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Cho Seung-Hui Once again we watch in horror as another shooting has occurred at a school. In some ways this was different and in some ways the same. Young people were shot and killed and parents received phone calls telling them their child is now dead. A young man, Cho Seung-Hui, decided to randomly kill people his own age and then take his own life. I wish I had all the answers and knew how to stop events like this from happening, but I don’t. People are already pointing their fingers at school authorities and blaming them for not doing a better job in protecting the students. Gun control advocates are using this to say we need to have stricter laws. Despite all the security measures at schools, airports, and other public buildings you can not stop a "crazy person" from doing harm to others. Keep this in mind; bad things happen for different reasons. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin entered the world. "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5.12). In one sense we all suffer due to Adam’s sin, because we all experience physical death. The tree of life was removed from man and we all grow old, get sick, and die. In another sense we all die spiritually because we sin against God. The wages of sin is death, Romans 6.23a. Bad things happen because of time and chance. Eccl 9: 11 I returned and saw under the sun that--The race is not to the swift, Nor the battle to the strong, Nor bread to the wise, Nor riches to men of understanding, Nor favor to men of skill; But time and chance happen to them all. 12 For man also does not know his time: Like fish taken in a cruel net, Like birds caught in a snare, So the sons of men are snared in an evil time, When it falls suddenly upon them. Accidents do happen and people die. I can hear parents ask the question today, "Why my child?" Apparently the gun man decided to just start shooting at random. In one classroom over half the students were killed, others were shot but lived, and a few were not physically harmed at all. In essence those young people died because they had a nine o’clock class at Norris Hall on the campus of Virginia Tech. The gunman could just have easily chosen a different class building, a different time, or different classrooms, but he chose that building, that time, and those rooms. Bad things happen because of temptation and sin. James 1 describes the way sin works. "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." (James 1.14). It is at times like this we can see the correlation between sin and death and how ugly sin really is. Who sinned? The gunman sinned against God and his fellow man. Just like Cain who killed his brother because his works were evil, so this man killed because he was evil, 1 John 3.12. "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3.14). Finally, there will be some that will say "society is to blame" for what happened. While our society has a lot of problems, it is the individual that is responsible. Eve could not blame Satan for her eating the forbidden fruit. Adam could not blame Eve of God for his sin, he knew what he was doing and did it anyway. As James says, each one is enticed when he gives in to his own desires. We can not blame God, our society, or our parents when we sin. We are accountable for the decisions we make. Life is short and uncertain. I am sure the students at Virginia Tech were looking forward to another day and getting closer to summer and/or graduating. Thirty three will see no more sun shines or starry nights. Their souls will now await the Day of Judgment. We still have time to obey God and prepare for eternity. D.T. |