Like many people, I went to the midnight premiere of “The
Dark Knight Rises.” I enjoyed the movie,
went home to bed, got up the next morning and was shocked at the events that
transpired in Colorado. As I watched the
television and listened to the radio about the reports of James Holmes heinous
crime, I kept hearing the words, “not rational”, “how”, “why”, “unbelievable”. I listened to President Obama’s response and
I was heartened to hear him describe the act as evil. I say that because many people today refuse
to identify such heinous acts as evil.
When President Bush used the term in describing terrorists, some said he
went too far. After all one man’s
terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.
But President Obama, declared the
act evil and evil it is. He also went on
to say that we may never understand why.
There is a high level answer to the question. No we may never know what caused this
particular instance but we can explain on a philosophical and theological plane
the reason why. True, the answer sounds
so unreasonable to many ears today, but it does not make this answer false. The answer lies in the doctrine of original
sin. Yes, I said sin. The doctrine of original sin teaches us that
Adam’s fall effects us all. That every
man, woman and child is born with a sin nature, sin effects every part of our
lives body, mind, spirit and will. This
does not mean that we are as sinful as we can be, but that sin touches every
part of our lives.
What makes this crime untenable is that most people are kept
from being as sinful as we can be. God
has given each person in the world what is called common grace. Common grace
includes both internal and external restraints upon our behavior. We all have a conscience. We know right from wrong. The Bible teaches us that the law of God is
written on our hearts. This internal
restraint keeps us from doing certain things because we know they are
wrong. Now, this is not always
enough. If you had to read the book, “The
Lord of the Flies,” you remember the story is about civilized boys who engaged
in horrendous behavior because they were stripped of God’s other common grace,
external restraints.
These external restraints include government. Government is an authority established by god
to promote good and restrain evil. Laws
are established to keep people from committing certain acts. No, it cannot change hearts, but the fear of
punishment can keep you in line. When
those external restraints are not there, people can engage in the most god
awful behavior. Just go to Daytona Beach
on Spring Break when students are away from their parents. When the cat is away, the mice will
play.
For most of us our internal sense of right and wrong and
fear of punishment keep us from being as sinful as we can be. However, some people refuse to listen to
their conscience and are not afraid of punishment, so they give into their
baser instincts and can commit heinous crimes.
We have seen this in history with men like Hitler, who were a law unto
themselves and were driven to do what they wanted even if others would say it
was evil.
Does that mean I am off the hook? Does that mean that no evil lives within
me? The answer is no. Jesus said, in Matthew 5:21-22, “You have
heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever
murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is
angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother
will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to
the hell of fire.” Murder begins not as
an external act but an internal attitude of anger, hatred, contempt and
envy. Because of God’s common grace we
do not act on our feelings but Jesus said we are liable to judgment. That is exactly why we need the gospel, we
are all guilty. If we have failed in one
point of the law, we have failed in all.
We stand before God already condemned to judgment. But God did not send his Son into the world
to condemn the world, but through Him the world might be saved. Jesus bore God’s judgment for our sin on the
cross. If we put our trust in Christ, we
will not perish but have eternal life.
Think about it.
