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Thoughts on the South Carolina church shooting and worldview

I just finished reading an NPR article about the tragic shooting in a famous South Carolina church.   I don’t in anyway want to diminish the terrible evil that surrounds this event.  But I also was amazed to read so many comments saying that the shooting was “incomprehensible” and “unfathomable” and has no business in a “civilized society.”  It leaves me wondering how exactly we can continue to hold to beliefs that are betrayed by the reality around us.  

These comments speak to the world view of our society and will probably go unquestioned by many.  With racial prejudice, terrorist bombings, unethical interrogation tactics, ISIS, lying news anchors, cheating secretaries of state, etc. how exactly can we continue to be of the opinion that violence, hatred, greed, and other morally reprehensible actions are “unfathomable?”  What happened in South Carolina is terrible.  It is awful.  But it is entirely plausible given the true nature of man.  Certainly, most of us are nowhere near having the makeup that finds us shooting people at a Bible study, but we are acquainted with evil.  We murder in our hearts.  We commit adultery with our eyes.  We construct all sorts of idols to worship, including the autonomous, enlightened man of our imaginations.  What happened last night is far more fathomable than we are willing to admit.  And that is a tragedy of eternal and infinite dimensions.  

To suppress the reality of our sin-sick humanity is to put our faith in a vain idol, ourselves.  When we maintain that humans are inherently good and virtuous and noble, we uphold a lie and turn a blind eye to the reality all around us.  

I must also question the talk of “civilized society” quoted in the same article.  How, I ask, are we in a civilized society?  Because we allow everyone to make their own truth?  Because we are ok with everyone doing whatever they want as long as it doesn’t upset the status quo and doesn’t tell people they are wrong for what they do?  How is it civilized for a news anchor to lie about his experiences in a war, betraying the trust of those who look to him for true reporting, to keep his job with one of the most prominent news networks in the world?  How is it civilized to think that a person with an X and a Y chromosome from birth can simply reconfigure his genitals and suddenly become a woman?  How is it civilized to celebrate and embrace these things as enlightened expressions of a greater humanity?  

I dare say that the way we have come to define civilized is synonymous with the way the Bible describes rebellion.  We exalt ourselves, celebrate self-sufficiency and morally reprehensible “trail-blazers,” and trumpet our autonomy over and above all who would begin to mention the name of God.  And we are civilized?  Morally, we are barbarians.  We are not advancing.  We are regressing.  And we will continue to do so until we acknowledge the reality of God and his sovereign authority over our lives.  

What is so tragic to me is that the violence and hatred all around us shatters the worldview that adheres to the goodness of man.  And yet that worldview persists as people stoop down to pick up the shattered pieces and reconstruct them into a passable patchwork.  I wonder if it this determined effort is due to immense fear.  If we are not in fact good to our core, what hope do we have of conquering death, rising above racism, celebrating diversity?  

Pride prevents us from looking outside of ourselves to find that answer.  

But until we look beyond our human means, we will never be in a position to embrace God’s solution to our mess: the Cross of Jesus Christ.  The Cross is not merely a display of God’s love.  It isn’t simply an example of self-sacrifice.  It is a message of judgment against our prideful straying from God’s good and right law.  It condemns our self-sufficiency, our belief in human goodness, our idolatrous lifestyle.  Only when this reality pierces our stoney hearts will we come face to face with the reality of the situation.  The tragic shooting in South Carolina, in a place of worship no less, is entirely plausible in a society hell-bent on denying God and exalting self.  

The solution is not to find a way forward but to turn our gaze backwards to Calvary.  There we see God’s just and righteous anger poured out against sin on his Beloved Son.  There we see a sinless Savior willing to die in our place.  There we see how truly valuable we are, not because we are enlightened and good and self-sufficient, but because God gives his Son over to death while we are yet his enemies.  God purchases our lives not because we deserve it but because he is determined to save those who rebel.  Our value is defined at the Cross in the death of God’s own Son.  


Father, would you grant that we might come to terms with our prideful rebellion and realize our need for Jesus.  Show us who we truly are so that we might find eternal life.  Jesus, we need you.  

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