Whose fault?

When something is wrong we always want someone or something to blame. The more wrong it is, the greater the desire for a scape-goat.
The blame-game has gone into hyper-drive this week. A guy walked into a crowd of people and shot a member of Congress, a Federal judge, and more than a dozen others. Everyone agrees that this is a horrendous deed, but whose fault is it. Accusations fire out from Tucson like a laser light show. I fear that the aim of the accusations has more to do with the prejudices of those making the accusations than a careful analysis of the facts.

• The gun-control lobby blames the ready availability of firearms, pointing to the fact that Arizona has few, if any, restrictions on carrying a concealed weapon.
• Others point to what they regard as the as the unacceptable level of vitriol (Have you noticed that those with whom we agree almost always sound less vitriolic than our opponents?) in our public discourse.
• The fact that Congresswoman Giffords had no Secret-Service type security has been offered as a reason for the tragedy.
• There was a breakdown in the mental-health safety-net, say advocates for the unstable.
  My heart has gone out to the parents of the shooter. I don't know yet whether they are good parents or bad, but clearly the family is the first, and foremost, civilizing influence.
• No doubt many of you can supply other possible causal factors.
  

The fact is there is an element of truth to everyone of the statements above. We live in a world profoundly marked by sin at every level. Romans 1:18-3:20 and Romans 7 point out that not only is sin out there, but in here. The Bible makes plain that each of us are responsible for our actions. Note Ezekiel 18:20, for example. We have to deal with the world in a realistic way. Unrestrained evil will triumph, in the short-term. The book of Proverbs gives a realistic model of imperfect moms and dads parenting fallen children in a sinful world. Romans 13 is one of the passages in the Bible that speaks of the need of an effective government to restrain evil.
Finding a boogey-man type explanation for the kind of tragedy that insults, hurts, and, in a sense, taints us all may make us feel better for a while, but it won't do anything to really help. More important than asking, "Who can I blame?" is being open to the query, "What can I do?"


It's STTA.


A cyber-friend of mine had some very good thoughts on the tragedy. Click here.