In light of last week’s tragic news of the death of Jovan Belcher and the mother of his child, Bob Costas’s decision to use his platform on Sunday Night Football to push an anti-guns agenda incensed the masses. Rather than sharing in mourning the loss of life, he chose politicize the issue.
Conservatives were up in arms (literally) – calling for Costas’s termination.
In one sense Costas’s problem was timing. It was, in fact, despicable. And while he has every right to support an anti-guns legislation, his failed logic was clear to the masses.
Guns do not commit murder. People who misuse them do.
So when the news broke this afternoon that Dallas Cowboys Nosetackle Josh Brent had been arrested for intoxication manslaughter after driving while intoxicated and flipping his car just after 2 am this morning, killing his teammate, I was curious to see the response.
Sadly, within twenty minutes I had already seen more than one person call for preachers to call for abstinence from the pulpits. This death, they believed, could have been prevented had Brent’s access to alcohol been taken away. But the failed logic is the same.
They believe that alcohol is the problem, just as Costas believes that guns are the problem.
Neither guns nor alcohol is the problem. The misuse of such things is the problem.
Sin is the problem. The gospel is the solution. Adding anything else to the equation misses the point entirely.
