As a father, I cannot imagine the overwhelming sense of grief that must accompany the loss of a child. The loss of any loved one is a difficult and horribly painful experience, one that God did not intend for man to endure, but the loss of a child must be particularly horrific. That’s why the tragic events that unfolded earlier today in Newtown, Connecticut are so shocking; it is hard for us to imagine how anyone could be so evil, so cold, as to kill a classroom full of elementary school students. Unfortunately, shootings and mass murders are becoming all-too-frequent in our nation, and we must examine why this is happening.
I believe that the breakdown of our culture’s respect for the sanctity of every human life, and the cheapness that we have placed on personhood, are certainly contributing factors. As our nation grapples with these tragedies, such as we have witnessed at Virginia Tech, in Arizona, in Aurora Colorado, and now in Newtown Connecticut, we must search our national soul for the answer to these senseless acts of violence. We must seek to strengthen a culture of life, a culture that respects the irreplaceable worth of every human soul, and build a nation of character and community.
I ask you to join me in praying for the families of those who lost loved ones today in Connecticut, and that God would heal our land. In the days and weeks ahead, we will have time to reflect upon the causes, but for now, we must grieve our loss as a nation. We can be comforted in the knowledge that the LORD of life holds these dear ones that were lost today, because, as we have been assured by the prophet Isaiah, God knows each one by name. This assurance is given in the fortieth chapter and the twenty-sixth verse of Isaiah: “Lift your eyes to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”
The LORD who made the stars made each of these beautiful people, these precious children, who were lost today. If He does not lose count of the stars, and not one of them is missing, how much more will He look after these precious ones who were taken from us today.
May God Bless and Heal our Land.
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Josh:
A very appropriate post for a an atrocity of this magnitude.
The problem with our country is spiritual, not physical. The first “tragedy” of this magnitude was Columbine High School. What was not reported about the Columbine shooting at the time but I happened to pick up around the tenth anniversary in an article on the front page of USA Today is the the “brains” behind the Columbine massacre wore a T-shirt on that infamous day that said “Natural Selection” on the front of it. Clearly, our secular fundamentalist ruling class has forced our culture to become the perfect incubator for this variety of monster.