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FIRST RESPONSE: 9/ll, Columbine and now Virginia Tech |
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Written by Don Williams
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9/ll, Columbine and now Virginia Tech
How do we deal with mass tragedy?
By Don Williams
First, mindless suffering is the nature of this fallen world. Although created in all of God's goodness, heavenly revolt has stained earth, disrupted nature, separated us from God and released demonic rulers over our atmosphere and social structures. Lesser demons can also invade and thwart our lives.
Second, made in God's image, we have the divine dignity and freedom to love him, to ignore him, to pervert him, to populate our minds and hearts with false idols and religions, or even to hate him. This is the risk God takes with us to be in real relationships without coercion or force. Granted, salvation is his gift and by his grace alone, but God will not drag us kicking and screaming into a heaven which we would hate.
Third, the universe, including our planet, is engaged in a massive spiritual battle. Satan is a liar, the father of all lies and a murderer. (See John 8:44) He has the power of death (Hebrews 2:14). He deceives us in order to kill us and disguises himself as an angel of light. Paul tells us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against demonic principalities and powers. (Ephesians 6:12) As I write this I am at an international conference of Roman Catholic Charismatic Leaders (ICCRS). Mike Evans, a Baptist pastor ,who now has his own ecumenical healing ministry (originally triggered by John Wimber years ago) is here with a younger man in training. This person, rooming with Mike, awoke last night choking to death. He virtually had stopped breathing, crawled to Mike and got him up. Almost instinctively, Mike rebuked the choking demon in Jesus' name. It was all over in 15 seconds, his breathing fully restored. Not all people choking are demonized but if we are listening to the Holy Spirit this may be what's going on. The battle rages.
When Jesus enters his Messianic Kingdom ministry, he is immediately challenged by Satan himself. It is he who offers Jesus the kingdoms of this world and it is not a bogus offer. But Jesus has come to restore God's sovereignty over these kingdoms. We are in the battle-zone where this is now being contested and carried out.
One of Satan's greatest ploys is to stir up mass murder. This happens through gangs on our streets. It happens through dictators such as Hitler or Stalin, deceived terrorists, suicide bombers, cults of death, and a deeply wounded, abused, isolated and deranged student at Virginia Tech as he randomly takes out over 30 lives.
These acts of violence immediately raise all the issues. How can a loving God allow this to happen? If he is love he must be weak or impotent. Perhaps the deists are right: he wound up the universe and took off. Perhaps the atheists are right. Creation just happened. With our without evolution, there is no divine design in the universe.
As these questions come, Satan loves it. He stirs up meaningless violence and chaos to challenge God's love, sovereignty and even his existence. As we have said, the battle rages. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (II Corinthians 4:3-4) This blindness comes from spiritual darkness, but it also comes from the meaningless chaos and suffering of our world. We cannot dispel it by simply offering rational arguments to reconcile God's sovereignty and love. The blindness only goes when the light of the gospel of the glory of the crucified, risen Christ comes. This is God's act of new creation which parallels his original creation: “For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' [Genesis 1:3] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the glory of the knowledge of God in the face of Christ.” (II Corinthians 4:6)
While Christians don't have an air-tight answer to 9/11 or Columbine or Virginia Tech, a couple of points are in order.
Although Buddha withdraws from suffering into an inner spiritual world, empty of desire, and while Mohamed increases suffering through military action, Jesus takes suffering into himself. He identifies with sinners in John's baptism, drives out demons, heals the sick and suffers on the cross for the sins of the world. Jesus shows us the God who is heart-broken with the world's suffering, intervenes to right the creation gone wrong, and takes its suffering upon himself.
Jesus also comes to destroy the devil's work. He comes to rip the power of legalism from him and do in death itself. (See Colossians 2:13-15) In the name of Jesus the demons must flee.
Moreover, God uses uses suffering for his kingdom purposes. C. S. Lewis says that suffering is God's megaphone to awaken a sleeping world. True, suffering may lead us to question or deny God, but suffering may also bring us to the God who suffers for us and with us and heals our deepest pain – his absence from our lives. All other healings will come from this.
The young killer at Virginia Tech was indeed a loner. He was abused as a child by other children for his ethnic origin and struggle with English. This could certainly open him up to demonic activity. All kinds of sociological and psychological opinions are now offered to explain his behavior. We will never know the full torment in his life or the torment he brought to others. But the answer to Auschwitz or 9/ll or this horror or the next one is not a simple genetic, developmental or spiritual conclusion (“The devil made me do it!). Suffering is always irrational. The answer is not in reason. The answer is in the suffering God who first shines the light of creation into us and then shines the light of his Son into us. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death [literally, 'dying'] of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.... So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.” (II Corinthians 4:7-12) “Life is at work in you” is always the last word in this dying world.
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First Response 
