School Shootings: A Christian Response
When historians in the future list the worst tragedies of our time, what will they mention? Covid? Terrorism? Katrina? Somewhere on that list will probably be school shootings. We have asked the question “Why?” repeatedly in this series. If anything defies our ability to make sense out of human behavior, this crime does.
This is one of those subjects people almost unanimously agree on in one sense and completely divide on in another. They agree that the deaths of innocent people, especially children, is a terrible thing. But they disagree about who is really responsible and what actually causes this atrocity.
This episode challenges us to look deeper than typical mainstream and social media narratives about this lingering problem in society.
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- Scripture: I John 3:12; Ezekiel 18:14; Matthew 15:19
- Will It Survive?
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Transcript
Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you’ve learned with others.
Why would a person take a gun and shoot innocent people– people he’s never even met, even children? Everybody seems to be weighing in on this question, from psychologists to lawmakers to religious leaders. Atheists and believers alike try to figure it out. Lawmakers and law enforcement officials attempt to stop it. Nurses and therapists do what they can to help families heal. But it keeps happening.
For some of us, this is a much different world. Oh, there was killing when we were growing up, but usually there was a reason that made sense on some level. Men got mad at each other and someone ended up dead. Soldiers fought and died in battle. But the kind of random, senseless killing we see today was rare.
What are we to make of this as Christians? Some aspects of this evil are almost impossible for any decent person to fathom, but the basics are clear. The problem today is that few people are talking about them.
There is evil—real evil—in the world. When I say real evil, I mean things that are evil period, without any question or room for discussion. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. It doesn’t matter how anyone feels. There are some things that are objectively wrong regardless of human opinion.
You’re not hearing anyone say it’s right to kill little children. Of course, it’s wrong to kill innocent adults. But there is something especially heinous about murdering a child. And the vast majority of people believe that. People on all sides of debate about right and wrong come together on that part of the issue. They disagree about what caused it. They have different views about who’s to blame. But no one says it is a good thing to walk to a school and shoot children.
But the problem is that most of these people never think about why this is wrong. Is it wrong just because there is a human law against it? Is it wrong merely because we have strong feelings about this act? Do we call it evil only because the majority of people think it is evil? No! It is evil pure and simple. It is evil in a real, absolute sense. It is not evil because human beings say it is evil, and if every human being on the face of the earth said that it is a good thing to murder children, that still wouldn’t make it right.
And that leads us to the question a lot of people don’t want to think about. If human beings don’t decide this matter of right and wrong that we’re talking about, then who does? The answer is obvious. Murder is not just a sin against human beings, it is first and foremost a violation of the law of Almighty God. You see, there are people who say they can’t decide whether they believe in God or not. They say there’s not enough evidence one way or another to decide. If you ask them if God exists, they say no one really knows. But when a tragedy like a school shooting occurs, they voice their opinion and they are clear about it. They say this is wrong. They say that those children didn’t deserve to die. Whether they feel sorry for the perpetrator and blame society for making him what he is, or whether they think the shooter ought to be punished, they are sure about one thing. What happened to the children was just plain wrong.
My experience is that if you ask an atheist or an agnostic why something like this is wrong, they look at you like you’ve lost your mind. “What do you mean why is it wrong? Any sane person knows it is.” They look at everything on a horizontal level. They refuse to think vertically. They don’t want to think about the fact that God is offended when evil like this takes place. If they do, they know they can’t live as an atheist or an agnostic. Either God exists, and there is real evil in the world because he defines it, or there is no God, and nothing is really, absolutely evil— even the killing of little children.
I’m not saying it’s a bad thing that people get upset. They should be. It certainly would be a harsh world if most people were not angry about atrocities like this. So I’m definitely not complaining. But I am saying that it is sad that people have to feel this kind of outrage before they are shocked to their senses. I am saying that they ought to feel righteous indignation about other evils. And I am saying that there is a bigger picture that most people are not thinking about. Evil is real. But so is death. And everyone of us will die. Hebrews 9:27 says it is appointed to men to die once, but after this the judgment.
