Crime and Voilence

It was a “Dark Night” in Aurora

It was a “dark night” when a heavily armed man entered a movie theater in suburban Denver early Friday and opened fire, killing at least 12 people and injuring 58 others. Mayhem, weeping and mourning followed.

The incident, which took place, about 12:30 a.m. at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colo., occurred during midnight screenings of the new Batman film “The Dark Knight Rises.” The shooter has been identified as James Holmes.

“Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalm 1).

What’s wrong with the world?

As the world tries to make sense of the tragedy in Colorado, many people are asking, “Why did this all too familiar drama that has terrorized places such as Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson, Arizona and Fort Hood, happened in Aurora?” This quiet suburb neighborhood is one of the most unlikely places one would expect a massacre. Nevertheless, evil has no discretion. It could spring up anywhere.

For answers, authorities turned to experts of all sorts for their theories on what kind of person would slaughter innocent strangers and then calmly surrender to the police. But so far nobody has uncovered anything in the shooter’s background that would suggest he was capable of committing such a heinous act.

Still, the killing of innocent people is not an uncommon occurrence. This horrible, despicable act happens all over the world, on an almost daily basis. Which leaves one to wonder. “What’s wrong with the world?” The answer to this question can only be found in the Word of God.

To help me explain, here is a sermon given in Charlotte by Rev. Billy Graham in 1958. Many of us were not born then, but this message is relent now just as it was relevant then.