"Christian"- They Keep Using That Word. It Doesn't Mean What They Think It Means.
How many more must die? How long must we keep asking that question?
(Thoughts and prayers, y’all…’cuz you can’t reasonably expect us to actually DO something….)
How much bloodshed will be enough? How much more tears, suffering, and loss will be needed before the National Rifle Association, gun industry, and Right-wing politicians decide we’ve had enough blood and grief?
Of course, if the NRA has its way (and when hasn’t it?), the answers will be what they’ve always been- no amount of bloodshed is EVER too much, and the NRA can tolerate an endless amount of blood and grief.
Because none of the blood, suffering, and grief is ever their own. Those are abstract concepts to them. Until it settles heavily on their doorstep, they will never have a reason to face the truth. And they and those who worship the 2nd Amendment as if it’s an inviolate Holy Decree from God will continue to scream the loudest.
And those who conflate God and guns will continue to carry the day.
Christian.
To paraphrase a wise man, “They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.”
Every day my timeline is filled with God and Gun Christians.
The two words are frequently given the same place of adoration.
They are spoken of with kindred reverence.
They are allotted equal fervor.
God. Gun.
Those two words are used with such similar frequency on their social media bios, and often so tethered together in their conversations and in their sermons that they are inextricable.
And what you realize if you pay attention, is that the God and the gun have been conflated: that they really only worship one of those; that only one has their hearts.
America is awash in guns. There are more guns than there are people in this country. Those who continue to believe that only MORGUNZ!!!! will make America safe should take a good look around. If it was true that MORGUNZ!!!! would make this country a safe refuge for all citizens, then America should be the safest place in the world.
Instead, something like 350,000 of my fellow Americans fall victim to gun violence every year. So how do more than 400 MILLION guns still not keep us safe? How many do we need? 600 million? 800 million? Two billion? Must we require every American over 16 to carry a handgun to the mall, church, grocery store, and liquor store? Or everywhere?
And what do we do in cases of people killed or wounded by accidental discharges? Or mistaken identity? Or road rage? Or Russian Roulette? Or drunken stupidity
Do we also require people to carry their firearms into bars and restaurants? Mixing guns and alcohol? What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
For the Lord is good, and His mercy endures forever…and His aim is true. AND He can get off six shots before the Devil can unholster his pistol.
The problem with people like this is that they’ve conflated their God with their guns for so long that they no longer understand anything of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their “faith,” such as it is, is all anger, rage, and retribution. It’s about ensuring “The Other” doesn’t get what you believe you deserve.
(Nor do they understand that Jesus Christ wasn’t about high-powered weaponry. He wasn’t about outgunning your adversary; he was about turning the other cheek, something the heavily-armed American Taliban could stand to learn a thing or two about. Perhaps if y’all ever bothered to read your New Testament once in a while….)
It’s about believing that White Conservative Christian heterosexuals sit atop the pyramid they see as the rest of humanity. Their racism and bigotry, conflated with their “Christianity,” allows them to feel justified in hating those not like them. That this has nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus Christ is completely lost on them.
Whenever I see these posturing professed disciples of a heat-packin’ deity, whether friends, strangers, influencers, or politicians, I don’t need to know anything about them to be certain of one thing about them: they have no idea who Jesus is.
They may have an image on their wall or in their heads that they worship; one burned into their psyches by brimstone-breathing preachers and angry older relatives and NRA ad campaigns—but it sure as heck ain’t Jesus of Nazareth.
It is not the gentle, compassionate, open-hearted, non-violent rabbi Jesus who shunned retributive violence, who warned against eye-for-an-eye myopia, who preached the blessing of peace toward the world—and who allowed himself to be unfairly arrested and beaten and murdered, to show that love is the last, loudest word.
They’ve lost all connection with the things that define true Christianity- love, tolerance, acceptance, compassion, and kindness- things that will allow them to offer a hand to others in need. These are the same things that can enable them to see others as human beings and equals in the eyes of God.
In short, they’ve become everything that the Jesus Christ they profess to revere preached against. But, unfortunately, they’re so convinced of their piety they can’t recognize their world-class hypocrisy.
“[L]ove is the last, loudest word.” But, sadly, the ears of the American Taliban/Gun Worshippers are so full of self-congratulations and hyper-religiosity that they remain forever incapable of hearing that last and loudest of words. And thus, they’ll remain stuck in a cycle of retributive violence and eye-for-an-eye myopia, too blind to see the truth that’s been in front of them the whole time.
I argued a few years back that to gun-fetishists and ammo-sexuals, guns are a kind of "identity politics": to these people, their firearm is not a tool, it is their *self*.
And yeah, these people haven't read the testaments. They haven't even looked at the pictures.