I've Been Shot

Thanksgiving was a happy time for our family. The food was great even though I ate too much of it and the time spent with family was a blessing. I soon learned that not all families had had such a joyous holiday. In Florida, a man, suddenly, without warning, went on a shooting rampage, killing 4 relatives. Closer to home, a Russian roulette game gone wrong took the life of a Minnesota teenager. What a reminder that a harmless gun, like so many other good tools, can be deadly if used maliciously or irresponsibly by a sinful man.
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As a child, I was taught that guns could be dangerous, though not evil. I was also taught that using them in an irresponsible manner was evil. Therefore, if I ever hurt someone with a gun, the gun was not at fault, I was. Blaming guns for death and crime is symptomatic of a society that is not willing to take responsibility for sin. We must not forget that the scriptures told us that the wages of sin is death long before the gun was ever invented. It also tells us that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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I bring up the subject of guns, not to open up a debate on the Second Amendment, but to illustrate how easy it is to take a statement out of context. Let me make such a statement, “I have been shot by multiple family members.” This is a true statement. My father, both my brothers, and my brother-in-law have all shot me. If I ended the article here, you may be left wondering how we were able to have such a joyous holiday time of thanksgiving to God this year.
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Let me put the statement into a broader context. Going back to my preteen childhood years, we once received dart guns for Christmas. Now they were not the sharp darts, like the deadly lawn dart game, but the little plastic darts with a rubber plunger on the end that was shot by a spring activated gun. The plunger was to allow the darts to stick to a window, mirror, or refrigerator. Lets face it, they couldn’t be too dangerous if Mom would allow us to shoot at a mirror with them. Now we could debate the morality of shooting at each other with them, but I must admit that one of my favorite childhood memories of my father is this “mature” middle aged farmer running around the house, hiding behind the door frames, and shooting his children as they attempted to shoot him first (with a rubber dart).
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Several years later, my little brother began to play paintball with his friends and invited me to join them. This was even more exciting than playing dart guns. My brothers and I definitely had fun running through the woods shooting at one another, being careful to wear the proper safety gear before we played. It was actually much safer than football.
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After Crystal and I were married, it did not take long before my brother-in-law shot me. This time it was not during a game, and it was not a toy gun. Sure, he had shot me earlier with his super soaker, but this time could have been much more serious. We were installing soffit and facia on a house and were using an air powered staple gun to attach the soffits when the safety trigger malfunctioned and a staple brushed my face. The wound was only a scratch, but it alerted us to the danger.
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My stories about being shot have a much different meaning than the recent news headlines. Once you put them into their proper context they make more sense. I could say the same thing about our understanding of the Word of God. It would be easy to take a passage from the Bible and make it sound much different than what was actually being said. That is why we must study the scripture so that we are not ashamed for taking it out of context. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (II Timothy 2:15) I encourage you to bring your Bibles to church to know if the preacher is actually doing this. “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11).