On the Road To Emmaus: God and Guns

After the first few Sundays, I felt kind of odd dropping my mom off and then sitting around for a few hours killing time. I spoke to the pastor, a very nice man, several times before and after services. He never asked me to come in. Odd, now that I think about it, he simply spoke to my mom, telling her that he would not only pray that her troubles would end, but was actively looking within the small congregation and his associations for a way to get my mom's car fixed or replaced.

Therein lies the concept that some have a hard time comprehending. That, while one could have faith and pray for the intervention of providence on one's behalf, it is up to man to create the circumstances. In fact, the idea that God helps those who help themselves. In simpler terms: self reliance.

Frankly, while I count myself a Christian, I haven't been to church regularly for almost twenty years. You could say I had a severe crisis of faith. Or, more likely, I was young and self absorbed, full of knowledge and reason, imbibing history and science that relegated religion, more particularly "faith", to superstition that has seemingly gripped mankind since pre-historic man first contemplated his environment, his inability to control it and its seeming arbitrary effect on his ability to survive.

As "pre-historic" means "prior to known or written history", it is hard to say whether man first looked for invisible powerful forces or a force to explain the arbitrary events or if he first imagined it as he began to settle in territories, to hunt, to gather, and eventually to plant, harvest and husband animals regularly; wherein the cycles of nature became less arbitrary and appeared to have a rhythm and reason.

Winter, spring, summer, fall. Birth and death. Winds that blew the seeds and pollen to fields for germination. The same winds bringing rain to water the plants and swell the rivers that flooded, depositing fields with fertile soil that could be planted and harvested again and again. Science is just beginning to give any credence to the intelligence of pre-historic man. Even that is left to argument whether it was a residual animal instinct capable of recognizing ripe grains and fruits for eating or a comprehensive rationalization that allowed man to first begin using this rhythm and cycle to his benefit.

It is hard to say whether man also became self-aware or aware of his ego, imagining that, if he could ascertain the rhythms and reasons, using them to his benefit, that there must be gods or a god who was like man, but much more intelligent and much more powerful if they or He was capable of ordering such a seemingly paradox as the world in which man lived. Maybe it wasn't ego at all, but a lack of imagination that had the gods looking, talking and acting like man with all his emotions, wants and demands?

In either case, many a "modern man" has settled on the idea that, in fact, God is the great unknowable, without recognizable form or voice. Over centuries, reason and enlightenment, such as that in the time of the founders of our nation, have interpreted the Genesis story of the creation of man in God's image, as a theoretical concept. In fact, that this "likeness" isn't in our physical appearance, but in our ability reason, to contemplate, to imagine, to discover and to create.

In the bible, God says that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Validating His existence, He is the great "I AM." Paraphrasing this concept and introducing the idea of "God's image" as a rational likeness, the philosophical statement, "I think, therefore, I am."

I know, deep thoughts. The reader must be wondering where I am going with this deep contemplation of religion and faith. I suppose it is explaining to the reader, but mainly myself, that I have, indeed, thought long and hard about the subject of faith and religion. Interesting because I once had a devout Christian friend who explained to me that faith was, in fact, the letting go of reason and the acceptance that not all things are knowable. More interesting, because I also had an atheist friend who told me that, for all my knowledge and reasoning, my inability to let go of the contemplation of God was the residual effects of man's superstitious mind and childhood indoctrination into this superstition. Yes, I was "clinging" to religion out of fear.

There it is, the dichotomy of science and faith, explained by two people who both insisted that, if I simply "let go", I would miraculously or rationally come to their position. Obviously, I am not the first to contemplate this dichotomy as any person who has studied ancient philosophers or read and comprehended Milton's "Paradise Lost" would comprehend. In such contemplations one should recognize Lucifer's continuing struggle to determine whether his act of rebellion was, in fact, an act of free will or a part of God's greater plan. Destiny, if you will.

I must also recognize, in comparing my own internal discourse on the subject to Milton's "Lucifer", I am not only made in God's image, but that of the Eternal Sinner. The true duality of man.

