The Things That Cannot Be Said

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.