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Hidden In The Cracks Of Gun Control

I sometimes wonder why I put myself through the  frustration of watching Pierce Morgan on CNN, especially in recent weeks.  I suppose I do get to hear what the other side is saying, and that is important. 

From what I've seen on CNN and elsewhere, there's one thing I've noticed hiding in the cracks of the current gun control debate in the U. S..  The claim is that the majority of mass murders are committed by those labeled "mentally ill".  The idea hiding in the cracks is to create a national registry of mentally ill people.  Once this data bank is created, you then link it to a national gun registry.  Then government will know everyone who has a gun, and everyone who is considered to be mentally ill.  They will know who should possess a gun and who shouldn't.  This should prevent a mentally ill person from buying a gun and then using it on others, or so the theory goes.   

In Canada , and I'm sure in the U.S., psychiatrists have what is known as the bible of psychiatry.  It's a book that lists all of the known mental illnesses, their symptoms, diagnosis, and treatments.  New mental illnesses are added to the list on a yearly basis, some of which surprised me when I heard them recently listed.  Some so-called "phobias" are now considered, or are in the process of being considered, mental illnesses.  I'm sure you can guess what phobias might now be under consideration as being mental illnesses. 

In light of the ever changing definition of mental illness, and in light of a desire for a national registry of the mentally ill, I have a few questions.  Who would define mental illness?  Who would determine who is mentally ill?  Who would decide who should be listed in a national registry of the mentally ill?  Will extremists, as some now call the conservative religious right, be deemed mentally ill?  Will the names of these so-called new mentally ill be placed in the registry?  Once these names are listed in a national data base, what will be done with these names?  More importantly, how will this impact the people to whom these names belong?   Lastly, would you consider this a loss of liberty?

Consider this.  From offline and online sources, your personal profile is stored and updated regularly in a Washington D. C. data base.  Your file is then flagged, reviewed, and interpreted by a government computer.  Your profile clearly shows you to be very religious and religiously intolerant.  Your views concerning morality and sexuality are outdated and perceived as being bigoted.  Your understanding that abortion is murder clearly opposes the general consensus.  You question a liberal government's excessive intrusion into society.  You're convinced that separation of church and state doesn't mean separation of the Biblical God from state.  You talk to God and you claim He answers.  You believe in a spirit world, angels and demons floating around in an alternate universe.  You believe in the coming of some messianic superman who will swoop down from the sky to end this age.  Your first allegiance is to some cult called the Kingdom of God, which you claim will overthrow the nations of the world, including your nation.  You believe in a conspiracy theory that espouses a demon possessed man taking over governments, religions, and the international economic systems.  You believe in a fairy tale like individual who after rising from the dead floated up past the clouds, only to float back down in the future.  You believe that natural disasters could easily be God's judgment on your wicked nation and its leaders.  You publish political, social, and religious incorrectness on the internet.  Your Facebook page reveals that you are influencing others with your extremism.

Now think about this.  Might you not be a bit suspect?  Might not the government computer flag you as a potential problem?  Might you not be a prime candidate for the funny farm, or at least for the national registry of the mentally ill?  You've definitely got some of these new mental illness phobias that only medication, electric shock treatment, or, confinement might fix.  

You can be assured, there'll be no guns for you.  A butter knife may be the sharpest object you're allowed to possess.  Your freedom of speech that allows you to spread your gospel on Facebook, Twitter, and the rest of the net, will be taken away.  Your free expression of religion will be relegated to the confines of your home, or possibly your psychiatric hospital room.  Your freedom to assemble in your small home Bible study group will no longer exist.  In the name of national security, Homeland Security and the F.B.I. will keep a very close eye on you.

Of course the very thought of something like this happening in the western world, especially in the land of  the brave and the free, would flag you as being a nut cake, or at the least, a right winged extremist.  How could such things take place in a well educated and tolerant society?  Maybe I'm being over dramatic.  We'll have to wait and see.  One thing I know, it's happened before, and it can happen again.  Christians being considered as mentally ill is not only a possibility, but a good probability. 

Consider what Jesus told the church of Smyrna.  "Do not be afraid about what you are about to suffer … be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life".  (Revelation 2:10)  So now we have a martyrdom complex, just one more proof of being mentally ill.  

We might just want to rethink what Revelation 2:10 means to us.  Right now, in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, are crowns of life for those of us who remain faithful in an unfaithful world.

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