Like most of you, I was saddened with the news of the Virginia Tech Massacre. 32 people tragically killed — an unthinkable and senseless act indeed.
I watched the afternoon service held at the University yesterday afternoon. There was not much hope offered. No one really made sense of the devastation. The Virginia Governor brought in some Scriptural allusions. He even brought up Christ’s suffering on the cross. President Bush mentioned faith, and cited a verse or two. The Jewish lady rabbi quoted Ecclesiastes 3. The Muslim cleric had a fairly long and thoughtful speech, that I thought was quite good.
Sadly, there wasn’t a distinctly Christian message of hope to be heard. There wasn’t a Christian message to answer a question that must be plaguing the minds of countless VT students this week: “Where was God then? Where is God now?”
So how do we as Christians respond to such a tragedy? Well, it goes without saying that we can pray. And with such a gripping story with such a terrifying reality, we should pray for an especially strong end-result. We should pray that God would use this event to turn many to Christ, to cause many to begin to seek God and ponder the questions of death and eternity, right and wrong, love and hate.
We should also be ready with answers. God was there at Virginia Tech on Monday. He is there this morning. God works all things according to his own will. But His ways are much higher than ours. We don’t know what good will come from this, but Scripture teaches God allows evil to bring about good. In fact, he is always working things together for good to those who love Him and are his chosen people (Rom. 8:28). At the end of this post, I’ll provide some links to online resources on the topic of God and suffering.
Third, we should reach out and love those affected by this tragedy. Christians are to comfort those who mourn. We have the message of the gospel with its unlimited and boundless hope. So we should be all the more eager to lift up those hurt with tragedies and pain around us.
Most of us are not immediately near the tragedy in Virginia, but we know countless lesser tragedies and rub shoulders with other hurting people in our own communities. And if we don’t know hurting people now, we will soon enough. As we make an effort to love the hurting, we will find opportunities to answer the tough questions, and share the blessed and hope-filled gospel of Jesus Christ.
So I close by encouraging us to reach out and comfort the hurting around us, to be ready with Christian answers to the tough questions, and to earnestly pray for those affected by the Virginia Tech massacre. Specifically pray for the ministry of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church in Blacksburg, as well as other Christian churches in the area. Let me leave you with the words of the African Benediction (see above link for more on this), as well as the links I promised.
Minister: All our problems . . .
People: We send them to the cross of Christ!
Minister: All our difficulties . . .
People: We send them to the cross of Christ!
Minister: All the devil’s work . . .
People: We send them to the cross of Christ!
Minister: All our hopes . . .
People: We set on the risen Christ!
Minister: Christ, the Son of Righteousness, shine upon you and scatter the darkness from before your path: and the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you, forever and ever. Amen.
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- John Piper: “21 Ways to Love and Comfort the Hurting” (HT: DG Blog)
- Desiring God: Articles, Sermons & Resources on Suffering.
- Desiring God: Free Online Messages from the Desiring God 2005 Conference: Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (you’ll need to scroll down a bit).
- Monergism.Com: Articles, Sermons, & Resources on Suffering.
Honestly, when I saw the news on the internet the other day, I was not even shocked or stunned. In fact, as I learned more about the liberal VA.Tech bringing a Muslim cleric to speak, and a bunch of other politically correct religious figures with no mention of Christ whatsoever, I’m sorry to say it, but I felt very little sympathy.
This is just the just rewards of a Godless society. And the answer to the problem according to news pundits is more gun control, not more God control.
These kinds of tragedies will just keep going and become run of the mill news. It is God’s judgement on wicked Americans.
The Lutheran woman was supposed to represent Christianity. She didn’t do a good job of it.
I think George Bush’s thoughts were _very_ Christian even if he had to abstain from explicitly mentioning Jesus Christ because of his position of President of all Americans.
I also was not surprised to hear about the death of the students but have been fed up with hearing about it and seeing the footage of the gunman’s video. Yes, the death of innocent lives is always sad. But the coverage of the incident was way over the top. If we believe that we’re all God’s people, spare a thought to the innocent people being killed in Iraq every day. Where is the constant publicity plus details about the life of each of those killed???
I briefly saw a “Christian” lady talking to a reporter, saying “sadly a lot of the students are now in Hell”, and she was there to tell everyone that only Jesus is the Way. Sure, she may be right, but what a time to be saying something like that.
Ryan,
It was a Lutheran man. He barely quoted Scripture, and the Muslim guy quoted tons of Q’ranic verses.
