A tragedy

Posted by Jesus on April 16, 2007

There is, of course, very sad news coming out today from Virginia. One of your own has taken many, many lives, and no one seems to have the answers that so many of you desperately seek. For those of you looking to me in this crisis, your answers shall come. You may not fully appreciate their meaning, but they’re going to come. It’s important in a situation like this to remember a few basic things which all Christians should know by now.

The first thing to remember is that everything happens for a reason, even the murder of 32 people. Dad allows all things, though His purpose is not always made evident to those involved. When this gunman, whom you will come to know very well over the next few days, began this spree he did so with Dad’s knowledge. He could have been stopped at any given moment by any number of instruments, but Dad chose to let him fulfill his role down there. The person who did this wasn’t necessarily acting as an instrument of God, just as you’re not considered an instrument of God when you eat your dinner. He was certainly a child of God, and did have his entire path planned and put into motion by God, and just like you when you eat dinner, had his acts sanctioned by God. So what does this say? Is there a message you should get out of that? Maybe.

Secondly, those people who were murdered were meant to be murdered. They were put there eighteen and twenty and twenty-two years ago for the purpose of living their years and then being shot by this guy on this Monday morning. Three of them actually had higher purposes which they’ve accomplished already, so some good did come out of their time with you. It sucks, sure. Nobody out there wants to really think about the fact that since Dad has a plan for each and every one of you His plans invariably involve your deaths. Some of those deaths are violent and/or horrific. That doesn’t make them any less important to Him, and it doesn’t make it any less certain that He planned such deaths long before they’re carried out. I see an awful lot of you who talk about Dad’s will when someone dies of old age or from an otherwise normal incident, but such sentiments are notoriously absent in mass murder and other such tragedy. Are you all going to be so blind this time?

Third, Dad does not need everyone more. Sometimes that “God needed him/her more” adage rings true, such as when we need an engineer to fix a computer program or a repairman to testify in our courts, but it’s generally not a case of need when someone dies. Of course that isn’t meant to imply that people’s deaths mean little or nothing, quite the contrary. Every death is important and meticulously planned, just as is every life, but not everyone who loses their life does so because God has a bigger plan for them. That is something of a fundamental flaw in your understanding of life and death, I think. What would you benefit if all of you died of old age? How would you learn your lessons? What would be your punishment for dangerously egregious sins? How would we send you messages?

I hope that in the wake of this tragic incident, where so many of your own were brutally murdered, you have the strength to get past the questions of how and why this gunman did what he did and dig to the real core of the matter: what message was Dad trying to send, and what is necessary to ensure that everyone receives this message?

These things are going to happen, and they will rarely have an obvious and clear-cut objective. This isn’t because they’re “one-off” incidents perpetrated by deranged lunatics, but because Dad doesn’t always speak in definites. Sometimes He leaves you messages, riddles, interventions and interruptions in your lives mean to provoke and push you toward questioning yourself and the world around you. If all things happen for a reason, why did the murders at Virginia Tech take place? If the lives of all individuals are prewritten by Dad’s hand, why were these thirty-two students killed and what message should we take from their lives? And finally, if God doesn’t need everyone more, then why do people die at all?

There are lessons in all of these questions, children, even if they are painful ones. There are lessons to be found on the campus of Virginia Tech, in the lives of those who were killed and those who survived, and even in the life of the murderer, which you will all know more about than you can imagine in around 48 hours. In the meantime I expect you to continue grieving, but let’s see if we can’t get some questioning and reconsideration in that whole process as well. Those who fail to learn those lessons handed down by Dad early tend to find themselves at the end of an increasingly sharpened curriculum. We know for sure that twelve wasn’t enough, and thirty-two may not be either.

It’s still sad though. Heartbreaking.

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