These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. – Hebrews 11:39-40

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 10, 2018): Hebrews 11

Both sides of the recent gun debates in the United States want us to believe they are arguing from polar opposite positions. From one side, the issue at the core of the argument is the protection of the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. A recent doctored photo of school shooting survivor Emma González tearing up the constitution went viral in late March 2018. No, Emma did not actually tear up the constitution. She tore up a target and then someone replaced the ripped target with what was supposed to be the constitution. The resulting photo gave the impression that constitution had been ripped. And while the photo had been engineered to give a false image, the underlying message is very real. If you support any kind of gun control, then you oppose the constitution of the United States and everything for which the constitution stands. The mantra from this side of the debate, presented in many ways, is that guns are not the problem; guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

The other side of the debate presents a different argument. The ease with which guns can be purchased is a problem. And some guns, especially those that are capable of carrying large amounts of ammunition, play directly into the hands of people who may want to cause havoc in our society; we have seen the chaos in our schools, nightclubs and concert venues. They argue that there is no logical reason for people to own guns that were designed for war situations. The origins of the Second Amendment of the Constitution provided the ability of the average citizen of the United States to be able to defend the country from foreign invaders, something that was necessary before the United States had a standing army, but unnecessary for a country that now has the best-equipped and trained army in the world. Claims from the lunatic fringe who argue that they need the ability to protect themselves from the government of the United States just adds to the argument that something has to be done about the gun problem in the United States.

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. There is no doubt that there is a people problem; that bullying, mental issues, and other people problems contribute greatly to the mass shootings that the nation has experienced over the past two decades. But there is another truth; uncontrolled guns are a clear and present danger. No one needs an arsenal like some of the mass shooters have had in their possession in the lead up to recent tragic events. And part of the problem that no one wants to talk about is that a precedent has been set. With each shooting, we are setting a standard that some of the hurting among us are going to try to emulate. The complete answer means that both sides of the debate has to be addressed. Something has to be done about the people side of the problem and the gun side of the problem. Anything less remains only a partial solution.

The author of Hebrews makes an argument that while faith has always been necessary, that it was not the total answer. God had something better so that we would be made perfect. The proper definition of “perfect” here is “complete.” The argument is not that faith is unnecessary. Faith is and always has been an essential element of our religious lives. But faith alone is only part of the solution.

The second part of the solution is Jesus, and the sacrifice of Jesus radiates out from the cross into both the future and the history of the world. Jesus’s sacrifice, added to the faith of Noah, or Enoch, or Abraham, makes the belief process for these people of God complete, just as the sacrifice of Jesus, when added to our own faith, makes us complete. It can’t be either or, it must be both. Faith needs the sacrifice of Jesus, just as the sacrifice of Jesus is incomplete if we refuse to move forward in this life without committing to being a people of faith.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12