The Lawless and the City

1 John 3:4 - Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.

Matthew 24:12 - "Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold."

Romans 4:7,8 - [7] "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN,
AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. [8] BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT."
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God ordains local authorities to serve and protect its citizens as well as to enforce laws. Although the Law-Giver condemns abuse of power and those who practice injustice, he is NOT in the business of condoning all-out anarchy, or in other words, lawlessness. That said, I am angry about recent incidents in the city; incidents that Chicago police and local news agencies have called "flash mobs," where large groups of young people commit random acts of violence upon unsuspecting "law-abiding" citizens in outdoor locales near or along Lake Shore Dr. I hate to write it this way (and many might say, "Then don't write it"), but these thug, teenaged, thrillseekers are terrorizing people who never accepted the invitation to terror. And unfortunately I have to report (and some may say, "You don't HAVE to") that sadly most of these young people are African American and male. Sadder still is that a few of them have been as young as thirteen years old.

Now I would be naïve to say of such a phenomenon like this, "It is what it is," shrugging it off with nonchalance. As an African American writer, I would be naïve to defend mob action by a few groups of black youths with a veil of excuses (many that enable rather than empower) that point out lacks of opportunity toward transition to productive adulthood. However, someone else's civil liberties have been violated, and the victims have the potential to be as ethnically diverse as is Devon Avenue. These youths' crimes are targeted, yet colorblind. But the violence only further perpetuates the deep-ceded stereotypes of black youths being violent and having no regard for the law; and it gives more fodder for the careless or perhaps racist writers, pundits, spin doctors, and commentators to fuel more fear on top of the terror that seems to already reign on the Magnificent Mile, in the Gold Coast, in Lake View, and mind you, in Englewood where violent crime is never new. But that never makes it right. These writers might write, "Take that back to the South Side. It doesn't belong here." But does violent crime and "lawlessness" ever really BELONG anywhere?

I read a quote in the Red Eye from a heart-broken father about the death of his son, and essentially it went like this: "The police got scared, they over-reacted, and they killed my son;" this in relationship to another recent incident where a teen confronted police after being ordered to drop what was in his hand. It was dark, the youth had reached for the object as he made charge, and, according to Chicago Police, had been warned. An officer shot him dead. The object: a cellphone. In our own disobedience when confronted by God about our own lawlessness, we only kill ourselves because we falsely believe that we can save ourselves from His sovereign presence and authority. We make excuses for our own lawlessness rather than own up, "I was scared, I overreacted, and now I killed myself for disobeying the righteous commandment."

All of us, humanity, by nature practice lawlessness because lawlessness is sin. "All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory;" have never met his standard of righteousness (Romans 3:23). Sin has never truly BELONGED. It was never truly God's intention for sinful man to remain sinful, but to renounce sin and be reconciled unto Him. This reconciliation is found through the blood of His Son Jesus who bore our sin and lawlessness and nailed them to a tree. Thieves, like the "flash-mob," only come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. However, Jesus came that we may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10). And yes, this promise is for everyone, including the thug, teenaged thrillseeker whose lawlessness is just as evident before man and media as our lawlessness is before a holy and righteous God.