You Shall Not Kill!
The recent tragic and shocking killings at Virginia Tech emphasize again the
failing fabric of our society. While many will speak out and point fingers
at guns, drugs, or how the killer was treated as a child or by a lover, the
simple fact remains that he knew what he was doing. He went to a college
school building, apparently locked doors behind him, carried enough
ammunition to murder scores of people, then ruthlessly, and apparently
mercilessly, killed dozens.
Of course you and I believe that what was done was wrong. But why was it
wrong? In institutions of higher learning, in our public schools, and even
in many churches, students are told there are no absolutes like "you shall
not kill", "you shall not commit adultery", and "you shall not steal."
Instead it is explained that since we are evolved animals, and society says
some of these things are wrong, we should not do them. The day of the
Virginia Tech killings was also Holocaust Remembrance Day! The German
society of the late 1930's and early 1940's had "evolved" to the point of
believing there were exceptions to society's rules about killing. In that
case the Jews were targeted for extermination. Societal "absolutes" change
with society and culture.
The only way to truly curtail events like the Holocaust, Columbine, or
Virginia Tech is to make people aware that they are responsible to an
Almighty God who has stated absolutes like those found in the Ten
Commandments of Exodus 20. If society believes that it answers only to
itself the outcome is catastrophe. When the people of Israel "did what was
right in (their) own eyes" (Judges 17:6) the nation slid into darkness and
servitude to its enemies. It is past time for the followers of Christ to
point again to God's absolutes and the ultimate absolute of salvation by
grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Circuit 'Riter, Michael Ullrich
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