3 Truths from the Las Vegas Mass Shooting: Evil and Ideology

(Photo Credit - ABC News)

I know I am not the only one who has this deep sense of how broken the world is.

Hurricanes in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico.
Earthquakes in Mexico.
And now this mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Not to mention the daily tragedies around the planet - starvation, sex trafficking, lack of clean water, and the list goes on.

This post is not going to be about gun control vs. the 2nd Amendment (though a real discussion on from these two sides would be beneficial.  Notice I used the notion of a 'real discussion').

This post is to point out three truths we can learn from the Las Vegas  shooting - deeper, soul-level, theological truths.


1. Evil exists.  When you hear about this kind of carnage, there is - for almost everyone I know - a visceral reaction.  You don't have to be personally connected to someone who was involved to feel this reaction, and the reason is that we know at a deep and reality-connected level that this was evil.

Hear me now...
Not just wrong - though it is clearly that.
Not just sad - though it is clearly that as well.
Not just a case of mental illness - though this may be true as well.
Not a case that can be (possibly) simplified down to the notion of 'radicalization' - though it may be that in part.

This was evil.  It had echoes of when President George W. Bush called the 9/11 attacks by the same name - evil.

There was and is a darkness that emanates from incidents like this.
The arbitrary nature of the killing.
The planning that this took.
The willingness for the shooter to take his own life at the end of his killing spree.
The wickedness of the deadly intrusion on a peaceful music festival.
This was and is evil.

As I pondered this, I found a short video that explains some of my thinking on this topic of evil:

The second truth I'll share is that this is like and unlike other mass shootings.  Some have political and religious motivations.  This one may - we are not yet sure.

But when I hear that this mass shooting might not be 'ideologically driven', I have to disagree.

2. All of life is ideologically driven.  All of it.  For all of us.

Ideology doesn't have to be codified to count as ideology.  An ideology is your doctrine or belief that guides you.  If it is religious, it is a religious ideology, and if it is political then it is a political ideology.  But narcissism and selfishness and self-promotion and sexual fulfillment and hedonism are all ideologies just as much.

This man had an ideology that led to his actions.
He may have been aware of his ideology or not, but it was there none the less.
Something he thought and believed about himself and others drove his actions.

Our ideologies are rooted deep inside of us.  Jesus said that out of the heart words come.  Solomon told us that we should guard our hearts for they are the well-spring of life.  We all live out our ideologies.

My last thought I willingly admit is speculation, but I want to at least share it to offer us some food for thought.

3. Is Friedrich Nietzsche's Ubermensch at the heart of this shooting?  Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche rejected social norms as weak and promoted the idea of the super-man, the man who was willing to use power and strength and force to accomplish what he desired.  I have to wonder about this shooter (as I also wonder about the Columbine, Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, and the Newtown, Connecticut shooters): was this shooting about this man asserting power and domination because our social fabric, for these kinds of individuals, became so weak and pointless that all that was left was to showcase prowess by portraying the human version of 'survival of the fittest'?  Even the suicide at the end of the shooting spree - I have heard psychologists say that when murders carry out this final step it is because they often desire to continue to control their own destiny and that it is sometimes a final show of defiance, that even in death 'I am still my own man.'

(Photo Credit: PopSugar.com)

More to come on this topic.  In the meantime we pray and think deeply because life can be filled with great sadness.

- tC

Answering The Tough Questions Videos

Hello all,
Just a short post here to let you know that the Answering The Tough Questions series I taught this past fall is all available on-line.  Below you will find all the YouTube videos as we looked into topics like pain and suffering, the reliability of the Bible, homosexuality, trangenderism, and more.  If these are a helpful resource feel free to view and share them.

Best,
- tC

Class 1: Answering Skeptics Questions and Introduction



Class 2: Is The Bible Reliable?  Can I Trust The Bible?



Class 3: God's View on Sex - Sex and Sexuality, Part 1



Class 4: God's View on Sex - Sex and Sexuality, Part 2



Class 5: Are People Born Gay?



Class 6: Christianity and Politics: How Should I Vote?



Class 7: Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?



Class 8: Transgenderism



Class 9: Is Jesus The Only Way To Heaven?



Class 10: The Crusades, Dinosaurs, Back-Sliding

Dealing With Trials: Eternity Changes Everything

(Photo by antibodyphoto - FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

If you look into Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, you will see his assertion (which makes sense) that people have needs, and as you move up his pyramid of needs, the 'needs' start moving toward 'wants'.   The most basic needs are physiological - food, shelter, clothing, heat, etc.  Makes sense, right?  If I can't feed myself I'm likely to die, and therefore thinking a deeper issues of self-esteem and self-actualization don't really matter until my more basic needs are met.

Let's translate this to the place where I live - in the United States of America, in the seacoast of New Hampshire.  In my current location, the most basic needs are just assumed.  The vast majority of people in my area don't spent a lot of time thinking about if they will have food, clothing, and shelter tonight (yes some do - but proportionally very few).  How does this connect to dealing with trials? Well unfortunately, having our core needs met often makes eternity and Heaven fade from our minds.  And yet if we are able to gain an eternal perspective, all of our trials will change.

Consider the words of the Apostle Paul when he says, "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Corinthians 4:17).  This coming from the man who was beaten, stoned, left for dead, shipwrecked and more.  But his perspective is this - today's trials and tomorrow's trials are a blip on the radar compared to what Heaven has for me.  It doesn't make the pain go away, but it does frame all of the trials through which we suffer.

I have a book in my office library called Whatever Happened To Heaven?  The title says it all - we, as American Christians, by-and-large have lost a solid and continual grasp on eternity.  We tend to want our daily trials to go away, but we often fail to think beyond the 'oh good - that trial is over' to the fact that 'trials just remind me that I have an inheritance in eternity with Christ waiting for me'
(1 Peter 1:4).

If I have faith in Christ and am redeemed by Him, all trials are momentary.  Even if I were to suffer all my life, it is still momentary compared to eternity.  Theologian R.C. Sproul once stated it this way - If I receive forgiveness of my sins and eternal life in Christ, and then for the rest of my earthly life I suffer terribly, I still make out like a bandit.

Trials become a totally different experience when they are re-framed in light of eternity.

- tC