The New Barbarism in Chapin  “Romans 5;17-20 By Rev. Dr. J. Ben Sloan at Lake Murray Presbyterian Church  8/17/08

Last Monday night the Lexington County Sherriff deputy told our neighborhood gathering that there had never been a crime in our little subdivision.
That night, someone stole my neighbor’s car, ran it into a tree, and brought it back.  They broke into my daughter’s car, stole three old purses, and an ipod.

Last Friday night the unthinkable happened in Chapin.  There were two shootings.  Seventeen year old Deshaun Rashad Clark of Little Mountain who attended Chapin High was shot by a 62 year old man in an apparent drug party shooting. 

Also last Friday night in a totally separate incident another 17 year old was shot (Bruce Timmerman, Lee Hufstetler) in what was apparently a drive by shooting.

We heard this Saturday morning from Chapin’s mayor at the annual Chapin Prayer Walk where we stopped at each public school in Chapin and prayed for the students.
In 1991 there were two homicides in Lexington County for the whole year.  We almost had two on our side of the county last Friday night.
Usually when there are problems you can find two things- drugs and alcohol abuse involved.

You and I know that Chapin is a wonderful place to live.  We don’t have gangs here- the schools provide a wonderful education for the kids and opportunities for healthy extra-curricular activity.  These good schools along with good churches keep a lot of bad things away.  People move here for the schools, the lake, and honestly for the peace away from the city without being too far away.  Some people moved here to flee the violence and crime of the city.  They followed the Pslamist’s advice in verses 6-8 “Oh that I had the wings of the dove- I would fly far away and be at rest.”  Chapin was a safe harbor to live.
But there have been some cracks in the dam.  If these cracks are not resolved, it could lead to more problems.  In 1976 people had noticed that the Teton Dam in Idaho was weakening, but didn’t pay it much attention.  A few cracks appeared, and on June 5, 1976 the dam was breached, 14 people lost their lives and there was an estimated $1 billion dollars in damage.  You know the old story about the boy who saved the town by putting his thumb in the dam.  Today we need those kind of heroes to save our area.
We need people to sacrifice to stop the drug flow here that seems to be killing people.  This involves three things that we can all do:
1) Pray that God will protect us from the problems of drugs.  I believe in the power of prayer to help people, and I believe in it to help a community as well.  God is not so distant or uncaring- He is a loving God who hears and is able to help. 
2) Determine not to use drugs- this sounds simple.  For some it is simpler than others.   It would be easy to hide our heads in the sand and say that drugs have nothing to do with us.  There are people who have been messed up with drugs before in this church.  Some have been in accidents with drugs involved. 
3) Prevent the need for drugs.  Drugs are an escape from reality.  People need to find joy in their lives, and hope.  That can be found in Jesus Christ. 
Yesterday at the Prayer Walk a minister said, “The problem is not the preponderance of the darkness, but the smallness of the light.”  This is true.  I have always believed that faith is a tremendous barrier to drugs.  I know I don’t have to quote this to you, but I will- statistics show that people who go to church are less likely to abuse drugs than people who don’t.  In fact there is strong statistical evidence that ties church attendance to avoidance of drug and alcohol abuse among adolescents.  Going to church is not fool proof, but it does help.
                It was 146 B.C.In the waning hours of the day a Roman general, Scipio Africanus, climbed a hill overlooking the north African city of Carthage. For three years he had led his troops in a fierce siege against the city and its 700,000 inhabitants. He had lost legions to their cunning and endurance. With the Carthaginian army reduced to a handful of soldiers huddled inside the temple of their god Eshmun, the city was conquered. And with the enemy defeated, Scipio ordered his men to burn the city.(1)
                Now, as the final day of his campaign drew to a close, Scipio Africanus stood on a hillside watching Carthage burn. His face, streaked with the sweat and dirt of battle, glowed with the fire of the setting sun and the flames of the city, but no smile of triumph crossed his lips. No gleam of victory shone from his eyes. Instead, as the Greek historian Polybius would later record, the Roman general "burst into tears, and stood long reflecting on the inevitable change which awaits cities, nations, and dynasties, one and all, as it does every one of us men."
                In the fading light of that dying city, Scipio saw the end of Rome itself. Just as Rome had destroyed others, so it would one day be destroyed. Scipio Africanus, the great conqueror and extender of empires, saw the inexorable truth: no matter how mighty it may be, no nation, no empire, no culture is immortal We must take steps to preserve a safe and secure way of life.  Many of these steps are moral and many are spiritual.  To ignore them would be our downfall.
                Our communities are threatened with a more dangerous, fearful way of life unless something happens.  I believe there is a lot we can do to make our world better here in Chapin. In the 1980’s social scientists discovered something about sin and crime.  It was the broken window theory (George Kelling, John Q. Wilson).  It was the idea that if a broken window in a building is left unrepaired, soon al the windows are knocked out.  Why?  Because damage left untended sends a message that no one cares, that no one is in charge, and there’s no penalty for doing wrong.  In the early 1990s New York and the newly elected mayor Rudi Giuliani, significantly lowered its crime rate using this philosophy.  They arrested petty offenders and cleaned up neighborhoods, they quit ignoring traffic violations.  Crime went down 66%.
Now there is a Biblical idea here that is more ancient than the broken window philosophy.  It is the idea of shalom.  Shalom means peace and wholeness, but it also means peace in the sense of being ordered and fitting together.  When people live together there is shalom- peace.  People respect each other and the community as a whole. Augustine said that shalom was the tranquility produced by order. The primary purpose of the state is to keep the peace.  So officers were often called “peace-keepers.”  William Wilberforce, the great Christian statesman who almost single-handedly abolished slavery in England, said, “the most effectual way to prevent the greater crimes is by punishing the smaller, and by endeavoring to repress the general spirit of licentiousness, which is the parent of every kind of vice.” (Colson- How Now Shall We Live 1999- pp. 361-371).

                In Newport New Virginia police grew weary of answering calls about burglars and drug dealers in a run down apartment area.  They carted away trash, painted graffiti, filled in pot holes, and to everyone’s surprise, crime went down 35%. Charleston took a dramatic turn away from crime in the 1990s.  It happened in part because Chief Reuben Greenberg got rid of litter, needles, and graffiti.  He put uniformed police officers on the drug dealing corners, and the dealers slowed their dealing.  They stopped accepting violent criminals in public housing, and they also put truant officers out to arrest kids skipping school.  Crime went down 24%- less purse snatching, car theft, and shoplifting.

                Independent studies have shown that crimes are highest in neighborhoods with the most bars and liquor stores and lowest in areas with the most churches.  A Harvard study by Richard Freeman found that young people who are active in church are more likely to finish school, avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancies, keep a job, and stay out of trouble with the law.  They studied different factors, and found that in preventing crime, church attendance was a higher preventer than even the kind of family a young person grew up in. Faith teaches a sense of purpose and values.  Teens need that.  Adults need that too.