Civil Discourse & Conversation Goes Further Than Bloodshed
Opinion Piece By: Jeff Walker
When it comes to God, He only sees two sets of people. Those who are saved, and those who are lost. As to virtues, God only sees what is good versus what is bad. It’s clear God abhors many of our sins, including sexual immorality, theft, murder, lying, and a host of others. However, God does not favor one gender or race over another.
The Good Book clearly states we are all made in His image. Young or old, black or white, rich or poor, skilled or unskilled, educated or not, famous or everyday, God is not a respecter of persons. How He expects us to live here on His green planet is laid out in the Bible, and anything we do to go against that plan goes against the very nature of God.
Jesus clearly stated we are to love God first and foremost, and to love one another as we love God. There is no gray area with God. He spells out His plans easily for us. It is our own sin nature that causes all that happens on earth. Whether they be catastrophes, pandemics, or civil unrest it is our sinful nature and lack of true love (God’s love), that causes us to fall from grace and destroy ourselves in the aftermath.
As if the Corona Virus wasn’t bad enough both globally and in the United States, now we are dealing with another round of civil disobedience. The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police office is tragic and unwarranted. The office and perhaps those involved should all be convicted and sent to prison, just as any other common thugs the police apprehend on a daily basis. The rednecks who killed Georgia jogger Ahmaud Arbery should face the same fate.
We need to take a long hard look at civil liberties in this country. Corruption, misdeeds, and abuse of power sadly happen every day, across all professions, and are not a matter or race. Whether people are religious or not, most people who live and breathe on American soil are by in large decent hard working people. Sadly every profession has its bad characters.
A small percentage of those who are police officers, medical personnel, teachers, business persons, and even clergy are bad people and oftentimes put on a false front. Nothing excuses their actions, whether they take a life, mistreat a business associate, or harm a member of their church or school. As unfortunate as it is, there are men and women working in professions they have no business being in.
With all that said, keep in mind most teachers, police officers, pastors, doctors, nurses, and business owners are decent people. They are just like you and me, hoping to do their job effectively, make a difference, be responsible people in the community, and do right by their families. God or no God in their lives, that is an underlying code of moral aptitude. Many of us live by that code.
So when the few baddies step outside that frame of reference, we don’t need to take it out on the rest of the community. Rioting and looting businesses in the name of protesting is nothing more than committing crimes, and distracts from the overall mission of the protests. Those who carry out such crimes should be held accountable to the full extent of the law. One injustice does not repay another.
There are radical extremist groups and terrorist organizations out there that are hell bent on disrupting society, communities, business, and political parties. The 95 percent of us who are good, do not need to be impacted by those groups. Injustices of all kinds are incomprehensible, and actions need to be taken, but innocent parties and those who side with their causes shouldn’t be effected by protesters mayhem.
I applaud the right to protest. Oftentimes it is the only way politicians and law abiding citizens wake up to what is happening around them. With all the baby boomers like myself stood up for, during the civil rights era of the 1960’s you would thing that civil liberties would not be an issue in the 21st century, but sadly it is. However it is not the predominant thinking of most of society. We may not agree on all issues but most of us agree all men and women are created equal.
The police officers in Minneapolis, the Georgia rednecks, and others who naturally hate or abuse for no more reason than your sexual preference, religious affiliation, or the color of your skin all need to be dealt with, as do extreme anti-American groups. Don’t tarnish the memory or legacies of Ahmaud Arbery or George Floyd by inciting violence and mayhem. Even their family members don’t endorse such behavior. Civil discourse is far better than bloodshed and personal destruction.
For Christians like myself, the author and instigator of all the civil injustice and its evil aftermath is the Devil himself. Whether you believe in God and His saving grace, I implore people to act civilly in society. When you trash a business, your are only hurting your fellow neighbor. We as a society are better than that. We must rise above. We don’t get better as a society if we don’t take the higher road.
From Abraham Lincoln to JFK, and from Martin Luther King to George Floyd, it has never been okay to take an innocent life. In my many decades on the planet there have been countless murders that should have never happened. Most were caused by Biblical sins such as hatred, envy, and jealousy, with the modern day element stupidity added in.
The naked truth is that whites kill whites, whites kill blacks, blacks kill blacks, and blacks kill whites. No matter what the deadly scenario, none (not one) is acceptable. Taking an innocent life is tragic and perpetrators need to be sentenced to the fullest extent of the law, but beyond civil protest, there is no need to destroy communities where we live, work, and socialize. Again we are better than that.
We have real problems in this country and they need to be addressed. Clear thinking people from the right and the left understand the best way to overcome, and to effect change is to have open dialogue representing both sides. Looting, burning businesses, and defiling property only makes matters worse. Do Black Lives Matter? Yes they do! But to Christians and those who function rationally, All Lives Matter!
