Are Guns the Problem?

Do gun laws have anything to do with the Bible, God, and science?  Absolutely.  Talking about gun laws or just guns in general can make some people very uncomfortable, but it is a very important topic in today’s world.  The reasons for our problems with mass shootings and terrorism today are rooted in the first few chapters of Genesis – both the theology and the science found in Genesis.

Before I get into guns, I’d like to talk a little bit about knives first.  It is true that knives can be used to hurt and kill people, but the more common use of knives is simply in the kitchen of a humble housewife.  A woman can use knives to prepare food for her children –  as a tool for nurturing her children  and as an instrument of love.  A surgeon uses specialized knives and blades to help him save someone’s life.  The knife is merely a tool of working out the intentions of the heart, and those heart intentions can either be bad or good.

The same concept goes for guns too.  Guns can be used to hunt for food to provide for a family, although hunting for food is not as common in America as it was about a century ago.  Obviously guns can be used to harm people, but that is not an entirely bad function; guns can be used to harm or stop someone who wants to hurt innocent people.  In addition, many people use firearms for learning marksmanship and as a way to spend time together.

Many people wonder why God created creatures with sharp teeth used for tearing other creatures apart, like T-rex.  While it is true that T-rex did eventually eat meat, it was not the way they were originally created in God’s perfect world, because those same sharp teeth could be very useful for chomping on tough vegetation like coconuts.  The difference is the fallen world dinosaurs lived in after Adam’s sin. Weapons are not the underlying problem behind terrorism and slaughter – it is the heart of the people possessing the weapons that makes the difference between life giver and life taker.  We could outlaw guns all day long, but we would still have terrorism and slaughter of innocent people, and it would probably be worse than it already is today.  The reason why we have pain and suffering at all is because of Adam’s sin, so we can’t ever count on achieving peace in this world, but we can have the hope of peace in Heaven if we accept Jesus’ offer of salvation.