May 2007 - Elder's Corner - Events & News - Evangelical Free Church of Huntington Beach

Elder’s Corner May 2007
Why?
The tragedy at Virginia Tech weighs heavily upon many of us. Like most of you, I had my share of “why." Then God provided wisdom. I’m not as smart as Dr. Del Tackett of the Focus on the Family’s Truth Project. That’s why I will liberally quote from his article “Who’s to blame?”.

“Although man is deeply complex, that doesn't preclude the reality that certain absolute statements can be made about him. The biblical Christian worldview understands that man's heart is "desperately wicked" (Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9).

Without the direct constraint of civil law and order or the indirect constraint of cultural pressures (or a few other more complicated reasons), man left to himself with no constraints or negative consequences, will act out those sinful desires.

When a culture no longer believes this simple truth claim about man and accepts the notion that his heart is basically good, outbreaks of evil bring forth a rush to find something else to blame, for it certainly couldn't have its genesis in the individual heart of man.

So it happened with Monday's tragic slaughter of Virginia Tech professors and students. I listened to a number of broadcasts and read a number of articles and almost all of them are in the mode of finding blame outside of the one who pulled the trigger.

This is the natural tendency when one believes that the murderer acted, not because of an inherently sinful nature let loose, but because something external to him brought sufficient cause to tip the goodness of the individual into doing something wrong. We are hearing an earful of this sort of thing. Not that we would deny the impact of secondary causes, but those secondary causes should be viewed in light of how they fail to restrain or bring about internal restraint of those natural tendencies.”

Dr. Tackett goes on to describe the many forces within our culture which will promise protection from evil through many and various means. The sad truth is those promises are empty and their followers will only find empty frustration.

How does one react? If we are presently in a close personal encounter with one of the victims, the scriptural admonition is to weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. We can only connect people with God once we have established a connection with them. Then we can offer hope and joy.

Rejoice in the truth. The believer who walks in the light of the gospel has a very low probability of turning into another Cho Seung Hui. Jesus Christ Saves.
Share the truth. If you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ was good for you, tell others

God bless you as we walk with him.

Konrad Kern