When the Unthinkable Happens...

There are those moments in time when something so evil and so unthinkable plunges you face to face with reality. The last several years the world has had a good look at the unthinkable-- like the mass killings and massacre of 32 students on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia and now the killings in Omaha, Nebraska. Where a young man kills eight people and committed suicide in a shooting rampage.

At times like this we wonder how to make sense of something so senseless and repulsive. Our souls are gripped and afflicted with helplessness and utter frustration. There is nothing we can do to turn back the hands of time. All future preventative measures will never undo the events of the past. With such devestation and calamity there is awakened, inside of everyone of us, a cry of the soul which seeks to find purpose, peace and hope again.

If there is ever a time to ask the big questions of life--it is now. This however, is not easily done anymore in our society. We live in an age where ecumenicalism rules the day and tolerance is driven by religious relativism. As I watch the news, I am impressed to wonder how anyone could be comforted by the idea that religious pluralism is the remedy that the nation had prepared for its people.

So where does one find hope in the midst of such darkness? What Buddhism would suggest is that these shootings were simply a “real illusion” and that suffering is nothing more than negative misdirected energy and that no real answer for such a tragedy exists because logic itself does not ultimately exist only “oneness” does. But try telling that to the parents of those killed. Try telling these parents that any part of the death of their loved one is just not true or was just an "illusion". That is nonesense! We would quickly become aware to the reality that ecumenical unity solves nothing! Either someone is right or no one is right. But all religions can not be right at the same time. What people need in a time like this is real answers to a real situation brought about by real evil.

Christianty offers the only real and lasting comfort in which you have a true, sure, unshakable foundation in the midst of a world which produces these unthinkable events. Christ is the only one in whom there is everlasting life and where the answers to life are solved. The Soveriegn God of the Universe does all things so that He might recieve utter glory. This is the hope that the believer has. A hope that is not moved by cirrcumstances and events in life. We must cling to the Savior because we all have violated the Law of God and calamity one day will befall all of us. Death will kock on our door because 10 out of 10 die. This is a statistic that we can't escape. This could be the day that you die --every 24 hours 140,000 people die.

We die because we have sinned against God. Have you sinned? Have you ever lied (even once--fibs, white lies, etc.)? Have you ever stolen (the value is irrelevant)? Jesus said, "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery already with her in his heart." Have you ever looked with lust? Or used God's name with discust. This is very serious. If God judges you by the 10 Commandments (which we just looked at) will you be innocent or guilty on the Day of Judgment? You know that you will be guilty, and therefore end up in Hell...because you have missed the mark and so have I. In fact everyone has. But wait! Listen...the Bible has the answer for this delimma that we all face--God sent His Son to die on a cross--then He rose from the dead and defeated death. He died for sinners like you and me. He died that we might live. He died for sinners. Taking their punishment upon himself. So what must you do? You must repent from your sins (turn from them) and put on the Christ (trust in him with your whole being). Cry out to God today. You will never regret it.