The problem I am addressing is not recognizing God in times of tragedy. Oh sure, people turn to God when something bad happens. They cry as all of us do. They pray to God. They pray for the families of victims. But the outrage only lasts for a day or two. Then they’re back to their old routine of living a selfish life. They don’t change. They don’t turn to God and give their lives to him in obedient faith. They live as though this life is the only life there is.
When these tragedies occur, people should lend a helping, compassionate hand. They should be angered and outraged. But they also need to think deeper about these questions we are raising. They need to reflect on their own mortality. That’s what Jesus told some Jews in Luke 13. They were telling him about the death of some Galileans, and he told them to look at themselves. He said, “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.“
Some do. They decide to read their Bible. They may become Christians, or, if they have fallen away, they may be restored. But many others make no change except for a temporary pause in their busy life. This is the dimension that needs to be addressed, and that’s why I’m raising these questions. And in regard to most discussions about this awful problem, many who talk so boldly about it fall way short in how they look at it.
The answer to this problem is not to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding citizens. We’re fortunate to live in our country. We have the second amendment that gives us the legal right to bear arms for protection. Many in the world don’t enjoy that right and couldn’t afford one even if it were legal. But supposedly educated people and powerful politicians tell us the answer is to make firearms illegal. Anyone with an ounce of perception can see that they use these tragic killings as an opportunity to push their agenda. But common sense, thousands of years of history and experience show how devious their plans are and how foolish their thinking is. If we take guns away from law – abiding citizens, who will have them? The government and criminals. And if weapons should be taken away from citizens because some abuse them, then what about knives, hammers and even rocks? What about other things that are not considered to be weapons, but are sometimes used as one? Cars and trucks kill people every day – and sometimes drivers use them intentionally to kill people. The hijackers on 9/11 used planes to kill 3000 people. Should we scrap every plane and forget about flying? Medications save lives, but they can and do kill people.
The Bible is very clear about this. Early in the book of Genesis, God said there is a difference between murder and capital punishment. He said that we have the right to kill animals for food in Genesis 9:1-5. But taking a man’s life is different because, unlike animals, we are made in the image of God. Genesis 9:6 says, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.” This is not the first time murder is mentioned in the Bible, but it is the first time the death penalty is specifically recorded in Scripture. And implied by this penalty is the authority of the government to use that punishment. Paul taught this in Romans 13. He said in verse 4 that governments derive their authority from God. He said they bear the sword, and and God gives them the right to use it to execute criminals.
The Bible says that when crime is not punished, it gets worse. Ecclesiastes 8:11 says, “Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.” Notice that he doesn’t just say the evil must be punished. He says that it must be punished speedily or swiftly. You won’t find the law of God in the Old Testament allowing lawbreakers to use the system to delay their punishment. Rulers sometimes failed in their duty to execute justice, but the law of God demanded swift retaliation.
Jesus Himself taught that we have the right to use weapons—even deadly weapons—to defend ourselves. In Luke chapter 22, the night before He was crucified, Jesus talked with his disciples about what they would need after He accomplished His mission. “And He said to them, ‘When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?’ So they said, ‘Nothing.’ Then He said to them, ‘But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no SWORD, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: “And He was numbered with the transgressors.” For the things concerning Me have an end.’ So they said, ‘Lord, look, here are two swords.’ And He said to them, ‘It is enough.’” Jesus is talking about real literal swords. There is absolutely no reason to say that He is using the word sword symbolically. What would that mean anyway? What on earth in this context would a sword possibly “symbolize”? The disciples sure didn’t think He was speaking in some kind of figurative fashion. When Jesus told them they would need a sword, they said that they had with them two swords. They were talking about real swords. Jesus said that was enough for the time being. They would need more later, but at that moment two swords were sufficient.