Recently, in reading the biographies of the founding fathers of this nation, sons of The Enlightenment, I feel somewhat comforted in the knowledge that they too contemplated such weighty subjects. In spite of it, or because of it, our founders wrote and approved a Declaration of Independence that unequivocally state that "man was endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable rights", taking for themselves the divinity once reserved for kings and cardinals. At the same time, recognizing the evil and tyranny that man could create here on earth, giving unto themselves the power to change it then and in the future.

Recognizing the need to defend against that tyranny as well as defend all of the rights both enumerated and unwritten, "among these rights Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness", the founders wrote the second amendment, the right of the citizen to "keep and bear arms". With exacting purpose, this amendment was second to the first, enumerating the right to freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of association. The founders understood that simply enumerating the right to freedom of speech, religion and association was not enough to defend it against the tyranny of men and the power of the government, but would require the ability to physically defend it with all tools available.

Thus, the founders were the originators of "God and Guns."

I beg the reader's pardon for the long and winding path, but this entire contemplation was not a digression from the original intent of this writing. There I was outside of the little church of Emmaus listening to the pastor talk about both faith and rational reality as if they were both part of a greater whole, the very dichotomy which had created my original crisis of faith so long ago. I determined at that point that I would go in and hear what else the pastor had to say, ready to bolt at the first sign of the idea that I had to leave reason at the door. The pastor has as yet to disappoint.

So, three Sundays later, I was standing in the foyer as we prepared to depart having already said my farewells. My mom was chatting with the pastor and some other elder congregates so I idly perused the shelf with all sorts of religious literature and pamphlets ranging from discussions on improving romance in marriage, dealing with domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, pre-marital sex (yes), abortion and its effects on minority communities, developing rural congregations, raising healthy children, prayer books, the day's sermon, etc, etc, etc. There, among them all, sat a lone stack of pamphlets with the picture of a man sitting with two children. He was clearly showing the two children how to properly handle and unload a 10 gauge, single load shotgun.

After writing on the subject of "God and guns" several times, a little annoyed and a little amused, finding this little pamphlet in a sea of pamphlets in a church seemed like, well, providence.

For some people, that would have evinced two shocks. One, that a man was showing two clearly pre-teen children how to handle a shotgun and second, that such a pamphlet was anywhere in a church. The title of the pamphlet was "Fire Arm Responsibility and Safety in the Home". If gave tips to both parents and children on proper handling and securing of fire arms, particularly, sporting fire arms.

Now, if you knew where I was, in a semi-rural community where "sporting fire arms" are fairly common for hunting, fending off predatory animals of all sorts and you understood that modern Christianity and the church was seeking to remain relevant as a guiding force in every day life and concerned with both the physical and metaphysical security of its congregates, the idea that the church would urge its congregation to common sense in securing and handling fire arms would not seem alien at all. Then again, I am no where near San Francisco, Chicago or Washington D.C.

Reason and Faith.

As to why I could never fully relinquish the idea of a divine Creator, well, one day I had two seeds. One I cut in two to insure the seeds were still viable. I looked at the white matter beneath the hard, brown outer shell that did not resemble any thing like a root, stem, leaves or petals and wondered how it would grow into the plant on the package. It was still viable so I took the second seed and planted it in some soil in a glass jar then sat it on my window sill. Every day I watched the seed through the glass slowly unfurl into every part of a beautiful plant.

I knew all the scientific terms for what was happening and how a plant turned water, sunlight and minerals into "food" to grow, but, as I watched it grow, it seemed all of science could not capture what still seems like an awesome miracle. From a small seed, a plant, a tree, grains and vegetables to feed "the multitudes".

I imagine, with all humility, with all the scientific discoveries, advancement in agricultural technology, math and various other rational explanations for such occurrences, that it is this miracle of growth and renewal that has kept ancient and modern man contemplating the existence of God. If you ever walked in a sea of wheat waving in the breeze, driven by an ocean of corn so deep you could swim in it, watched a calf nursing from a cow after spring birthing or even planted your own seed in a glass jar just to watch it grow, you would understand.

On the road to Emmaus, a revelation. Why does middle America cling to guns and religion? It is not because we are "bitter". It is because that is how we live.