Today has been a particularly sad day because of the killings of at least 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. It is not known exactly how many children were victims but this report says the number may be as high as 18.
There will be the usual political responses to this tragedy and it will be the old tired argument about gun control. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess what the President and other officials will say in the wake of such carnage. But make no mistake about it, this sad episode in human behavior is not about guns but about our hearts. The Bible makes a very intuitive observation about the real personality inside all of us.
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:9 New English Translation (NET)
9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?
There you have it, the most intelligent comment about today's tragedy made by an Old Testament prophet centuries ago. The problem was not the availability of guns. Adam Lanza would have committed his crime with a knife, poison or a club if he didn't have a gun. Adam Lanza's problem was not about his relationship with his Mom, or his Dad, or his counselor or any other potential scapegoat. Lanza's problem was his heart. His heart was desperately wicked and the NET Bible says that his heart was "incurably bad". Of course, there will be the many in our culture who say that all of us are basically good but I would have to disagree with that statement. Most of us are not as bad as we could be but the seed of destruction is in all of us and all of us have the potential to do the most heinous crimes. That's right, "all of us".
9 The human mind is more deceitful than anything else.It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?
There you have it, the most intelligent comment about today's tragedy made by an Old Testament prophet centuries ago. The problem was not the availability of guns. Adam Lanza would have committed his crime with a knife, poison or a club if he didn't have a gun. Adam Lanza's problem was not about his relationship with his Mom, or his Dad, or his counselor or any other potential scapegoat. Lanza's problem was his heart. His heart was desperately wicked and the NET Bible says that his heart was "incurably bad". Of course, there will be the many in our culture who say that all of us are basically good but I would have to disagree with that statement. Most of us are not as bad as we could be but the seed of destruction is in all of us and all of us have the potential to do the most heinous crimes. That's right, "all of us".
So if we are incurably bad and desperately wicked what is the remedy? If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know the answer...Jesus. On this sad day I urge you to trust Christ as your Savior. He will erase your sinful slate and give you a new heart and a new future.
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