The fact is, some of the disciples were already bearing arms, and they were doing so with His permission. We know that one of them was Peter because he used it rashly a little while after this. Judas Iscariot led a mob carrying clubs and swords to the garden to arrest Jesus. Peter pulled his sword and cut off the ear of one of them. Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt. 26:52). Remember that Jesus told them a short while before this that if they didn’t have a sword, they were to buy one. He certainly didn’t tell them to buy a sword to keep it as a souvenir. He didn’t mean for them to wear it by their side and never use it. Jesus cannot be telling Peter here that it is wrong to use a sword for self-defense. He wouldn’t contradict what He just said earlier. He is telling Peter that this was not the time or the place for using it. All that happened that night and the day after was a fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament. It was necessary for these things to happen.
Then Jesus warned Peter that those who take the sword will perish or die by the sword. He is not talking about a man, let’s say, who is in his house defending his wife and children from a vicious attacker. Jesus is talking about people who use deadly weapons rashly without thinking about what they’re doing. He is talking about people who use the sword as a way of life indiscriminately. Sometimes there are other, and, better courses of action. But those who live by the sword, die by the sword.
When Jesus told the disciples to buy a sword, they understood the difference between a sword and a pruning hook. They knew that Jesus was not telling them they would need something like a machete to clear small trees. Everyone in those days understood what a sword was and what its purpose was. A sword was used to take life. Of course, some people then used swords for the wrong reason. They murdered innocent people. Jesus knew this and so did the disciples. But Jesus was not against owning a weapon of deadly force just because some people misused them. He didn’t say that using force in self-defense is wrong. He told the disciples to buy a sword! That is equivalent to telling Christians today to use a gun—or, a knife, a stick, a rock or even your feet and fists to defend yourselves and especially your loved ones!
This is the point where some are quick to quote what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:1, Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” That has nothing to do with defending yourself against a brutal attacker. Jesus is talking about being hypocritical in judging others. This is where He talks about having a plank in your eye while you criticize someone for having a speck in his eye (Matt. 7:1-5).
Then there is Matthew 5:39 where Jesus said, “But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” This is what is known as a hyperbole—a deliberate, intentional exaggeration for emphasis. This is common in the Sermon on the Mount. Just a few verses earlier, Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out…And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off” (Matt. 5:29-30). Jesus cannot mean that we are to literally pluck out our physical eye or cut off our physical hand. Why would anyone assume that Jesus means for us to literally turn the other cheek when we know He didn’t mean for us to literally cut our hand off just a few verses before this? Then in Matthew 6, Jesus talks about hypocrites “sounding a trumpet” (Matt. 6:2). Does anyone think He is talking about a literal brass trumpet, or a horn used for the same purpose? He says we are not to let our “left hand know what our right hand “is doing (Matt. 6:2-3). Does anyone today think He means this literally? If these verses are figures, then it shouldn’t be strange that turning the other cheek is a hyperbole.
Jesus’ words in Luke 22:36 about buying a sword give us permission from God to own a sword or a gun to protect ourselves. The Second Amendment recognizes that right. It says that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” But the Second Amendment didn’t GIVE US that right. God did. The Second Amendment merely (and thankfully) acknowledges that right. That is a distinction that Americans—even American Christians—sometimes forget.
Why do things like school shootings occur? Guns are not to blame. It’s the people who misuse them, and getting rid of guns is not the answer. Even if that were possible, criminals would still find a way to kill. They were doing that long before guns were invented. People are to blame, not guns. But that brings on a whole different set of questions and issues.
The typical narrative today is that the shooter is a victim. He or she has been abused, perhaps severely, as a child, and has been bullied and tormented by classmates at school. He or she has traumatic internal struggles with gender identification, severe anger issues, and strong feelings of hopelessness and suicide. When they kill other people, they are lashing out at life itself. And the subtle insinuation is that others are to blame. Society is at fault. The shooter is not just a victim of circumstances; he is a product of his environment.
This pseudo–psychological nonsense has been around for well over 100 years in America. Clarence Darrow, who defended John T. Scopes in the famous evolution trial in Dayton Tennessee in 1925, spoke to the inmates in the Chicago County Jail in 1902: “There is no such thing as a crime as the word is generally understood. I do not believe there is any sort of distinction between the real moral condition of the people in and out of jail. One is just as good as the other. The people here can no more help being here than the people outside can avoid being outside. I do not believe that people are in jail because they deserve to be. They are in jail simply because they cannot avoid it on account of circumstances which are entirely beyond their control and for which they are in no way responsible.” I wonder what he would have said if one of these inmates had murdered his wife or his child? I wonder what he would say about school shootings if he were alive today?
