2:50 pm- cable news, facebook, and the internet lit up with stories about the Boston Marathon bombing. All last night they ran stories about the incident.
I turned off the TV.
It's not that I don't care. Anytime there is something like this, I feel so strongly for the victims and their families, and I mourn the that the evil in this world rears its ugly head over and over again.
It's just that I'm tired. I'm tired of stories like this. And that scares me.
I think the thing that scared me the most was my initial reaction to the news. It wasn't horror. It wasn't even shock. I literally said, "Here we go again." And that shook me to my core. How can an act of evil like this make me say little more than "ho hum?" Has all empathy, caring, shock at evil things, been totally pushed out of my life? Have I become so desensitized to violence like this that I have come to accept it as normal?
I think so. And that's not a good thing.
When speaking of the last days- the end times- Jesus said in Matthew 24:12, "Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."
I think I am seeing my love grow cold. And I'm not okay with it. The Bible calls me to stand firm to the end. I think this is the call of God in this day and age to His church- continue to stand firm. Do not accept these things as okay or normal. Don't let your love grow cold or allow your hearts to harden. That is happening to people all around us.
People are growing cynical, critical, and harsh with each other. People are trusting less and less, loving less and less, empathizing less and less. It's not so much the cruelty; it's the indifference. The indifference that people show now to anything and everything. It's like the joy of living is being sucked dry from humanity.
Things like this bombing cause far more than destruction and loss of life. They cause indifference. They cause love to grow cold, trust to fade, joy to diminish, and peace to leave. When these things are gone, they are replaced by bitterness, cynicism, indifference, worry, and stress.
This is not how I choose to live my life.
I also turned off the TV because I'm tired of the commentary. I'm tired of hearing from the talking heads spouting their latest man-made theories and solutions. I didn't want to see the latest trendiest atheist on screen blathering at the mouth over things like this disproving the existence of God, nor did I want to see the Westboro psychos promising a protest of the funerals, nor did I want to hear from politicians about the need for increased surveillance and registries and more laws.
Do you know why I didn't want to hear it?
Because not one of them, not one of them, would try to solve the real problem. The real problem is that there is evil in the world. There is evil in the world, and no one wants to admit it. No one wants to accept it. No one wants to deal with it.
We actually think we can legislate evil out of the hearts of people.
We think we can actually pass the right law, or monitor enough people, or deny people access to enough things, that we won't see things like this anymore.
The problem is that there is no fear of God in the people that commit these kinds of atrocities. People who have the fear of God within them don't destroy His creation. They don't kill His children. They don't wish evil upon those He loves. But no politician or TV news anchor will ever say this.
We will keep hearing man-made solutions that don't work. We will keep hearing more and more prattle about the need for laws and policies and regulations, because in the secular mind, that's all there is. There will be no talk of repentance and turning to God, and in turn allowing Him to heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). We're willing to do everything except what will solve the problem.
That's why I turned off the TV. I'm so sick of people solving the wrong problem.
With the TV off and with my commitment to not follow this news story anymore, I now turn to the problem within me of my love growing cold. I will not allow it to happen. I will be one of the ones that stands firm to the end. I invite you to join me.
I turned off the TV.
It's not that I don't care. Anytime there is something like this, I feel so strongly for the victims and their families, and I mourn the that the evil in this world rears its ugly head over and over again.
It's just that I'm tired. I'm tired of stories like this. And that scares me.
I think the thing that scared me the most was my initial reaction to the news. It wasn't horror. It wasn't even shock. I literally said, "Here we go again." And that shook me to my core. How can an act of evil like this make me say little more than "ho hum?" Has all empathy, caring, shock at evil things, been totally pushed out of my life? Have I become so desensitized to violence like this that I have come to accept it as normal?
I think so. And that's not a good thing.
When speaking of the last days- the end times- Jesus said in Matthew 24:12, "Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."
I think I am seeing my love grow cold. And I'm not okay with it. The Bible calls me to stand firm to the end. I think this is the call of God in this day and age to His church- continue to stand firm. Do not accept these things as okay or normal. Don't let your love grow cold or allow your hearts to harden. That is happening to people all around us.
People are growing cynical, critical, and harsh with each other. People are trusting less and less, loving less and less, empathizing less and less. It's not so much the cruelty; it's the indifference. The indifference that people show now to anything and everything. It's like the joy of living is being sucked dry from humanity.
Things like this bombing cause far more than destruction and loss of life. They cause indifference. They cause love to grow cold, trust to fade, joy to diminish, and peace to leave. When these things are gone, they are replaced by bitterness, cynicism, indifference, worry, and stress.
This is not how I choose to live my life.
I also turned off the TV because I'm tired of the commentary. I'm tired of hearing from the talking heads spouting their latest man-made theories and solutions. I didn't want to see the latest trendiest atheist on screen blathering at the mouth over things like this disproving the existence of God, nor did I want to see the Westboro psychos promising a protest of the funerals, nor did I want to hear from politicians about the need for increased surveillance and registries and more laws.
Do you know why I didn't want to hear it?
Because not one of them, not one of them, would try to solve the real problem. The real problem is that there is evil in the world. There is evil in the world, and no one wants to admit it. No one wants to accept it. No one wants to deal with it.
We actually think we can legislate evil out of the hearts of people.
We think we can actually pass the right law, or monitor enough people, or deny people access to enough things, that we won't see things like this anymore.
The problem is that there is no fear of God in the people that commit these kinds of atrocities. People who have the fear of God within them don't destroy His creation. They don't kill His children. They don't wish evil upon those He loves. But no politician or TV news anchor will ever say this.
We will keep hearing man-made solutions that don't work. We will keep hearing more and more prattle about the need for laws and policies and regulations, because in the secular mind, that's all there is. There will be no talk of repentance and turning to God, and in turn allowing Him to heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14). We're willing to do everything except what will solve the problem.
That's why I turned off the TV. I'm so sick of people solving the wrong problem.
With the TV off and with my commitment to not follow this news story anymore, I now turn to the problem within me of my love growing cold. I will not allow it to happen. I will be one of the ones that stands firm to the end. I invite you to join me.
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