Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV) 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Psalm 51:5 (ESV) 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Matthew 15:19 (ESV) 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. (also: Romans 3:9-23)
Proverbs 28:26 (ESV) 26 Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.
It is always a nightmare to hear of another school mass murder. Even though they may be infrequent, you cannot help but feel there are just too many. It sickens the heart. You realize you cannot know or understand the pain that has been inflicted upon the families of the victims that have perished or were injured. All kind of questions surface from your heart as you try to wrap your mind around what type of person could do this? Were did such evil come from? How do we stop this insanity?
And while we try to digest this latest horrific school mass murder we find that there are others who live in unabated darkness looking to carry similar acts of evil.
Yesterday, the Everett Herald reported; “A would-be school shooter in Everett bought inert grenades, hid a military-style rifle in a guitar case and carried out an armed robbery to fund an elaborate plot to kill his classmates…”
“I’m preparing myself for the school shooting,” he had written in the journal. “I can’t wait. My aim has gotten much more accurate … I can’t wait to walk into that class and blow all those (expletives) away.” (The Everett Herald, 2/15/18)
If it hadn’t been for a courageous grandmother, Everett might have been looking at a similar tragedy. This grandmother recognized evil exists and took hard, difficult steps to stop it from happening.
And as I write this article a Community College in the Seattle area is on lock-down with a report of an active shooter on campus.
But, how do we stop what seems to be a societal trend to such violence? For many of us who are older, we can remember when such violence was unheard of and neighborhoods were safe places, schools were places where children learned principles of life that honored life and restrained evil. What happened?
The answer to that question is multifaceted and complex. But at the root of the question, the answer is that we have allowed evil to flourish by denying its existence. Evil exists, and it exists not in things but in the heart of man (Jeremiah 17:9). When man is left to his own devices, evil will always be the outcome (Romans 3:9-23). Man is fallen and his heart is in rebellion toward God (Romans 3:9-12) and he is a slave to sin (John 8:34; Roman 6:16-20; Titus 3:3). You can’t limit evil by limiting the perceived instruments of evil. The instruments, in and of themselves, are not evil, man is. For instance, a crowbar used to break into a home is not evil. It is the thief using it that is evil. The same can be said for guns. Evil is always personified in the hearts of men (James 4:1). Five thousand years of human history has only hallmarked the destructive nature of fallen man.
Hence, evil must be restrained. It is restrained by the miraculous work of regeneration of men through the Gospel (John 1:13, 3:3-8; Romans 8:30), the nuclear family (Ephesians 6:1-4), the spiritual influence of the Church (1 Timothy 3:15), and civil law (Romans 13:1-7;1 Peter 2:13).
Positive human potential can only be achieved when evil is restrained in the hearts of men. And that can only happen when we face the fact that man is fallen and bent toward evil and we support the four pillars of restraint mentioned above.
Even in what we perceived in days long past, of a tranquil society, evil was present. But the institutions of restraint understood evil and while evil existed, it was not as commonplace as it is today. It was then when we understood evil exists and it exists in the hearts of men.
-Michael Holtzinger
Just a footnote: Evil exists… until Jesus comes:
Romans 8:18-24 (NKJV) 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. 24 For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?