The modern field of psychology is still stuck on the nature or nurture approach to explaining human behavior. Psychologists tell us that people do what they do for one of two reasons or possibly both. One is that they inherit conditions that cause them to act. Homosexuals, some insist, are born that way. They don’t choose their sexual orientation. Drunkards are not to blame for drinking because their genetic makeup decides their path in life. And, violent criminals are the same. They are born with preconditions that cause them to behave violently and they cannot avoid it. The other factor is the one we just mentioned: a person’s environment makes him what he is—his parents and upbringing, childhood experiences, health issues, standard of living, education, community attitudes, cultural expectations and national demands all form his character and behavior. Applied to malicious acts of random, ruthless violence, this nature and nurture approach creates undue sympathy for the shooter and lessens or removes responsibility from him.
It is true that our environment influences us. The way we grow up and the way we are treated or mistreated affects us. It is also true that conditions of our body create challenges in our behavior. These influences can be so strong that a person can feel powerless to avoid where they lead. But God didn’t make us or the world that way! Humanistic psychologists never admit the third and most important factor in human behavior: free will. God made us in His image, that is, in His spiritual likeness (Gen. 1:26). That is why we have the capacity to reason, to feel emotions, to have a conscience, and to make choices. The Bible teaches from beginning to end that we act as we do because of our own free will. In Joshua 24:15 the leader of Israel said, “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” Moses told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30:19, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life…” The book of Hebrews says, “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:24-25).
There is an old proverb that says, “Like father, like son.” But that is a proverb, a general truism. It doesn’t happen every time. A son has the power within him to be better than his mean father. Ezekiel 18 is a powerful lesson on this point. This chapter talks about a good man that has a bad son. Then that bad son has a son. And what did that son do? Remember, this is the son of the evil man in verses 10-13 and the grandson of the good man in verses 5-9. What kind of man did he become? He became what he chose to be, just as all of us do. This son in verse 14 “sees all the sins which his father has done, and considers but does not do likewise.” This is an encouraging verse. It gives hope to children raised in bad homes by mean parents. The son in verse 14 saw what his father did and thought about it. He decided not to be like his father.
The Bible takes us to school in the field of psychology with the story of Cain and Abel. Beginning in Genesis 4:3 the Bible says, “And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.’ Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”
All the explanations (or, we might say excuses) that modern psychologists give for criminal behavior go out the window in this story. Cain didn’t have bad genes. He didn’t have abusive parents. His brother was a good man; Cain could have been too if he had wanted to. They didn’t live in a bad neighborhood because they didn’t have any neighbors. Cain didn’t give in to peer pressure or hang out with the wrong crowd. So why did he kill his brother? According to what we read in textbooks, current studies in psychology cannot answer this question.
But, the Bible does, and the answer it gives is plain and simple. It’s found in I John 3:12. That verse says we are not to be like “Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” There are no alibis or excuses in this verse. Cain killed his brother because of envy and spite. He chose to murder Abel. Nobody and no thing forced him or overwhelmed him and made him do it. He did it out of his own free will. The same applies to anyone who murders today, including a young man who kills others at school. He may have been influenced by any number of factors, but at the end of the day he made the decision to pull the trigger.
This needs to be mentioned more often because some of those responsible for recent school shootings and other attacks were homosexuals and transgender individuals. When media sources report this, they do so because the word is already out. So, they reluctantly admit the sexual orientation of the perpetrator. But they focus on how the killer was mistreated and bullied and made fun of by other young people. Again, it’s the same old approach: something in his environment caused him to be this way.
God describes these choices from a different perspective. While experts say the root of the problem is physical, God says it is spiritual. While men say something outside caused him to do evil things, God says it is what is inside him, in his soul. Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, MURDERS, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matt. 15:19). Murder comes from within. Solomon said, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). This is why Jesus warned against harbinger anger and resentment which lead to more anger and contempt and finally end in murder (Matt. 5:21-26). That is what happened to Cain. His fury burned until he struck out at his brother and killed him.
