Today, I heard via social media about an elementary school shooting in Connecticut and that many 5 year olds and teachers had been killed while at school. I immediately searched on the internet only to find pictures of men and women, mommies and daddies, that look like the many mommies and daddies that I know, with looks of terror in their eyes wondering whether or not they would ever talk to their child again.
Details are still coming out. But it seems that an evil and wicked man decided to kill his mother, staff workers and little children in a fit of anger and rage. The gun control talks will flare up and die down once again, and the question of "why" will once again flood the nation and even the world. We will look for answers and we will fall short again.
I read one Pastor's tweet that said, "Evil" and "Wicked" are words that we must keep in our vocabulary. I can't agree more. As I write, my heart is broken, anger stirs inside of me, and I cringe at the brokenness of the world that we live in. Humanity has tried desperately to be good. We don't want to call anything evil or wicked these days. We live in a pluralistic culture that subscribes to a philosophy that is completely unsustainable. Our philosophy that all roads lead to heaven, that all gods are good gods, that all religions or belief systems are equal, that all people are born with a good spark in them, that each of our thoughts no matter how inferior they are in their thinking to other thoughts are important, that everything we have to say is important, is a philosophy straight from the pits of hell. Not all thoughts are equal. Not all philosophy is equal. Certainly not all gods stand on equal ground. Some ideas are righteous and others are not. Evil and wicked must stay in our vocabulary because without them we don't understand the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and our need for Jesus Christ.
I remember when President George W. Bush called terroristic nations the "axis of evil." The response was mixed. It sounded strange for a modern day President to accuse anyone of being "evil." Some still make fun of that declaration to this day. But the truth of the matter is that days like today show us that evil is very much alive in our world today. There are wicked men and women who do wicked things. Today, a wicked and evil man committed a wicked and evil act. There is no other way to dress it up. It is senseless and diabolical.
All roads do not lead to heaven. Pluralism cannot be sustained in a world where evil and wickedness exist. A world full of humanity can never extinguish evil. A world redeemed by Jesus is the only world where wickedness has no place. So wickedness and evil will remain until Jesus, who wept with us, comes back, reconciles this world, destroys all that is evil and keeps all that is good. Today is a day where I want Jesus to come back as King more than ever.
pasor Dan. I am Aunt Heidi's nice. I live in that small town that was shaken by evil, my daughter attends a small school right next to the elementary school she will be going to kindergarten there next year. she has friends that go to school their and she dreams of the day when she gets to ride the bus!I worked as an early childhood teacher at a school.I know two of the little angels , my home is 5 min away. your words are comforting and reassuring. as tears roll down my cheeks and the thoughts of how to tell my daughter the wickedness that visited our town, and how to help my town morn together. we will never know why
ReplyDeleteJess,
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine. I can't turn on the news for more then a few seconds before tears are rolling down my eyes. My heart is broken for you, your family, your friends, your precious little girl, the families that have been crushed by this unbelievable evil. We will never know, on this side of heaven why this has happened. Everyone is waiting for answers from the murderer - hoping he left a reason why. But no reason will help quell the anguish and grief. I hope that you, your community, your family, and the families who have been wrecked by this find some small comfort in knowing that people all over the world are broken and hurting with and for them. Tomorrow in church will pray for all of you and mourn with you. Praying for you. Thank you for sharing your words with me tonight.