Sunday, November 3, 2017 was like any other day with my family. We got up, had breakfast, and then went to church, and then came home and had lunch. Sometime in the afternoon, I received a news feed that there was a mass shooting in a church in Texas. My heart sank as I read the headline. Twenty-six people died, and many more were injured. The shooter supposedly had anger issues and spent some time in a military prison for domestic violence.
Many people are dumbfounded with the amount of senseless violence and evil that has been happening in an alarming rate in America. Some people blamed the senseless killing on the worship of guns in America. Others The infamous pastor, Pastor Mark Driscoll has this to say about the nature of evil from a biblical worldview:
Following his conversion, Augustine rightly said that evil is a flaw, a lack or deficiency in something inherently good. Evil is therefore a privation, or that which deprives a being of some good belonging to it. Like a parasite, evil is heinous because it destroys that which was once beautiful and whole. Zechariah 10:2 uses the four words to describe privation: nonsense, lies, false, and empty. An example of privation is blindness, which is simply a lack of sight. Blindness cannot be understood unless compared to the concept of sight.
Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdriscoll/2017/11/good-good-evil-honest-god-part-1/#4zvZ7sPISfeZw762.99
Yet others, like Southern Baptist Seminary President, R. Albert Mohler, used these events as an opportunity to distinguish and argue that every human life deserves dignity and anyone that takes a human life is essentially “attacking God”. He does make a good point that the only thing that can bring understanding to these type of evil events is the gospel. He writes:
The gospel is the only assurance of the victory of good over evil. The gospel of Christ is the only promise of meaning and significance and satisfaction, not only in this life, but in the life to come.
David Rupert says the best way to combat evil is by making a stand for righteousness and to let our light shine for the whole world to see (Matt. 5:13-16). He writes:
The best way for all of us to stand against evil is to take a stand for righteousness.
Jesus told us that we “are the light of the world” and not “the accusers of the world.” He didn’t tell us to curse the darkness, rather he told us to shine our light so bright that it chases the darkness away.
It’s hard, because we want to go on offense. We want to stop this insanity. But the way of the cross has always been the same and it’s never changed.
The soldier of righteousness carries no weapon but the cross. And the battle position is on our knees. Read more at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/davidrupert/whats-blame-church-massacre/#jOOAZkf5deY2jMJF.99
I agree with David. What our world needs is hope, and our hope is in Jesus Christ (Heb. 6:13). Jesus says that:
Truly I tell you, in the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother[fn] or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundred times more and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first. (Matt 19:28-29).
In the Kingdom of God, there is a renewal or restoration of all things. This is what I can hope for. John Eldredge defines hope as the constant expectation of goodness coming to us. (Eldredge, All things New). The Greek word for renewal of all things is “paligenesia” which literally means again and beginning or begin again. This is what heaven will be like when Jesus ushers in his Kingdom in the last days. Eldredge calls this the re-creation of the world. When we feel the ache in our soul or that emptiness, Eldredge states we are longing for God’s Kingdom and the restoration of all things where there will be no more sorrow, no more tears, sickness or pain. This what John saw in his apocalypse.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne:[fn] Look, God’s dwelling[fn] is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples,[fn] and God himself will be with them and will be their God.[fn] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things[fn] have passed away.
5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words[fn] are faithful and true.” (Rev. 21:1-5
To close, I just started reading John Eldredge’s new book shown above, and he gives a good reason to have hope which is that God’s coming Kingdom will bring his justice be restoring all things the way God initially intended for them to be. In the meantime, I will continue to shine my light in this dark world until my Lord and King Jesus calls me home.
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