There are only a few times in the Bible where homosexuals speak. One is in Genesis 19. This is the story of Sodom. Two angels came to Lot’s house. When the men of Sodom, both young and old and in between, came to Lot’s house, they demanded that Lot send out the two angels so that these men could have them sexually. When Lot tried to strike a compromise by shamefully offering his two daughters, they became enraged. They said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them” (Gen. 19:9). They did the same thing we see today in protests from the gay community: anyone who disagrees with them is being judgmental, and, they become aggressive and even violent when they don’t get their way. Another case is in Judges 19. A traveling Levite was staying in the home of an old man in Gibeah. That evening some perverted men in the city came to the door and demanded that the old man bring out the Levite so that they could sexually abuse him. What happened after this is shocking, but is shows how degraded and animalistic men become when they are ruled by vile passions. They are driven by pure rage and lust.
In Romans 1 Paul takes us deeper into the soul of people in this perverted lifestyle. They can see from nature that God exists. Verse 20 says they can clearly see this and there is no excuse for not believing in God. But, he says in verse 21, some turned away from God even though they knew Him. They chose to worship idols instead. As they moved further away from the Creator in their minds, they turned to homosexuality—men with men and women with women (vv. 26-27). As a result, God let them go. Paul said God gave them up. In verse 28 he said because “they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind.” In Greek this means they tested the true God and didn’t want that kind of God. So they rejected Him and served other gods. In response God gave them over to a mind that was tested and rejected. That means a worthless, debased mind that is not fit to make moral judgments.
These people knew that God exists. They knew that their sin was against the nature He created. But they deliberately and resentfully turned away from Him. They became like animals in their moral condition. An animal only knows what he craves, and if you deny him, he will turn on you. This is the part of the homosexual mindset that you don’t hear about in the mainstream chatter. Violence is more common and more natural in homosexuality than what we are being led to believe. When men and women are angry at God, angry at life, angry with others and angry at themselves, they are bound to explode at some point. And, for those acts they are fully responsible.
It is ironic that all of our knowledge today has not brought us any closer to answering the question “Why?” As we end this study of the problem of evil, we’ve come full circle. God exists. There are some things we can understand about this issue and some things we do not. As for those questions that we can find no satisfying answer for, we must do as Job did and humble ourselves before the Creator. We must remember that if we don’t even understand how and why God operates His universe, then we are in no position to be angry with Him and criticize Him for allowing bad things to happen in this life.
Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc. 1:9). A story from 1899 illustrates this point well. David Lipscomb had a nephew named William Lipscomb, who was a principal in a public school in Dallas Texas. Times were hard, and the school was having financial problems. They were forced to make some cuts in their budget and relieve some employees from their jobs. One of those workers was a man named John Carlisle. He was the main janitor of the school. He evidently blamed William Lipscomb for losing his job. One day he went out and got drunk. That night a meeting was taking place at a church in Dallas. William Lipscomb and his wife and children we’re sitting toward the front of the building during the worship. Carlisle came in with a pistol, walked up to where William Lipscomb was sitting, and shot him. Lipscomb died a couple of days later.
David Lipscomb wrote a brief article about this tragic loss to the family in the Gospel Advocate, July 20, 1899. He reflected on his nephew’s life, saying that Will, as he called him, was always a good boy growing up and had grown into a good man. He was saddened that his wife and four children were left alone without him. He said., “He was not quite 40 years of age, and he seemed to have before him a life of usefulness and happiness. It seems a strange Providence that one of his character and usefulness should be slain by a drunken demon, yet things sometimes so happen in this world. We must learn submission, and trust the great Judge and Ruler of all things to adjust matters at the final judgment.”
Thank you for listening to My God and My Neighbor. Stay connected with our podcast on our website and on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever fine podcasts are distributed. Tennessee Bible College, providing Christian education since 1975 in Cookeville, Tennessee, offers undergraduate and graduate programs. Study at your level. Aim higher and get in touch with us today.