I have intentionally not written anything about the terrible incident at VT this week, because I wanted time to digest the implications of such a thing. To some degree I think we as a country are still in shock, and slowly coming to terms with this incident. Each day now holds new twisted details, and also some accounts of incredible heroism. It seems that as always in extreme human drama, the best and worst of humanity was on display.
 
Here are some of the thoughts that standout in my mind tonight.  Aggravated as they may be...

First, for too long we the public have simply digested what was handed us by the media, in whatever way they felt appropriate. It is time Americans put a stop to the feeding frenzy that accompanies such events. In the middle of a horrific scenario, VT officials had to deal with rude, insensitive, and belligerent reporters at the first press conferences last Monday. The accusatory questions and arrogant attitudes of those reporters were and are an embarrassment to a nation who would seek to unite behind a hurting community. The media is not king here, they do not get a free pass to act without conscience or consequence.

The media outlets need to stop airing that lunatic’s video, and get his face off every report and web site. Such irreverent and irresponsible reporting must be traumatic to victims and family members all over this country. In continuing to give these horrific details airtime the media takes part in this boy’s terrorism, and plays fecklessly into his game. Of course, the ratings are great; NBC had a blowout night Wednesday night. And we all now know that is what really mattered. But at what cost? The killer referenced the columbine killers in his rant, and called them martyrs. Thanks to the super bowl for serial killers that the media has hosted at Blacksburg this week, there surely is a young teen out there somewhere who thinks that just because he gets picked on at school, his redemption and revenge lies behind a sawed off shot gun and a video camera. We need to turn our televisions off, and stop visiting these web sites until they start reporting with some conscience and integrity. I don’t know exactly how that would work out, but it’s not my job to figure it out, its theirs; I only know what is wrong when I see it.

If airplanes need air marshals, perhaps classrooms need class marshals. If universities had undercover armed security officers scattered throughout campuses, these would-be-killers might think twice about entering a classroom to do this kind of thing. If they think that there might be the possibility that they could face down the barrel of a gun they might not take the risk. And schools need to feel the freedom to tell troubled students that they can either find healthy ways to deal with their struggles, or leave campus until they do. Of course I support the freedom of speech, but welcome to the reality that even the exorcise of a constitutional freedom in a manner that jeopardizes, or threatens, or fantasies about harming others should have real consequences. That is not unreasonable.

Self-righteousness leads to trouble. I need God’s patience to deal with self-righteous people. Terrorists are self-righteous when they believe that the world of infidels needs to be taught a lesson, and they take it upon themselves to do it. This lunatic at VT was self-righteous, and believed that because he saw some faults in others that they forced him into the corner of punishing them. He thought that because he got picked on, or rejected, that he had the right to kill. Self righteousness leads people who are naturally judgmental to believe that they have the right to deal out God’s judgment on others because they surely deserve it. Whether it be a condescending glance, a snide comment, conversation behind someone’s back, an anonymous letter, a rifle, or a hijacked airplane; self righteousness is a sin, and is the root of evil that hurts too many people everyday.

Every time tragedy strikes people look for answers, and thank God for Christians that have been faithful enough to be active in their communities, and available to represent the God of all answers in times of need. If tragedy struck around me, I pray that I have been faithful enough that someone might think me worthy of asking what my God has to say about it.

David

One year ago this weekend I was finishing the thesis that was required of me by USC for graduation.  For my thesis, as most of you know I wrote a Christian defense of the resurrection.  “Does the resurrection need defending?” you might ask.  Yes it does.  From atheists to rationalists to liberals on down to plain old skeptics, the resurrection is target #1.  And though it would still be true if none of us defended it, is this not the essence of sharing the gospel?  “The resurrection is true!”  “Jesus is alive!”  I encountered many of these criticisms in my time at USC in the religion department.  Most  people dismiss the resurrection on the basis that is a miraculous event.  So I wrote a defense of the resurrection that was based on historically verifiable detail, and not on miraculous claims.  At this point it is important to note that as believers in God, we embrace the resurrection as a miraculous event.  God raised Jesus from the dead, thereby validating his claims to be the messiah, and granting him victory over sin and death.  What is important for us is to affirm the fact that an event can be both miraculous and historically true.  We need not be cornered into defending the resurrection by trying to defend the idea of miracles in general.  Of course, if a miracle is recorded in the Bible, we can trust it because the Bible is God’s word.  In addition, we should know that the New Testament is supported by more empirical and historical evidence than almost any other work of antiquity.  C.S. Lewis is helpful, “All I am in life is a literary critic and historian, that’s my job…And I am prepared to say on that basis that if anyone thinks the gospels are either legends or novels, then that person is simply showing his incompetence as a literary critic.  I’ve read a great many novels and I know a fair amount about the legends that grew up among early people, and I know perfectly well the gospels are not that kind of stuff.”  The Bible is true in a historical sense as well as spiritual.

            Of course, the most effective evidence for the truthfulness of the resurrection is our own stories about our own encounters with the risen Christ.  We should all be encouraged to incorporate into our Easter celebrations the retelling of how we came to meet the risen Jesus ourselves.  One year ago this weekend I had spent 8 hours a day for 6 days in a row researching and writing about the resurrection in order to finish my project by the due date.  I worked late into the night on Saturday night, and got up early Sunday morning.  As the sun rose on Easter morning I finished my defense of the resurrection.  Seventy pages and six months of research later I was no more convinced of the resurrection than I was before I started.  Is that because my research was inconclusive? No. It was just the opposite.  Was the evidence I found unconvincing?  No.  It was overwhelmingly convincing.  The fact of the matter was that eleven years earlier I had met the risen Christ on the pages of my bible, and through the lives of my Christian friends. It was then that I believed in the risen Jesus and embraced him as my savior and Lord.  He has proved himself to me over and over again, and I did not need historical evidence to verify what my faith had already established.  I hope however it will serve as a tool to further the conversation with curious individuals.  That morning after I finished my paper I turned off the artificial yellow light of the lamp by my desk as the bright light of the rising sun shone into my windows.  Eleven years earlier I had turned away from the artificial lights of the world because the true light of the Risen Son had chased away the shadows in my heart. 

David