Guns...freedom...serve

Just watched a new CNN show, "Inside Man" with Morgan Spurlock.  This one was on guns, gun control, etc.  It was very well done - balanced, I thought.  I will NEVER understand how people can be against background checks or against putting a limit on high-capacity magazines.  Even though I'm pretty much a pacifist, I respect people's "right" in this country to own a gun.  I just think there is some misunderstandings and misinformation on what that "right" really is, how it is interpreted, etc.

 "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

 I'm not a law scholar nor do I know the Constitution and amendments without looking them up so I don't presume to know what the original writers might have meant.  I find it so interesting that people assume to know what the forefathers were talking about when they wrote this.  Or, perhaps it is better said this way - because we now want to carry weapons with 120 capacity magazines, we KNOW that this would be okay with the forefathers; surely they wanted us to be able to "arm" ourselves with whatever we wanted.

 Interpretations of historical documents and writings do change over the years, I think we might all agree on that.  Whether it is the Constitution, the Bible, or others, as we learn more and grow as a society, we see that growth reflected in our laws, values, etc...even though sometimes I think the growth is backward growth:-(.

 Nonetheless, my issue is that many of the same people who wholeheartedly support, and passionately argue in favor of full gun ownership without any restrictions because "the government can't tell me what to do," are often the same people wholeheartedly supporting and passionately arguing in favor of restricting abortion rights for women or marriage rights for same-sex couples.

 My family knows that one of my biggest pet peeves is inconsistency.  I can't stand it when I'm traveling and the TSA in one airport tells me one thing while at another airport I'm told something else.  

So, the inconsistency of some people to want government out of their lives for what they want the "freedom" to do while putting the government square in the middle of the lives of what others want the "freedom" to do makes NO sense to me.

 On this day when we celebrate our "declaration of independence" from "allegiance to the British Crown" let us also remember to be consistent in our celebrations of our freedoms.  

 This quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a good one for all of us to remember:  "I say to you that our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom. Abused and scorned though we may be as a people, our destiny is tied up in the destiny of America."

 And, for those who are believers, followers of Jesus, let us look to the Bible first as our source for the meaning of freedom and how to live it out - "For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love" (Galatians 5:13).