We are all disturbed yet again by a shooting at a religious gathering in Sutherland Springs,
Texas. Many people were senselessly murdered by a lone gunman. What a tragedy. As of this
writing (11/06/17), investigators are still searching for a motive, and the gun control debate has reignited. Guns are not the issue, but anger is. Behind every murder and, certainly, the slaughter for which we now grieve, is anger.
Jesus explained, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder;
and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry
with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the
council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire” (Matt. 5:21, 22). Therefore, behind murder is the anger that causes the murder. Jesus instructs us to deal with the root. So, if we can deal with a man’s anger and alleviate it, listen to his problems and answer them, be aware of his hurt and heal it, we can prevent some murders. I do not think we can rid the world of such sinful acts. Men are individually accountable, and we cannot force them to do what is right. Still, teaching and preaching the gospel and the peace that is only in Christ will go a long way toward helping the world with its problems.
There is malice in men’s hearts that causes them to pick up the guns and ruin lives. Sin
is horrible. We have learned from our study of Ephesians that we must “let all bitterness and
wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice” (4:31).
Perhaps if we could get more people involved in Bible classes, we could stop some of this
senseless killing.