Judy,
Thanks for the comments. I agree that the news media pick and choose which stories to stress. It’s inevitable really. But of course with Iraq, its their bias showing, I’d wager.
Also, I agree that the Christian lady needs a bit more tact in this situation.
Thanks for dropping by.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
Will,
I agree that America is full of wickedness and deserving of judgment. But Scripture does teach that because of the fall, such devastating things and tragedies occur to all people. God sends rain on the just and unjust, and they alike share the problems sin has brought this world.
With the tower of Siloam (Luke 13), Jesus taught it was wrong to assume that the people killed did any special acts of sin for which they were being judged.
Basically, what I’m trying to say is this: every nation in this world is wicked. Every person deserves God’s judgment. In one sense, all tragedies are judgment. But in another, tragedies happen because of sin, but not always because the people deserved it in an extra special sense.
Since we share the human condition with people, and since we don’t have God’s infallible declaration that such and such tragedy is actually a judgment for such and such sin (as we do in the OT sometimes with some events), we should sympathize with tragedies and try to provide Biblical answers. Sure if a majority of people in a nation are righteous, they will have God’s favor. But we Christians are of a heavenly country. All earthly countries are sinful and judgment-deserving.
I don’t think Scripture would push us to always be “gleefully glad” in some sense when tragedies befall our fellow men. We shouldn’t always be harping about how bad America is, either. Because America is filled with sinners, and we don’t need a reformed America, we need to reform individuals thru the Gospel.
Not sure if I’m making sense here. I am probably reading too much into your comment too.
Sorry I’ve been busy this week and haven’t responded sooner.
As always, I appreciate your interaction here.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
Will, I went to VT and later transfered to a U of Maryland campus, and I guarantee you VT is not a liberal campus! In fact, the colleges of VA are regularly recognized as the most conservative schools nation-wide (especially W&L). Since the victims all ranged from many countries I think it is safe to assume that VT chose those leaders to speak because they represented the victims, not as a display of liberal beliefs. I agree more God control will help better than gun control, but the rest of your comments seem to display a similarity to Fred Phelps and his “hatesfags” beliefs which completely ignore and undermine Jesus’ teachings of love.
Sorry to sound so heartless….
I do feel aweful for those people killed.
I am just saying that this kind of thing is what we can expect more of in this country as long as we keep our backs turned against God. VT can still be conservative and Godless at the same time. I come from the San Francisco area, I am surrounded by liberals. I guess because I see so much hostility against God and hear all kinds of humanistic solutions to spiritual problems, that
I just think: “duh, if you people keep ignoring the problem, and what do you expect? You have hewn out cisterns that don’t hold water!”
I’m not gleeful for what happened, but all those grieving people all over the country would be better off grieving over their own sin….this is why God let’s these tragedies happen, so that we will repent or likewise perish!
“…all those grieving people all over the country would be better off grieving over their own sin….this is why God let’s these tragedies happen, so that we will repent or likewise perish!”
You’re right. Will. Let’s pray that this tragedy will be the occasion for such repentance to happen in the lives of countless people in this nation. May it jar the world into realizing how ugly sin is, and then to see the sin inside and how serious it is. Praise God that Jesus bore our sins and offers full and free pardon!
Being thousands of miles away doesn’t help in knowing the general American response to this tragedy. But I can tell you that people in Japan were shocked about how one can obtain guns so easily, and also how the press (particularly CTV) immediately blamed random asians because the gunman was a Korean. Of course, these comments don’t really contribute much to this blog, so I shall get into the spiritual aspect quickly. 🙂
A thought ran through my mind when I heard about this incident: If such a tragedy happened on campuses in Japan, what would happen? Would Christian organizations in Japan be ready to take up the responsibility of reaching out to people who are looking for answers? The Bible does say “always be ready to give an answer for the hope that you have,” but how prepared are our church members who are still babes in Christ? My wife and I still counsel people who are debating whether or not to date a non-Christian. How can we get them ready? In any case, there is much work to be done here in Japan.
My wife and I have been praying for the VT folks daily.
CrownedFish,
I’m thankful you and your wife are dedicated to discipling those young believers. I agree that Christian maturity is an ongoing process. The answers aren’t always easy, but hopefully Christians would rest in God’s ultimate sovereignty. He is in control, and we can rest in Him. Even a baby Christian can understand that. It all comes down to faith.
May God bless your continued ministry in Japan,
Bob