Civil Defense?

Some ideas jump out at you; some are a bit more subtle. For instance, the partially white outlined black figure on the left may or may not be carrying a gun (symbolized by a dotted line). He has his hands up in a “Do not shoot me pose,” standing to the side of a foreboding policeman represented by a partial, foreboding image of a Moai man sculpture from Easter Island. Of course, he might be praying (and therefore raising holy hands–meaning clean hands) to the ultimate authority–Jesus Christ, whose head (broadly rendered) is in the middle top of a stark white (for purity) police hat.

But there’s fault to be found on both sides of the isle. While victims may question the modus operandi of authority when excessive police force is suspected, making split-second police decisions on who lives or dies is a conflicting responsibility not to be taken lightly. Police have been trained to stand their ground against violent protesters without resorting to the leniency and luxury of the “stand your ground” law for the general public. It’s almost as if the police will be dammed (possibly shot dead) if they don’t (shoot early enough), and apparently, dammed if they do!

I can’t fathom the challenges that African Americans (and many Latinos also) have been faced with growing up in a white dominated America, but recently watching Netflix’s 13th has enlightened me greatly. The police have a very difficult job maintaining law and order–especially to the satisfaction of a white dominated power elite.

Since “stand your ground” has been adopted in many states, the return to the wild west, where everyman was for himself, seems to be the modus operandi of choice–make that survival! On the right of the painting we see two black figures (school cross walker road sign) walking towards the middle. One is packing (carrying a gun); the other is packing the Bible. That’s a tough call–especially for a Christian. Practicing Christians are under obligation to be law abiding citizens since the governing authorities have (for the most part) been established by God. On one hand, you want to protect your family (and yourself), but may feel that if you resort to carrying a firearm, maybe, just maybe, your not relying enough on the Christian God to protect you. Then again, if you don’t pack, are you in fact putting that God to the test of totally protecting you.

Still, we need the necessary checks and balances in place to keep the guns (as much as possible) out of the hands of irresponsible people. But taking all the guns away from all the people just makes everyone that much more vulnerable to defending themselves in a crisis situation (including governments going rogue, etc).

Have the “peace” bombs of Viet Nam morphed into the guided drone missiles of today that take out the terrorists and their strongholds. Problem is there is support for terrorists coming from our enemy nations wishing to do us Americans in also. It’s all so overlapping and confusing that no one seems to be able to remedy the situation other than for brief periods of time.

And that’s the way it’s been since the Flood, when God decided to paint over the old sinful canvas caused by mankind and start again from His “selected stock.” Unfortunately this second attempt at righting mankind’s unrighteousness failed miserably from the get-go. Rather then banish automatically all human creation to a gated commune on a three-strikes and you’re in hell’s prison for good (make that for bad), Jehovah decided that mankind was still worth saving, but that third and final saving could only be accomplished by the sacrifice of His one and only son, Jesus Christ. I say (and pray), “Come quickly Lord Jesus–please!”