Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Effective mothering in post-Christian America

So this seventeen-year-old boy gets into a fist-fight, and loses. Goes home to his momma.

Mom gives him a gun, and tells him to go "kill them all." Seriously.

So, sure enough, he goes out and opens fire on his enemy, shooting him dead.

And here's what the police spokesman says:
"No police department can make up for that degree of deficient parenting," police spokesman Sgt. Joe Narcisse said. "Even with our best-laid plans, these type of incidents cause us great pause. What more can a department do to prevent these type of incidents?"
John Adams said it better:
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.
Solomon said it better still:

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,
but blessed is he who keeps the law.
(Proverbs 29:18)

12 comments:

Travis said...

Dan,

I'm a long time lurker here and, especially, at TeamPyro (although I did "join the conversation" concerning the Internet's most amazing chalk-board). I enjoy your writing, and I have heeded your exhortation by bookmarking your blog; no more linking to it from the Pyro site.

This post, as well as the news article that you linked, is disturbing. Sadly, this type of news is no longer shocking.

Seems as if John Adams and Solomon had it right.

Kim said...

I wonder if the mother will be included as an accessory, or is that too much accountability?

DJP said...

Thanks, Travis, I appreciate that.

That chalk-board was great, wasn't it? Phil's nuts. I mean that in a good way.

Unknown said...

Kim:

Yes, the mother has been arrested, and rightfully so.

Dan:

Post-Christian America and, maybe, also postmodern America.

Neil said...

I was at a trade convention once where the keynote speaker said that the decline of public and private ethical standards, in fact the decline of morality, is the greatest threat to the industry I work in.

I don't think he generalized enough. This particular moral decline that we are riding won't just threaten industries or sectors or groups of people... it will bring down nations.

LeeC said...

Fyodor Dostoevsky: "If there is no God, then all things are permissible. ..."

For a long time unbeleivers as a whole did not understand this concept. It used to be that when you used arguments like "So if you believe in evolution then why would it be wrong for me to murder you and your family for the money if I could get away with it?" you would get an initial reaction of shock or horror, now you get people saying "You know you are right." as if you have just given them some great truth.

May the Lord have mercy on us.

C.T. Lillies said...

This one fits right in with your 'California no spanking law' post last week or so...

If we as parents don't discipline our kids who will? The police, the courts, some large person in the prison system? Face it the military system can only do so much.

Josh
"...the word of God is not bound."
--2 Timothy 2:9

DJP said...

Very astute connection, CT, good point.

Daniel said...

I am never satisfied when someone makes a comment such as "good post" - but I was sorely tempted to do just that. I mean, it is a good post, you have drawn attention to something (especially made poignant in the quote from Adams) that it is wise to consider, but that I find very difficult to add to.

Good post.. umm.. indeed!

Travis said...

"If we as parents don't discipline our kids who will?"

I agree that young Clarence Johnson needed discipline, but who would provide it? Certainly not his mother. Instead of discipline she gave him a gun. Instead of sound, sage advice she said "Kill 'em all."

Some kids are afraid to admit they've been in a fight for fear of being disciplined. Some parents never know their kid was in a fight because they are too engrossed with themselves; their work, their problems, etc.

How do you explain a mother who does not admonish but instead arms her son?

4given said...

How do you explain a mother who does not admonish but instead arms her son?

Only but by the grace of God alone we are not this woman or that boy.

The Girl in Grey said...

Post-civilized America too! But it'll be happening in South London in a few years too, so post-civilized England as well.