The mass murder earlier this morning of 13 people in a Denver suburban movie theater is a story that feels eerily familiar.
Horror isn’t supposed to strike up memories. But this one does, and many of our minds race back to the senseless shootings at Columbine High School in 1999.
At this stage of the tragedy, people want to know why, allegedly, a 24-year-old man named James Holmes did it.
So do I.
Details about the shooter will begin to emerge as the investigation continues. This one thing is certain: he’s obviously a troubled individual. His background is likely filled with the worst things of this world. It’s too early to speculate on what those influences might be, but I have my suspicions, and I’m sure you do as well.
It is always pointless to try and make sense of the senseless, to try and logically process the illogical. But when these types of situations occur, a Christian is compelled to see the source in very simple but pointed terms.
What happened up in Aurora earlier this morning was the product of pure evil. It was the result of a depraved individual taking his free will to the extreme.
Culturally speaking, we cannot stand idly by and let the culture carry our kids away to dark places. Many will point to the cultural influences as the accelerant for these murders. Of course we must act and do everything in our power to teach our children about what is good and just and right.
But at the same time, we must also come to terms with a rather sobering fact:
What is the source of the darkness of the culture? Again, it is sin and evil.
This evil that pervades in every corner, of every culture, in every country, will never be fully eradicated until Jesus returns to redeem the entire world.
If it sometimes feels like so much of life is spent reacting to the brokenness of our culture, it’s because that’s exactly the condition in which we live. Jesus, Himself “a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” came to earth to save us from our sins – and to show us the way through the darkness of the world’s evil.
Our hearts break for those families whose lives have been forever changed by this tragedy. Let us pray for comfort and solace for those who now look to a future without the people they love, many of whom are children.
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