this morning's sermon and the indy crime rate
For those of you who aren't local, you may not know that as of this weekend the homicide death toll in Indianapolis stands at 95. It's the bloodiest year Indy has had since 1998. Although Indy is being governed by a Democrat mayor (for the first time in at least 50 years), you might be surprised to hear me say that the homicide problem transcends normal partisan pillow fighting. In other words, this isn't a Democrat problem, or a Republican problem. The factors that have converged to create a "perfect storm" of sorts resulting in all of this violence have been percolating for at least the last 20 years under the watch of both parties. This ain't about politics!
I don't live in Indy, but I have occasion to visit periodically, so their issues affect me. This morning in church, our pastor talked briefly about the Indy homicide rate. He related to us that he had spoken with an IPD detective earlier this week (our pastor used to be the police chaplain for IPD) and that he had asked the detective if he had any idea what was causing the sudden surge in shootings. The detective told our pastor that a new gang had moved onto the scene on the East Side, and that this gang was trying to muscle in on the drug trade there. Result--Wild West Time on Indy's East Side. The detective then told our pastor something that really struck a chord with me. He said to our pastor, "There's really more to it, though, than just a new gang. These young men (the vast majority of both the victims and the shooters have been young, black males) living on the near East Side are abandoned souls. Most of them never knew their fathers. Many of them don't even have a connection with their mothers. They have no one positive to imitate." The pastor went on and related this story to the sermon topic of "The Imitation of Christ", but my mind got stuck (sorry pastor!) on this story. These young men have no one positive to imitate.
I believe that God's original creation of this earth had a perfect symmetry to it. God is perfect and God is love. God created man in His own image in order to exist in a perfect loving relationship with man. God would love man with a love impossible for us to comprehend. Man would worship and love God totally and completely, and would submit to God's rule. In turn, God would provide us with guidance and blessings in all aspects of our lives. Man would reproduce, and would teach their children about God's perfect love and about making God the center of our lives. Our children would learn by following our example, by imitating us. That's the way everything was designed to work, until man messed it all up by giving into temptation and sin. After that, man became increasingly inclined to make himself the center of his own world. We want to do things our own way.
Now, here we are in 2006. A shockingly large percentage of American males apparently thinks it's OK to make babies, but to then take no responsibility for those babies. What are these children supposed to do? How are they supposed to learn how to be civilized members of society if they have no positive role models? Where are the fathers?
Those who know me, know that I am real big on effective parenting. The top two priorities in my life are being a good husband and being a good father. We have 3 kids (7--boy; 4--girl; 1--boy) that my wife and I are committed to raising in a way that would please God. Dads, it is absolutely vital that we spend quality and quantity time with our kids. We have to teach our sons what it means to be a Christ-like man. We must demonstrate to our sons how to love our wives in the way God commands. We must demonstrate to our sons what it means to be the spiritual leader of our families in the way directed by God. We must show our sons how to become the man that God wants them to be.
We must teach our daughters how to be a Christ-centered woman. Through our unconditional love, we must teach them that they are worthy of Christ-like love so that they will never accept anything less. We must, through the way in which we love them and our wives, show our daughters that they are beautiful, unique creations of God and that their beauty shines both inside and out.
We must, with God's loving help and guidance, protect our sons and daughters as best we can from Satan's grasp. We must teach them how to pray, and how to read the Bible, and how to worship God, and how to totally and completely rely on God's love and mercy. We must teach our children how to love God with their entire beings, how to love others as much as they love themselves, and how to tell others about the Good News of Jesus Christ. We must imitate Christ so that our children may imitate us, and so learn to imitate Christ themselves. We must do these things, Dads, for the sake of our children and for the future of our nation.
I don't live in Indy, but I have occasion to visit periodically, so their issues affect me. This morning in church, our pastor talked briefly about the Indy homicide rate. He related to us that he had spoken with an IPD detective earlier this week (our pastor used to be the police chaplain for IPD) and that he had asked the detective if he had any idea what was causing the sudden surge in shootings. The detective told our pastor that a new gang had moved onto the scene on the East Side, and that this gang was trying to muscle in on the drug trade there. Result--Wild West Time on Indy's East Side. The detective then told our pastor something that really struck a chord with me. He said to our pastor, "There's really more to it, though, than just a new gang. These young men (the vast majority of both the victims and the shooters have been young, black males) living on the near East Side are abandoned souls. Most of them never knew their fathers. Many of them don't even have a connection with their mothers. They have no one positive to imitate." The pastor went on and related this story to the sermon topic of "The Imitation of Christ", but my mind got stuck (sorry pastor!) on this story. These young men have no one positive to imitate.
I believe that God's original creation of this earth had a perfect symmetry to it. God is perfect and God is love. God created man in His own image in order to exist in a perfect loving relationship with man. God would love man with a love impossible for us to comprehend. Man would worship and love God totally and completely, and would submit to God's rule. In turn, God would provide us with guidance and blessings in all aspects of our lives. Man would reproduce, and would teach their children about God's perfect love and about making God the center of our lives. Our children would learn by following our example, by imitating us. That's the way everything was designed to work, until man messed it all up by giving into temptation and sin. After that, man became increasingly inclined to make himself the center of his own world. We want to do things our own way.
Now, here we are in 2006. A shockingly large percentage of American males apparently thinks it's OK to make babies, but to then take no responsibility for those babies. What are these children supposed to do? How are they supposed to learn how to be civilized members of society if they have no positive role models? Where are the fathers?
Those who know me, know that I am real big on effective parenting. The top two priorities in my life are being a good husband and being a good father. We have 3 kids (7--boy; 4--girl; 1--boy) that my wife and I are committed to raising in a way that would please God. Dads, it is absolutely vital that we spend quality and quantity time with our kids. We have to teach our sons what it means to be a Christ-like man. We must demonstrate to our sons how to love our wives in the way God commands. We must demonstrate to our sons what it means to be the spiritual leader of our families in the way directed by God. We must show our sons how to become the man that God wants them to be.
We must teach our daughters how to be a Christ-centered woman. Through our unconditional love, we must teach them that they are worthy of Christ-like love so that they will never accept anything less. We must, through the way in which we love them and our wives, show our daughters that they are beautiful, unique creations of God and that their beauty shines both inside and out.
We must, with God's loving help and guidance, protect our sons and daughters as best we can from Satan's grasp. We must teach them how to pray, and how to read the Bible, and how to worship God, and how to totally and completely rely on God's love and mercy. We must teach our children how to love God with their entire beings, how to love others as much as they love themselves, and how to tell others about the Good News of Jesus Christ. We must imitate Christ so that our children may imitate us, and so learn to imitate Christ themselves. We must do these things, Dads, for the sake of our children and for the future of our nation.
posted by hondo at 10:47 PM
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