Article September 23, 1996 Issue

What do we do about violence?

Beverly Goldsmith

A Few months ago a normally quiet community in Australia suddenly had to deal with the tragedy of a mass shooting. This event led to tighter gun–control laws, but it also brought to light the need to look deeper into the problem of violence.

The public debate on these issues started me asking: What prompts a person to fire on another? Would eliminating guns eliminate acts of violence? In looking for answers, I turned to a resource that, along with the Bible, has helped me many times with my deepest questions. It is Science and Health. Discussing the subject of motives, this book states: "Is it not clear that the human mind must move the body to a wicked act? Is not mortal mind the murderer? The hands, without mortal mind to direct them, could not commit a murder ..." (pp. 104–105).

This made me realize that a violent act is prompted by violent thinking. Firing a weapon requires mental activity, and so the starting place for eliminating violence must be with individuals and the way they think about themselves and others. There is a connection between motive and action. This is the point that Christ Jesus was making when he said: "That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders ..." (Mark 7:20, 21).

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