Reflections on the Florida Shooting

I remember the day the nation stood still when shots were reported at a school in the sleepy little town of Columbine, CO. Since that fateful day in 1999, it seems that mass shootings have become almost expected in our country. It's not a matter of whether or not one will happen again; it's only a matter of time. Last week's shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is simply the latest in a string of violent shootings in less than two decades. Less than two years ago, President Obama relayed his frustration about this fact after the shooting in Roseburg, Oregon, stating, "Somehow this has become routine...we've become numb to this." As we once again shake our heads in unbelief at the reality of such a heinous act and mourn the loss of innocent victims, what can followers of Jesus Christ learn from yet another brutal display of violence? Are we willing to settle for this as "routine?" Have we, too, "become numb to this?" Some will jump on the bandwagon of banning firearms as a response. I'm not going to venture an opinion on that; perhaps something practical needs to be done at some level. But is that all we can learn: 'people shoot others because they have access to guns, so let's get rid of the guns,' or can we learn something more from this incident and the list of other tragedies preceding it?

I believe that there is a lesson here, screaming out to all those who would have ears to hear, and it is this: the reason these mass killings are becoming commonplace in our culture is because the philosophical agenda which has been peddled and gobbled up by America at large is producing them. And what agenda is that? Romans 1:25 calls it "the lie." It is the lie which has replaced the truth of God and seeks to worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator. When sinful man suppresses the truth of God which has been clearly revealed to Him in creation and conscience and throws off all restraint of morality in order to indulge his passionate lusts; when he believes the theory that man is nothing more than a higher order of animal who is expressing his primal instincts as he lives out an existence which has no real meaning or value; when the existence of an ultimate Lawgiver and Judge is denied so that there are no eternal consequences for one's actions, what do we expect will result?

Secular culture will once again believe the lie that mankind is basically good and still progressing toward greater heights of intellectual and moral virtue. It will once again cast the shooter as someone who simply suffered from some sort of mental illness. It will seek to 'solve the problem' with more legislation and regulations. But as Christians, what we can learn from this tragedy is the truth that we already know afresh: that "there is none righteous, not even one" (Rom 3:10), that mankind is not progressing toward utopia; he is the same as he has been since the Fall, which was shortly followed by the first murder (Gen 4). We can once again be reminded of the truth that Satan is "a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him" (John 8:44). We can once again learn that the natural man is dead in his trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1) and that his mind is blinded by "the god of this world." In short, we can learn again how much this world needs to see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." People need truth and light; people need Christ! And we have that truth; we have that light; we know Jesus Christ and we have a message of hope that, by the power of God can shine through the darkness and bring hope and healing and a real solution to the real problem which is the fallen human condition! May this horrific event be a sober reminder to us, and may we learn this lesson anew. As we pray for healing and comfort for those who have lost loved ones in this senseless act, may we also be stirred up to speak the gospel to our friends and family and neighbors.