I have been busy with work, so have not followed the news very closely. Yet I have followed it closely enough to know about the recent school shooting in Florida which left 17 dead and one young man in custody. And, predictably, I have been aware of the news enough to know – even before anyone told me – that the media would exploit the tragedy to spin and push propaganda.

Naturally, Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals – everyone with an opinion, no matter how well formed it is, has lined up on the traditional sides. And this will be the topic of discussion and debate for the next little while until some other piece of news seems more convenient to Progressives pushing another aspect of their agenda.

Or not. Why wait to exhaust one topic before moving on to another?

Enter Joy Behar and those ladies over at The View, providing the other big topic in my news feed this week. As it turns out, Joy Behar and her cohort decided this was an important time to discuss the faith – no, “mental health” – of the Vice President of the United States of America, Mike Pence. Per Behar:

“It’s one thing to talk to Jesus; it’s another thing when Jesus talks to you.”

Now I want to pause here. Before getting into my position on gun control and whether Jesus can or does talk back to us, I want to outline briefly what is going on here. Side by side, the two big stories in my news feed this morning are: first, yet another school shooting in Florida; second, The View mocking Christian faith in public life, in broad daylight, for all the world to see.

These two things are closely connected.

Mothers Like Joy Behar

About half the mothers of this nation are represented by Joy Behar, or else some other lady from The View, if voting numbers in our elections are any clue. That is why these women were chosen for that show to begin with. What is why The View is still on the air.

Now consider half the children of America being raised by mothers like Joy Behar who mock the idea of Christian faith. Oh, sure, Joy gives a nod to the nominal acceptability of prayer. Just don’t you go thinking God answers prayers. That is a bridge too far. That is sick, maybe even dangerous.

Now imagine half the sons and daughters of this country coming home from godless schools to mothers like Joy Behar who mock Christian faith. Those sons and daughters count themselves lucky – or not, given how many young Americans now attempt suicide – that they survived the gauntlet of abortion in this country which their mothers march in the streets wearing vagina hats to praise and defend.

But they go to school and hear they are the products of random biological processes worked out through death and dying for endless generations. They are, we all are, merely happy accidents at best. These children attend godless schools, live in godless homes, and self-medicate their meaningless existence with godless TV shows, godless movies, and godless video games.

Is it any wonder that many come away from all this with the impression that life is meaningless? Should we be shocked that some of these unhappy children hate the meaninglessness of this life, and despise the selfish and callous words and actions of their peers and authority figures? And is it so shocking that some decide to test that meaninglessness, and vent their own selfish anger with deadly violence?

Believe In Yourself

Tragedies like the Florida school shooting are what comes of telling children to believe in themselves even while persuading them not to believe in God.

Our society celebrates gender dysphoria. We collectively say that wanting to be the gender you are not is ‘brave.’ There is no longer any such thing as sexual morality apart from questions of consent; our culture approaches sex with the Nike motto: ‘Just do it.’

In sum, we have conditioned ourselves as a people to reject God as the supreme authority in our lives; we have also thrown off any objective standard of right action and conduct. All that remains is feelings and desire and self-actualization. We become the supreme arbiter of good and evil, of meaning and purpose. We are all doing whatever is right in our own eyes.

But how do we tell children to do whatever feels good, then balk when what feels good to them is mass murder?

Tragically, both Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, have a hard time identifying the problem as spiritual. Americans as a people are now reluctant to refer to things in terms of good and evil. That would undermine the license with which we ourselves want to operate apart from such notions. Consequently, we look for solutions in a reactionary way. Just so, we are being herded toward unsavory fixes which will only compound our cultural rot.

Mental Health and Gun Control Measures

Liberals seized on this as they always do. They saw an opportunity to push gun control. What would they change? What new law or regulation would have prevented this shooting in Florida? I asked one of the few remaining Democrats on my Facebook friend list the other day; he unfriended me rather than answering.

The point is not to get specific. The point is not to find the link between loopholes in our gun laws and mass shootings. Blame the gun. Ascribe to it moral culpability. Why are we reluctant to say the shooter was evil? Or, if we can get that far, Democrats imply the gun made him evil. That evil gun made the young man kill all his classmates, not the other way around.

Yet Republicans and conservatives are not much better. The American right answers calls from Democrats for stricter gun control with redirection. ‘No, we need to focus on improving mental health,’ they say. But how are we going to do that? And what does that even mean? If Joy Behar defines ‘mental health,’ we must stop being Christians, and pressure everyone else to as well.

The problem is not ‘mental health.’ The problem is moral health – sin and a lack of repentance. This is a matter of good and evil, righteousness and wickedness, and of light and darkness.

Both Democrats and Republicans in this country are loath to admit that. Both camps have, despite their differences, generally enjoyed being free to do whatever they please in a climate of godlessness. Injecting accountability to God into discussions now is like a bucket of ice water to a drunk’s face. It is unwelcome and shocking. Nevertheless, repentance and Jesus talking to us is exactly what we need.