Making Sense of the Senseless
What are we to think as Christ followers of the recent shootings at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend? I’ve listened to and read many responses that center on the therapeutic and sociological. But the deeper and more fundamental issues, in my opinion, are theological. What does God say that might bring some sense to this senseless tragedy?
I don’t want to engage the many underlying issues surrounding this event. Here instead are some truths all believers can agree on to keep us going:
Grieve along with our community at the loss of these people at Silver Rail.
Romans 12:15 says “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” We’re not above the everyday human emotions we all feel. Go ahead and cry at the loss of life, for the parents and families who will never see their loved ones again. Put your arm around a neighbor who also feels this tragedy deeply. I know I slept fitfully last Thursday night thinking of what happened.
Jesus is our example. He values children for their childlike faith (Matthew 18:1-6). He also wept at the loss of his friend Lazarus in John 11:35. He weeps for the city of Bend as we bear this burden together. Of all people, Christians should understand the intrinsic value of human life as God created us and the loss we feel when it is taken away.
Realize that this tragedy highlights the reality of evil in our world.
Again, of all people, Christians should understand the reality and effects of evil in our world. There’s something fundamentally wrong. Sin and evil affects everything from our relationship with God, with others, and with the creation (Ecc.7:20; Matt.18:15-20; Rom.8:18-25).
G.K. Chesterton, in Orthodoxy, wrote: “Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.” Like a virus, sin has infected everything in our world. Christians should always be saddened by its effects but never surprised when it occurs.
God is absolutely sovereign
God’s sovereign rule (Isaiah 46:9-10) over our world doesn’t mean an impersonal determinism that obliterates human choices. Instead, God’s sovereignty somehow incorporates our choices, both good and evil. These choices never catch him by surprise (Ps.139:1-6). His providence (God’s active sovereignty) works everything for his good and his glory (Eph.1:11; Rom.8:28).
Sarah Edwards, wife of 18th century pastor, theologian, and philosopher Jonathan Edwards, wrote this letter to her daughter Esther when Jonathan died from the effects of a smallpox vaccination in March 1758:
My Very Dear Child,
What shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands on our mouths! The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness, that we had him so long. But my God lives; and he has my heart. O what a legacy my husband, and your father, has left us! We are all given to God, and there I am, and love to be. Your ever affectionate mother,
Sarah Edwards.
This is a severe mercy. Many Christians would find this trust in a sovereign God hard to swallow. But if our God is not sovereign, he is not God.
See this crisis as an opportunity for witness
Tactfully, strategically, a crisis like the shooting at Silver Rail Elementary can turn into conversations about ultimate things like one’s relationship with God. Ask ourselves if we can guide these interactions to Jesus Christ who suffered the ultimate death by taking on himself the sins of the world. Not only does he grieve with us, he died for us. He also rose from the dead securing the ultimate demise of sin and evil.
These conversations can be hard, but they can happen.
I have no skin in the game in writing this article. I do have school-age grandchildren whom I now worry about their safety. Though the Silver Rail Elementary shooting hasn’t affected me directly, but it has touched me personally. I have friends and neighbors who feel they must worry about their child’s safety. They wonder why these things happen. The answers we can supply must not be communicated smugly. Like a velvet-covered brick, let’s speak the truth in love.
Last Friday, Robin and I went for a bike ride in our neighborhood on a beautiful fall evening. Because both school and school activities were cancelled, families seemed to be taking advantage of the weather. Children were playing in the parks, dads were riding bikes with their kids, young families seemed to be hanging out together more than usual.
It was as if our community felt the preciousness of relationships even if it’s for a short while. They felt the need to hug their children even more.
And that’s a good thing.
May God’s people especially exemplify what Robin and I saw and felt Friday evening. May our rock-ribbed faith founded on the truth of God be made flesh in our city. Only then can we make some sense of senseless tragedies.