Un-heeded Warnings

Once again we started last Friday with yet another tragedy acted out by a misguided young man against his high school peers. I know the guns are going to get the blame, again, but the gun didn’t kill anyone. Every weapon needs a trigger-finger, and a brain attached to the finger, before any harm to anyone can come out of the end of the barrel of any gun. It’s the brain controlling the trigger-finger that’s the blame in every case, but nobody wants to look at the reason for these outbursts. The fore-fathers of our country warned us about the crisis we now find ourselves in – even the progressive liberals.

Benjamin Rush (Wikipedia) (January 4, 1746 – April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States. Rush was a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educator and founder of Dickinson College. Rush attended the Continental Congress and signed the Declaration of Independence. His later self-description there was: "He aimed right." He served as Surgeon General of the Continental Army and became a professor of chemistry, medical theory, and clinical practice at the University of Pennsylvania. Rush was also known as a leader of the American Enlightenment and an enthusiastic supporter of the American Revolution. He was a leader in Pennsylvania's ratification of the Constitution in 1788. He was prominent in many reforms, especially in the areas of medicine and education. He opposed slavery, advocated free public schools, and sought improved education for women and a more enlightened penal system. As a leading physician, Rush had a major impact on the emerging medical profession. He promoted public health by advocating clean environment and stressing the importance of personal and military hygiene. His study of mental disorder made him one of the founders of American psychiatry.

[Psalm 34] The following are quotes (A-Z Quotes) by Benjamin Rush: * "I do not believe that the Constitution was the offspring of inspiration, but I am as satisfied that it is as much the work of a Divine Providence as any of the miracles recorded in the Old and New Testament” * "The Bible contains more knowledge necessary to man in his present state than any other book in the world." * "Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind." * "By withholding the knowledge of [the Scriptures] from children, we deprive ourselves of the best means of awakening moral sensibility in their minds." * "The Bible, when not read in schools, is seldom read in any subsequent period of life...The Bible...should be read in our schools in preference to all other books because it contains the greatest portion of that kind of knowledge which is calculated to produce private and public happiness." * "If moral precepts alone could have reformed mankind, the mission of the Son of God into all the world would have been unnecessary. The perfect morality of the gospel rests upon the doctrine which, though often controverted, has never been refuted: I mean the vicarious life and death of the Son of God." * "Without the restraints of religion and social worship, men become savages much sooner than savages become civilized by means of religion and civil government." * "Upon my return from the army to Baltimore in the winter of 1777, I sat next to John Adams in Congress, and upon my whispering to him and asking him if he thought we should succeed in our struggle with Great Britain, he answered me, "Yes-if we fear God and repent of our sins."" Get the Word back in school.