Doves and Snakes

What kind of world are we raising our children in? School shootings are everywhere again, only now it has moved from high school to the university. I fear turning on the TV news for fear of confronting yet another story of innocent children being victimized. I’ve already grown jaded, I fear, by countless incidents of violence in Iraq by murderous “insurgents.”
There seems to be no end of violence in the land. No one is safe. Not even the cloistered Amish, a people known for their suspicion of outsiders, were safe from the senseless violence. There is no end of finger-pointing in searching for the causes of this wickedness. The entertainment industry takes a hit for their calloused disregard for decency and propriety in producing violent and salacious films, TV programming and video games. The Supreme Court and ACLU should hang their heads in shame for foolishly removing society’s moral compass embodied in prayer and the Ten Commandments. A deteriorating family structure often produces individuals lacking in moral guidance, who are capable of great harm to society.
At the moment, I’m numb. I don’t know whom to blame for this. But I think one of the victims in Colorado gave us a clue in turning things around. As she faced her tormentor, 16-year-old Emily Keyes text-messaged her dad, “I love U guys.” When you sum up your life in facing mortal danger, you find what is important. People trapped on the upper floors of the World Trade Center left messages of love on their answering machines at home for their loved ones to hear.
It is obvious that there isn’t enough love in the world, but plenty of anger and hate. To guard against it, we’ll beef up security and suspicion everyone. Some will pull their children out of school to the safety of home. It won’t work; evil will find a way. If the pious, cloistered Amish can’t insulate themselves from drug abuse and violence, no one can.
I fear that what we’re seeing is copycat crime, some deranged individuals seeking their 15 minutes of fame. The world has always been a dangerous place; nature teaches us that. In sending his disciples into a violent world, Jesus advised them to go in groups of two, because there is strength in numbers, (Luke 10:1). “Be as shrewd as snakes,” he warned, “And as harmless as doves,” (Matthew 10:16).
Be as harmless as doves. Demonstrate love to a world that needs it. Shine godliness in good works. But be as shrewd as snakes—be careful of people. The parable of the drag-net, (Matthew 13:47-50) teaches that there are good and bad fish in the sea. Judgment Day will come when evil will be exposed and destroyed. Until then, shine goodness and watch yourself. “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” –I Peter 5:8, NRSV.

Evil Will Find a Way

Athens is a cosmopolitan city of over five million people. About a million and a half of its inhabitants are foreigners. I met one at a café while we were there. He was a French tour guide, who spoke perfect English. Once he established my nationality, the Frenchman immediately criticized American gun laws. The Virginia Tech shootings were all over CNN, and the European bureau constantly criticized our Second Amendment and gun-happy culture. Indeed, when “Jean” (not his real name) and his wife heard I was from Texas, they made quick-draw motions with their hands to demonstrate to me that they understood all about Texas.
I politely informed them that none of the policemen I knew, one of whom was my son-in-law, had ever had to shoot anyone in the line of duty. They were not convinced, even when I pointed out how shootings sometimes happen in countries with the strictest of gun laws, such as Scotland, when a gunman killed several small children in a day care center in 1997.
Not willing to give ground to a Frenchman, I shared how I had been in Oklahoma City when Timothy McVeigh set off his truck bomb, and how I had interviewed many of the victims when they arrived at the hospital. “Evil will find a way,” I insisted. This madman killed 32 people with a handgun. These other madmen mixed harmless fertilizer and diesel fuel into a bomb which killed 168 people, including 19 small children.
No one likes to think of children being hurt or killed. It’s no easier when they are late adolescents, looking forward to bright futures. I’m shocked and horrified at the tragedy. “It’s a travesty against humanity,” insisted the Frenchman. I agree. Unfortunately, evil flourishes in our modern world. And, it will find a way to wreak death and destruction upon the innocent.
In retrospect, it has always been this way, although the scale of destruction seems to increase with the years. Jesus was likewise questioned about events that occurred in his day: “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." --Luke 13:1-5.
We will pass laws and establish procedures to try and keep our kids safer while they are in school or university. But history says we won’t be able to thwart evil forever. It will find a way. Because that is the nature of life, Christ warns us to repent, and always keep ourselves in a state of watchful readiness, because we just never know. That’s life. And death, as it seems.