Weeping For The Children - And More

 

Michelangelo's La Pieta

Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. (Jeremiah 31:15 KJV)

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. (Matthew 2:17-18 KJV)

There was weeping for children, again, this week. And for their teachers. And for the husband of one teacher, who proved to us that broken hearts can kill. There are many articles regarding Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as Broken Heart Syndrome. There is hope, if the patient is treated for a heart attack in time.

We've all been weeping - and politicizing, and debating, and outright arguing over "Why," "How," "What can be done," "Why does this keep happening"? Those questions have been asked for years - and if an accurate accounting is needed, click here for incidents going back to 1764. The earliest of these have specific reasons. Including:

The first known mass shooting in the U.S. where students were shot, was on April 9, 1891, when 70 year old, James Foster fired a shotgun at a group of students in the playground of St. Mary's Parochial School, Newburgh, New York, causing minor injuries to several of the students. The majority of attacks during this time period by students on other students or teacher, usually involved stabbing with knives, or hitting with stones.

The deadliest mass murder of school children in the United States did involve one gun:

May 18, 1927 Bath, Michigan School treasurer Andrew Kehoe, after killing his wife and destroying his house and farm, blew up the Bath Consolidated School by detonating dynamite in the basement of the school, killing 38 people, mostly children. He then pulled up to the school in his Ford car, then blew the car up, killing himself and four others. Only one shot was fired in order to detonate dynamite in the car. This was deadliest act of mass murder at a school in the United States.

These acts were not condoned then, any more than the deaths of the Uvalde children are condoned. We do see more of these acts, though. You will also see "prayer was kicked out of schools" as a reason for this. I beg to differ with you, and agree with an article from Freedom Forum Institute:

It’s true that in the aftermath of the Engel decision, some school administrators took things too far by prohibiting constitutionally protected student religious expression. Of course, other administrators and school boards practiced civil disobedience by continuing school-sponsored religious practices in defiance of the Court’s ruling.

But in recent decades, most public school officials have begun to get religion — and prayer — right. They (finally) understand the difference between government speech promoting religion — which the establishment clause prohibits — and student religious speech, which the free-exercise and free-speech clauses protect.

Visit most public schools today and you are likely to see students praying around the flagpole, attending religious club meetings, giving each other religious literature, saying grace before lunch, talking about their faith in class discussions and in other ways expressing their religious convictions.

In fact, there is more student religious expression in public schools today than at any time since the 19th century. Far from being “kicked out,” God goes to school today through the First Amendment door.

My question to my readers has to do with personal convictions, not what our different levels of government did or did not do. Have you done this in your home:

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:7 KJV)

And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 11:19 KJV)

As we learn the background of each of the shooters, there appears to be a lack of stable family units as well as societal difficulties for each one. We cannot write laws that will ensure this will not happen again. No amount of legal action will stop the next person intent upon killing. Removing every gun in this country would only change the weapon used.

The first murder in the Bible is described without naming a weapon:

And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. (Genesis 4:8 KJV)

We don't know the subject nor wording of their conversation, but we do have what God had just said to Cain:

And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. (Genesis 4:6-7 KJV)

The error was not Abel's. The anger was definitely Cain's. And, God's punishment was not death, but separation from God. We do not have to live with that separation simply because Jesus died on the cross. However, we can remain separated from God without loving Him and praying to Him.

Are you praying with your loved ones, adult and children, to keep a close relationship with God? In the King James Version New Testament, there are 135 verses with a form of the word "prayer." In the Old Testament, the count was 275.

Seems to me that as God inspired the writers, prayer was very important. Pray - everywhere, any time, any place, but especially with children. Let us not be among those who fail to show God's love and continuity.