The Virginia Tech Massacre

A few days ago, a disgruntled student walked through the Virigina Tech campus and slaughtered some thirty-odd students, professors, and staff. In the interests of selling advertising, media corporations sent armies of cameramen and reporters to the scene to document the carnage. This viewpoint may seem highly skeptical but I don't think it is necessarily wrong. I think this event should be covered, but not continuously for 3 days, which will turn into 3 weeks of heavy coverage overall. For all the rhetoric about anchors' hearts and prayers being with the families of the victims, they certainly aren't letting the VA Tech massacre victims grieve.

I don't want to seem insenstive to this terrible tragedy. But the only reason that people are so caught up in this event, which really has nothing to do with them, is that they routinely fail to see the gruesome results of the fall in everyday life. Perhaps that is part of the reason this crisis occurred. The death toll at Virginia Tech proves nothing that was not true last week, or the week before that. And for all of the statements about never forgetting, well, those are lies. I wonder how many people think about September 11th, or Pearl Harbor, or the Holocaust, or whatever, on a daily, weekly, or even yearly basis. I'm not saying that it's unimportant to remember, I'm just saying that most won't.

I don't want to commodify this massacre into a springboard for Christianity, but it is frustrating when news anchors ask people where God was at the time of this tragedy. For some reason, the talking heads never give a good answer (probably because they're not Tim Keller, or Alvin Plantinga) that upholds true Christian doctrine. Other times they give answers that make it seem like God is in mourning over the whole event. I've never seen a talking head reverend point to the Cross and say "That's where God is."

It's that problem of evil question all over again. How can a good and omnipotent God allow 33 students to pointlessly lose their lives, or for 3,000 to perish in a terrorist attack, or for 7 million to be systematically slaughtered in death camps across Europe?

The news anchors that dare to ask these questions don't understand that they're sitting in God's lap to slap him in the face, as Cornelius van Til made the point. I wonder how many of them are atheists. Atheists like to beat up Christians with the problem of evil. But Christians should beat up atheists with the problem of good. Christianity makes a distinction between the two, and founds this disctintion on the nature of God and his Truth revealed in his Word. But atheists have nothing to go on. "Morality" at its best is founded on evolution, which is by definition random. Even if morality comes from evolution, it is still arbitrary and pointless. In fact, it might be the next stage in evolution to give ethics a pass altogether. If true, evolution is a law, not a lawgiver. And even if morality is based on something like a feeling, as Ravi Zacharias points out, in some cultures they love their neighbors and in some they love to eat them. Their certainly must be more to morality than the presence or lack of a rumble in the belly if it is to mean anything.

And that's why Christians truly call this event evil. They see the goodness of God and see that this is something antithetical to his lovingkindness. But even if Christians are the only people who can really define good and evil, the question remains. Why did this happen? Where was God?

And this is why Christianity must be taken not only for its ethics, but also for its Truth about God. It seems trite to say that "his ways are not our ways." Certainly there is no healing in that verse. It seems like a mockery of tragedy. But Scripture isn't just a story, it is a history of redemption, and the events that it records are real. Where was God? God was watching his Son die on the Cross. Jesus is aware of the suffering humans inflict upon themselves; he suffered for even that. And after atoning for sin, he rose and ascended, promising to return one day to bring the kingdom in full, where tragedy will only be spoken of in the past tense.

It is foolish to put hope in gun control laws, an increased police presence, counselling, or community building. These things are all good and perhaps even necessary, but they will only address symptoms of human misery and not the causes. Christ addresses our root evil and can give us a taste of goodness even in our own lives. But we cannot hope in our fallen bodies and minds. Christ promises to return and bring people into glory. It is in this promise that we should hope, not in the promises of politicians. And it is from this truth and what it means for us today that we should start to address the social issues of our day, and trust in God's Word instead of political or media rhetoric. They can't do anything for Virginia Tech. The returning Christ can.