American Council of Christian Churches
57th Annual Convention, October 27–29, 1998
Monett, Missouri
Resolution on Violence in Our Society
The Bible declares, “This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1–5).
We believe, based on this text, that we are in the last days. We certainly live in a society where people are without natural affection, incontinent (without self-control) and fierce (savage). The number of abortions is mounting including the vile procedure of partial-birth abortion. Senseless, savage acts of violence continue to occur. Recently, the school shootings in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and other places have left the nation numb and confused. The embassy bombings in Africa have shocked the world. There is the new phenomena of “road rage,” angry motorists losing self-control and hurting (even killing) other motorists. Every day we hear reports of murders, rapes and beatings. Too many of these incidents involve children—either as the victims or as the criminals! Certainly, ours is a society out of control and headed for destruction.
“Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver” (Psalm 50:22). We are a society that has forgotten God. We have turned our backs on the principles of His Word. Having loosed ourselves from this foundation, our society has begun a freefall into moral decay, and we are headed toward certain destruction and judgment.
This decay can be seen in every segment of our society—the rich and the poor, the adults and the children, males and females, and every race. This decay is led by the selfish, ungodly teaching of humanism in our schools and the violence promoted heavily through television, movies and music.
The American Council of Christian Churches, meetings in its 57th Annual Convention, October 27–29, 1998, in Monett, Missouri, calls on the leaders of this country to turn back to God (James 4:8-10) and to the principles found in His Word (Psalm 33:12). We exhort the entertainment industry to remove violence, immorality and foul language from programming, and we caution Bible-believers as to what they watch and hear (Psalm 101:3). We also call on our public schools to allow prayer and Bible reading on campus and during school hours. Likewise, we call on Bible-believers to humbly seek God and pray that He may continue to preserve our nation from total decay and destruction. Finally, we exhort Bible-believers to “shine as lights in the world” and be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation” (Philippians 2:15).
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Violence in Our Society
Violence in Our Society BULLETIN FORMAT
