings since 2013, roughly one per day."

Nine states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and the District of Columbia have banned large-capacity ammunition magazines. We'll see if it makes a difference, although, without it being a federal ban, a determined person would just go to a neighboring state.

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:1 ESV

Now, who do we know who uses "harsh word(s)" and "stirs up anger"? Who do we know who is in the news every single day calling people names, spreading lies, promoting racism? This has got to stop!

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Please join me this week in praying to stop the killing.
I'll post daily reminders on:
twitter @7DegreesOfMe
Instagram @archadia27
Facebook group 7th Hour Prayer Power