GUNS OR BIBLE?

                                                            GUNS OR BIBLE?           

                             
What must be addressed is the crumbling liberal order that is creating monsters. The first step to stopping the shooting is to acknowledge liberalism’s inherent defects.

Liberalism has failed—not because it fell short but because it was true to itself. Liberalism declares, “Feel free to do as you please.” As liberalism progressed, it has fallen victim to its own success. When it reaches the end of its internal contradictions, it creates monsters.

Indeed, liberalism has fabulously succeeded in eroding the societal bonds of family, community and faith that have normally shaped and governed moral behavior in society. In the words of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, society has been reduced to “nothing but a meeting place for individual wills”, which individuals use as “an arena for the achievement of their own satisfaction.”

The later phases of liberalism now leave society defenseless against the ravages of the shooter-monsters.

However, the worst mistake of liberalism is that it deprives life of its meaning. Human nature is profoundly social. Remember John Don’s, “No man is an island, sufficient unto himself”. Deep social relationships give purpose to life. Individuals become frustrated when reduced to the shallow associations that fail to provide context and value to their existence. The political project of liberalism has turned individuals into increasingly separate, autonomous, non-relational selves, replete with rights and defined by our liberty, but insecure, powerless, afraid and alone.

Inside this God-forsaken moonscape, it is easy to understand why the shooters appear, as they fail to find meaning inside the loneliness of their existence. The shooters represent an extreme and radical fruit of the principles of liberalism.

Liberalism’s worst sin is to reduce God into a mere choice within the system. God has no official role in liberal society except perhaps that of some absent clockmaker who wound up the world and now leaves it alone to operate without him. The Church is effectively emptied of her functions inside its system.

Liberalism does not attempt to answer those existential questions which individuals have always asked about the purpose of life, the meaning of truth, the final destination of the soul, and the nature of God and true happiness. Individuals are led to believe there are no real answers to these essential questions. Individuals find they have no certainties to anchor their souls, despite craving for them.

Like it or not, nothing makes sense without the one true God. There is no reason to do good or avoid evil when it has no final consequences in eternity. History has no meaning when God does not direct the course of events. Where there is no Divine Providence that benevolently provides for needs, life takes on a brutal dog-eat-dog appearance. Where there is no Church to guide and teach, the worst passions dominate. When taken to its final consequences, liberalism presents a despairing worldview, in which man is the product of random causes inside an unintelligible universe.

Hence, one sees the dark, nihilistic side of the shooter-monsters who often desire their own annihilation in addition to that of others. That is why their motives are so mystifying since the shooters have long freed themselves from the moorings of a rightly formed conscience, rational behavior and the natural moral law.

Until these existential issues are addressed, the number of monsters will continue to increase, and society as a whole will continue to fragment and decay. Until Christ is enthroned as King, there will be no peace over the land, and the shooting will not stop. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, God made man, is the consummate and radical provider of the principles of a true liberalism based on love God and neighbour.