Gun Ownership attacked again.

Louis Cantrell recently wrote an opinion piece that was printed in the Virginia Gazette. Basically, this man raged against the Christain Community, seeking pastors to denounce the ownership of guns. I found it to be a sad misinterpretation of morals. My discourse follows. Opinion can be found in the Williamsburg Va. Virginia Gazette dated 6-11-2022 

 What is the moral course? 

 Louis Cantrell asks a very important question yet does not define morality and the result of a moral decision being a person or group of persons' ethics. Both morality and ethics loosely have to do with distinguishing the difference between “good and bad” or “right and wrong.” Many people think of morality as something that's personal and normative, whereas ethics is the standards of “good and bad” distinguished by a certain community or social setting. The ethics of Christianity reveal one simple truth. We are not a perfect society or people. We make mistakes; we fail to live up to the ethics of Jesus every day. This is where forgiveness comes into our lives as Christians. Forgiveness is, in my opinion, the hardest moral decision a person will ever endeavor. 

 Let us examine the moral decision to pick up an inanimate object with hate in the heart, pull a trigger, and do harm to his fellow brother and sisters. In your own mind is where evil starts to pollute your moral decisions thereby lowering your standard of ethics. Christianity is, in fact, our shield from these low moral decisions. Blaming the inanimate object and not the moral decision to pick up the inanimate object to do harm is a short-sighted pollical ploy that some have fallen for. 

 Morals have changed over time and based on location. For example, different parts of our country can have different standards of morality. Many large urban centers exhibit a society whereby low moral decisions are made every day. One only to look at the murder rates of Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and Saint Louis to get an idea of how politics in these urban centers have affected moral decisions. Let us examine our urban center society for the following seven morals and see if these urban societies meet the standards of a good life. 

 1. Bravery: Bravery has historically helped people determine hierarchies. People who demonstrate the ability to be brave in tough situations have historically been seen as leaders. 

2. Fairness: Think of terms like "meet in the middle" and the concept of taking turns. 

3. Defer to authority: Deferring to authority is important because it signifies that people will adhere to rules that attend to the greater good. This is necessary for a functioning society. 

4. Helping the group: Traditions exist to help us feel closer to our group. This way, you feel more supported, and a general sense of altruism is promoted. 

5. Loving your family: This is a more focused version of helping your group. It's the idea that loving and supporting your family allows you to raise people who will continue to uphold moral norms. 

6. Returning favors: This goes for society as a whole and specifies that people may avoid behaviors that aren't generally altruistic. 

 7. Respecting others’ property: This goes back to settling disputes based on prior possession, which also ties in with the idea of fairness. 

 I would caution Louis Cantrell in this quest to tie religion to politics. The reason why we see such hate and lack of love for our fellow brothers and sisters is that society has turned its back on God and Christianity, among other well-respected, highly ethical religions. It is politics that has offered low moral advice to sin. Louis Cantrell gets it wrong. Christianity is the ethic we adhere to, the individual’s moral decisions to do harm do not meet Christianity’s ethics, and therefore it is here, in the heart of the individual, where sin is found. It is here we offer forgiveness, however hard that may seem to be to give. We forgive you, Louis, for your attack on our high ethical standards.