Faith

Where was God in Aurora Massacre?

It’s been one week since the Aurora theater massacre, and people are still searching for answers. Some are even asking,” Where was God in Aurora massacre?” CNN asked the question on twitter. The following is some of the responses. What do you think?

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

(CNN) – Where was God in Aurora?

It’s a fresh take on an age-old question: Why does God allow suffering, natural disasters or – if you believe in it – evil?

We put the question to Twitter on Tuesday and got some starkly different responses.

“In short, God was in complete control, exercising His will,” wrote @PastorRileyF, who leads a church in Bethune, Colorado.

That riled @TheTrivia Jockey, who tweeted, “If that was God’s will, God is definitely not deserving of my worship.”

Watch: Survivor of massacre says he forgives gunman

@trentpayne also took issue with the Colorado pastor: “I’m going to respectfully disagree with you Pastor. God gives free will to man, but it wasn’t his will that they die.”

The back-and-forth provoked other believers to chime in on the theological issue of God’s sovereignty vs. human free will, with many Christians seeking to explain how a sovereign God could preside over seemingly senseless bloodshed.

“It is not God’s will or want that people died in Aurora,” wrote @GospelBluesman20m. “God allowed man’s inhumanity to man, rather than intervene.”

The conversation and debate continued in the comments section of this post, with some insinuating that the massacre might be a kind of divine punishment, or at lease divine neglect:

Lenny
We as a country have been telling God to go away. We told him to get off our currency, get out of our schools, get out of our Pledge of Allegiance, take your Ten Commandments out of our courthouses, get those Bibles out of hotels and no graduation ceremonies in our churches. How can we expect God to give us his blessing and his protection if we demand that he leave us alone?

Jesse R
Liberals have made it impossible for God to be anywhere during the upbringing of a child. Can’t have any religious connotations in schools, libraries, government offices, etc., etc. Young men (and women) are growing up with no real sense of right and wrong. … We no longer have the right of religion, but rather the right from religion. Parents no longer have the ability to discipline their children. We are always looking for the excuses … violent video games and movies, bad teachers and schools … when we should be looking in the mirror. We as a society are the reasons these massacres happen. We have allowed our children to become social misfits that lead to the kind of carnage we have seen on several occasions since religion and God disappeared from what the Founding Fathers once said was a necessity of a successful democracy … faith.

Lots of readers used religious takes on the shooting to challenge the whole idea of God:

Who invited me?
How do you know the people that were killed didn’t go to hell?, and how exactly does any of this show there is a reason? Reason is obviously something that you have replaced with belief, and you threw out logic with it.

Kyle
“God doesn’t exist, so he wasn’t anywhere. Get over it. A man was evil, and he was evil because he was crazy.

Plenty of others said the shooting was the devil’s work:

Harleyxx
Evil things like this happen because Satan is the god of this world … for the time being. God will undo all the damage caused by Satan’s rebellion and man’s disobedience when the time is right. In the meantime we all experience trials and tribulation due to living in an ungodly world. That is why Jesus taught his followers the Lord’s Prayer … ‘to pray for God’s kingdom to come.’

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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).

The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong

David and Goliath, a colour lithograph by Osma...

David and Goliath, a colour lithograph by Osmar Schindler (c. 1888) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand” (1 Samuel 17:45-47).

Those are the words of David, a shepherd boy staring in the eyes of Goliath, the mighty Philistine. Goliath was a strong and powerful member of the Philistine army that was lining up to do battle with King Saul‘s army.

Cocky and bubbling with confidence, Goliath shouted to the ranks of the Israeli army and requested a duel. “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you, not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. However, if I prevail against him and kill him, there after you shall be our servants and serve us.” And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and extremely afraid” (1 Samuel 17:8-11).

But God had a plan for Goliath and his army. He chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; likewise, He chose the weak things of the world to confound the things which are strong. He would use David to destroy Goliath.

The mighty Goliath was furious when David appeared before him. He disdained David for he was just a youth who had kept  his father’s sheep. “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” He asked David. “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.” He exclaimed. Nevertheless, all that cheap talk, never ruffle David. Just like Daniel in the lion’s den, He was calm cool and collected.

The bloodthirsty Goliath was confident he would tear David to pieces. He was wrong. The battle was not David’s. It was the Lord’s. David did not rely on his strength. He knew he was no match for Goliath. However, with God fighting the battle for him, victory was assured. David slew Goliath with a sling and a stone.

Like David and Daniel and so many others in the Old and New Testament, victory is guaranteed for you and I my friends; but only if we allow God to fight our battles for us.

God is still moving

Our Lord Jesus Christ

Our Lord Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are a thousand reasons why you should trust God with all your heart. But, just knowing that God sent His only son to the cross to die for you, is reason enough. However, many people do not trust or even think there is a God. Despite all the compelling and convincing evidence, they reluctantly decline to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.

Here is an audio clip that has been around since I was a kid. I hope you will find touching and convincing as I have.

Have you been changed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Every person who has accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior must go through a transformation process. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” It is patently clear that the old man cannot be made new unless he goes through a transformation process. And it seems watery baptism is part of that process.

Nevertheless, some will argue that watery baptism is just a symbol that bears no remarkable significance, if any at all. However, I beg to differ; Scripture proves that watery baptism is a significant piece in the transformation process. And while I would hasten to admit that it is not an agent of change, it is definitely an act that the changed used to announce to the world that they have been transformed, and have decided to follow Jesus for the rest of their lives. Even Jesus was baptized.

English: Baptism of Christ

English: Baptism of Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to Matthew 3:13-15: “Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” However, Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”Then he allowed Him.”

Furthermore, in what is known as Jesus’ great commission, He declared the following: “Go; therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

“Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

Jesus Christ brings you something that is far greater than intelligence, reformation, or alteration. The power of the gospel of Jesus Christ will transform.

When you received Christ, you did not receive a better life, but a new life.

You did not receive new ideas, but a new way of thinking.

You did not receive new opportunities to improve yourself, but a new kingdom to rule over you.

You did not receive better tips on how to handle your problems, but a new master who is able to manage your whole life.

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1-2).