Understanding Root Causes – Imagine going to a doctor with a pain in your foot. The doctor could suggest a pain killer to make the pain go away, but if she is good, she will instead look at your foot to learn why it hurts. On closer inspection, she might notice an infected sore. She could then prescribe something to make the infection go away, but if she is truly wise, she would look to see why it is infected. There she might notice a splinter. The healing of your foot can only occurr when the splinter is removed. Only then can she fight the infection and relieve the pain.

There are many problems in our country now, and many can be reduced to simple root causes. Of course, turning away from God as a society is an obvious problem, but I think there are other root causes that can be pinpointed.

The problem that started this line of thought for me is the epidemic of disrespect toward authority. Children are not obeying their parents, adults are not obeying laws, criminals are idolized. What, exactly, is the root cause of this? Is it pride? Is it because we have gotten away with disobedience and therefore feel we are above the law?

Last fall I asked the Sunday school class I was teaching if it was OK to exceed the speed limit on a road that you knew had no police officers. It sparked an interesting discussion, to say the least. I surmise that our society has drifted toward the perspective that we should obey the law to avoid being punished. The natural conclusion to that course is that we will need to have police officers or traffic monitoring devices on every corner; or better yet, devices built into every car that monitors your speed and automatically fines you if you exceed the limit. Of course, the solution is to nip this problem in the tail, but what, exactly, is the problem? What is the root cause?