The recent mass shootings have
dominated the news lately: one in El Paso, one in Dayton. Far and away the most
attention has been directed at the shooters and their ideologies; there was
quite a race to see to which political candidates they were aligned. As one
reads the news, listens to the broadcast media, or spends time on the social
media websites, every single aspect of these deaths is analyzed, and
responsibility is assigned to multiple different potential causative factors. I
remember in medical school we were taught the ABC's of assessing a crisis
situation that went awry. Not Airway, Breathing and Circulation, but Assess
Blame and Criticize.
When ruminating over things
such as gun control, left-wing and right-wing ideologies and the like, we are
trying as humans to make sense of the often senseless. There are certainly
decisions to be made to try and prevent such tragedies, and it is wise to try
and understand which causative factors need to be addressed. Much progress is
unlikely to be made if these factors cannot be agreed upon. If you believe that
the most important issue to address in the shootings is gun control, and I
believe it is the lack of societal morality, then it will be difficult for us
to come to some effective solution, particularly if we deny each other's
beliefs. As individuals, we will not be able to put in place either gun control
or God back in schools but can only vote for politicians and judges that share
our views. I would submit, however, that the most important part of all this
discussion is entirely missing.
I have heard all week about
Democrats and Republicans, Warren and Sanders and Trump, white supremacists and
socialists, leftists and God. And although I have heard about
"Christians" as a group, that term is often used as a pejorative. In
all that I have heard and read this week, not once have I heard anyone mention
Jesus Christ. Christians yes, Jesus Christ no. And from an eternal perspective,
nothing is more important. Until Christ comes again, we will always have
murders and tragedies befall our civilization. Tragic, senseless deaths began
in the second generation of man when Cain slew Abel. We will always strive to
prevent early death, whether it be from a bullet, sharks, a car accident, or a
heart attack. We can certainly take steps to prevent mass murder, warn people
about dangerous wildlife, make our cars safer, and reduce the incidence of
heart disease. But we will never, ever obtain victory over death on our own as
humans.
Listen to the words of Jesus
Himself in Luke 12:16-21, the Parable of the Rich Fool. A man had acquired more
than he needed and made many plans of his own. God, however, had different
ideas, and "...God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of
you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'" Read that
again: "This night your soul is required of you." The shoppers in El
Paso, the Dayton night club patrons, that day their souls were required of
them. They did not know that day; the question is, were they prepared?
A holy God cannot allow sin
into heaven. Even worse, the wages of sin is death. Since the fall of Adam and
Eve, man is condemned to die. We all wish to die of old age and are shaken when
we see people die tragically and early. But know this, all of mankind is born
to live eternally, and forever is an infinitely long time. The thirty or forty
or seventy years these people were deprived of while living on earth is a
pittance, a fraction of a millisecond, compared to the eternity they now face.
God has decreed that because of sin, we are all condemned to die physically and
eternally. If I was to say that all the people that died in El Paso or Dayton
last week deserved to die and spend eternity in Hell, you would be shocked. But
it is true. And not only that, but you deserve to die and spend eternity in
Hell, and so does your mother, father, wife, husband and children. I deserve to
die and spend eternity in Hell. God's justice demands that sin be punished by
death, and we all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans
3:23).
Do not misunderstand and
think that I am saying that God is the causative factor in these deaths. But
His sovereign will, in which all things are under His control, allowed them to
happen as the result of sin. There is no question that the killers were morally
evil and committed immoral acts. And in a fallen world, sometimes God's
creatures will mortally wound us, unlike in the Garden of Eden, and unlike in
the heaven to come.
There is no way to avoid physical
death, either after a long life or a short one. That cost is fixed, immutable.
But God did give us a way to avoid eternal death spent in Hell, and only one
way. He gave us His son Jesus Christ. And when we receive Jesus as our Savior,
we change our eternal destiny. Yes, I am saddened that many people died in El
Paso and Dayton last week, and sad for the loss experienced by their families.
But it is a far, far greater tragedy that many died suddenly, only to in the
next moment find their souls in eternal torment.
These are very unpleasant
things that cannot be said these days. We can pray for the families that have
lost loved ones. We can pray for our leaders to protect us. We can pray for the
safety of our friends and families, and even ourselves. But the single most
important thing that we must pray for here is for the lost. It is too late to
pray for the victims of a week ago. Some may have been believers in Christ and
are in the arms of the Father now. Others are not, and we can be fairly certain
where the Dayton killer is residing.
God
requires that no sin enter heaven, He requires that sin be punished by death,
and He requires our souls. Are you and your loved ones prepared for your last
day on earth, no matter when it may be? It matters not when or where you are
when He requires yours, but it will matter for all eternity where you will be
after He has required it.