LETTERS; ANSWERS ARE FOUND IN THE GOSPELS

To the editor:

Conyers, Ga. Littleton, Colo. Jonesboro, Ark. Paducah, Ky. And that is only a beginning. It seems that in the past couple of years more and more of our young people are choosing to vent their pent-up rage and hostility by acquiring guns and then randomly or intentionally selecting their victims.

What's the answer? What's the solution? Hours upon hours of discussion have taken place, yet the problem continues.

The night of the Littleton shootings, Larry King was discussing this problem with various professional people. Psychologists and psychiatrists said in so many words: "We need to get guns out of the hands of young people." Gerry Spence, a high-profile lawyer from Wyoming, disagreed. He said in so many words: "We don't need to get guns out of the hands of young people. We need to get them out of their hearts."

That statement from Spence is more profound than we may realize. The first Bible passage that come to my minds was: "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander." Matthew 15:19.

First come the evil thoughts. Then come the evil deeds such as murder and adultery.

How do we change that sinful heart of sinful mankind?

It is changed only by the power of the Holy Spirit working through God's Holy Law that exposes our sin, convicts us of our sin and leads us to true repentance.

It is changed only by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Good News of the Gospel that assures us of the forgiveness of all our since through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

It is changed only by the power of the Holy Spirit working through that same Gospel that changes our heart of stone into a heart of flesh -- a heart that delights to do God's will out of love for what Jesus Christ has done for us.

The answer? The solution? It is to be found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that makes us new people in Jesus Christ through faith in him who died for our sins and rose again.

We see that new life in Christ very evident in the recent actions of those students from Ouachita Baptist University choir and the acts of love and mercy flowing from their faith in Jesus Christ that moved them to perform heroic acts of rescue in the recent plane crash in Little Rock, Ark.

May we who are Christians always proclaim unashamedly that Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the very power of God itself, God's power to save, God's power to empower us to think pure thoughts and perform God-pleasing deeds to his glory.

The REV. DAVID V. DISSEN, Pastor Emeritus

Trinity Lutheran Church

Cape Girardeau