Shootings

March 16, eight women were gunned down at three different locations in Atlanta, GA.  Then on March 22, ten were murdered in a grocery store in Boulder, CO.  It seemed that the mass killing issue had subsided over the past years after being pained by one or more in most years since the April 20, 1999, killing of 13 at Columbine HS in Littleton, CO which seemed to launch the mass shooting evil.

There are an array of reasons offered and excuses made for such events and for the two recent ones.  But what is most often not said or even contemplated are three core Biblical truths which when removed leave men and mankind empty and able to do that which is abhorrent to us all.

1. God is!

   If we came from an explosion or from murky waters or from an amoeba, then what is life but a vapor – here and gone!  If there is no God then there is no fear.  If no fear, then shoot away!  After all – it is the “survival of the fittest!”  Or maybe not!  Maybe there is another foundational truth that is missing and that might greatly reduce these events?  And there is a truth that will slow and stop such insanity – God!

Why should we think there is such a Being, a God?  Follow the science!  The periodic chart screams God!  The planetary system, weather patterns, and seasons scream God!  Man’s conscience with guilt, fear and grudges screams God (moral concerns).  That all men worship something or someone screams God.  The human body with its DNA, chromosomes and incredible cells scream God!  That men fear and fight death screams God!  That God’s Bible is full of prophetic fulfillments scream God!  The whole scientific method, if followed accurately, will bring one to one conclusion – God!  Let us follow the science!

2. And about God, He is personal – Easter says so!

So annually we celebrate Christmas!  We used to make a big deal about a birth in a village in Israel that brought shepherds and wisemen and all.  We have turned away from much of that to family gatherings, elaborate gifts and even vacations to warmer places.  We used to talk carefully about a historical figure named Jesus who was radically different from Mohammed or Darwin or King.  We used to pause schooling in the Spring so that children could go to Good Friday services.  We used to make much of Jesus being innocent and dying for others that they might be changed from their life of guilt, greed, anger, and fear.  We used to take great hope in that Jesus defeated death.  All those speak of a God who stepped into a world of lying (crookedness) and evil (perverseness, Phil 2:15) to rescue men. And even for those who didn’t embrace Jesus, their lives were impacted by changed lives and by His teachings.  But, we have eliminated or subdued the talk of Good Friday and Easter thinking they are not that critical.  And what was said in promoting those events and pausing to be serious about them?  That God is personal and engaged!

3. Lastly, what has been lost in American culture is that God judges evil and sends people to Hell!  And Hell is hell!  It is agony, eternal fire, wailing, grinding of teeth, darkness (Matthew 13:50), hopelessness (great gulf – no transfers), and thoughts of those behind not knowing Jesus and desperately needing to embrace Jesus else they come to the same awful place (Luke 16:26, 28).  A journal of each person’s life will be opened and every thought, word, and deed found therein (Revelation 20:12-15).  God, who is absolutely pure, just, and gracious as He offered them victory over their evil if they would but repent and embrace Jesus, will give every person their exact due.  All those outside of Jesus will be sent to God’s Hell.  The removal of that truth and teaching has left too many thinking only of God as loving.  Furthermore, most funerals teach that all go to Heaven so again presenting a falsehood.  Without the fear of Hell, the hearts of men are freer to do evil such as shooting grocery shoppers.

So, the cry is for more mental health education and mediation which is but a band-aide on an open, oozing terrible tumor.  The solution or the slowing of these shootings is found in knowing and teaching these truths:  God is, God cares, and God judges.  Be fearful today and be right with Him today!