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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Thoughts on Aurora killings

In shock.  Bewildered.  "How could someone do this?"  This is a sampling of reactions to the theater massacre.  

Control assault guns or handguns.  Better education.  Better psychological evaluation of grad students.  Security at theaters.  This is a sampling of "this is what we should do" to make sure this doesn't happen again.

It will.  It's going to happen again.

Maybe not in the same way, maybe with fewer casualties, maybe at a different venue.  Some things may make it less likely, but BAD STUFF WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.  (We know that from our Bibles and the theology it contains.  Yes, everything's about theology.)

Many think that a person like James Holmes is an aberration, an example of someone who inexplicably lost it.   After all, people don't normally go postal on complete strangers.  

James is not an aberration.  He's depraved just like every last one of us is.  His default engine is sin, not righteousness; he's more likely to be bad than good.  It's in his DNA, it's in mine, it's in yours.  True, most depraved people don't open fire in a crowded theater.  But given a reason to, we have the potential.  Most don't act out on unhinged thinking thanks to other desires that are stronger: I want people to like me, I want to stay out of jail, I want to stay with my family, etc.

Wickedness in the world should not surprise Bible-reading Christians (who find the church a pleasant and different circle).  Nor should they rule out mercy towards a killer with the same DNA as they have.

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