Proverbs 29:18 – “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint …” (English Standard Version)
I’ve lived in the City of Indianapolis for over 35 years. During those three and one-half decades, I’ve never seen the level of violence and murders that we are currently plagued with. Indianapolis, at one time, represented the best of middle America. A place where you could raise your family in relative safety and security. The capital city in a state whose motto is the “Crossroads of America” because, in a certain sense, all roads lead to and through Indianapolis. A place known for her love of basketball, state fairs, Indiana Avenue and the Indy 500.
Fast forward to 2018 and our beloved city is now known as “one of the most dangerous places in America.” As of this column, our beloved city has experienced 107 homicides in this year alone. Most of them involve minorities, specifically Black males. Many of them remain unsolved. What is behind the spike in murders and violence we are witnessing? What has happened to our beloved city? Why are more people turning to deadly violence as a means of settling disputes or as their only perceived means of survival? Why are the perpetrators getting younger?
Proverbs 29:18 gives us a crucial answer. The writer makes a profound and provocative statement: “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint …” The word “prophetic” means “predictive; foretelling; accurately describe or predict what will happen in the future.” Vision speaks to “the ability to think or plan for the future with imagination or wisdom.” Restraint denotes “a measure or condition that keeps something or someone under control or within limit.”
In essence, where there is no foretelling or accurate description of what will happen in the future … no ability to think or plan for the future with imagination or wisdom … the people will function without control or limits. “Anything goes” becomes the rule and not the exception governing the environment.
Indianapolis has become a city without restraint. There appears to be no clear vision for how we aid and assist our most vulnerable citizens: the poor and disenfranchised, those living in the margins of our society, returning from our juvenile detention centers, jails and prisons, those struggling with mental illness, and our most valuable asset — our children. One segment of our city continues to prosper while another larger segment is pushed deeper into the margins.
I propose we cast a clear prophetic vision for our beloved city. One that doesn’t see adding law enforcement officers and building new criminal justice compounds and privatized state prisons as the best solution to the rising tide of violence and murder.
I propose we cast a clear prophetic vision for our beloved city. One that doesn’t continue to close public schools, systematically dismantling public education, displacing thousands of our children and losing our most experienced educators in the process.
I propose we cast a clear vision for our beloved city. One that doesn’t use gentrification as the model for neighborhood revitalization and one that provides decent affordable housing for the residents of those neighborhoods to insure they are not gentrified.
I propose we cast a clear prophetic vision for our beloved city. One that returns us to a time when Indianapolis is once again the place where we can raise our families in relative safety and security.
Dr. Preston T. Adams III is senior pastor of Amazing Grace Christian Church, www.agccindy.org. Follow him on Twitter @DrPrestonTAdams.
