The United States has endured so many mass killings in the last few decades that the official statements of police, politicians, religious leaders, psychiatrists, and family members of the killer have become predictable, cemented into our psyche by the relentless 24 hour news blitz found across the several news channels. Newscasters could just say “gunman, loner, arsenal, gun control, no gun control, evil, no signs, he seemed fine . . .” and we would know the rest.
While the “official” statements have become commonplace to the point of callousness, they do nothing to describe the horrific loss experienced by the loved ones of each victim from the Las Vegas massacre yesterday. Many children over the past 24 hours were gently told that a parent was dead; that “The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood is stopped”. No child should learn Shakespearean tragedy from such an experience.
In a slough of predictable responses, one relative of the killer made a comment that should bring pause as we attempt to make sense of the senseless. When asked if she had any idea why the killer would massacre 59 people, she responded that he did not hold any religious or political beliefs – as if they were the only reasons for mass murders these days.
Some past mass murderers have claimed both religious and political reasons, however insane, to justify their actions. So far, the Las Vegas killer has offered no “reason” for his actions. Maybe he killed 59 people because he was bored or had gambling losses or hated crowds. After all, his family members could not name a single belief in anything that he had ever expressed to them. No belief in anything worth saying. Then he killed himself, the act of a confirmed nihilist.
Those who believe in God, the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount and a host of traditional proofs of morality handed down to us over thousands of years will not be surprised that the individual who believes in nothing can do anything no matter how depraved.
Those who deny God’s existence but believe in the innate goodness of people, in moral relativism, cultural diversity and the equality of all ideas will always be surprised at mass killings. They will shout for more government control – gun control, speech control, crowd control, religious control, cultural control, any control that will shift the responsibility away from a killer who personifies best what their non-belief system ultimately creates – individuals who believe nothing and who will do anything, no matter how depraved.
I, too believe in the Sermon on the Mount. Allow me to explain why a Christian may have chosen to not make public his beliefs, and admonish you at the same time.
Matthew 6
6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may ube praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have vreceived their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love xto stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.
8 Do not be like them, efor your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be iyour name.1
10 Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread,
12 and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And olead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,
15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Perhaps you should head inside, representative. Your closet awaits.
Tommy,
All I can add is an AMEN.
The LEFT CRITTERS (Clinton, Warren, et al) are already screaming.