David Anguish
We heard it even as we watched the satellite feed from Littleton on our local newscasts. By the time of the morning talk shows the next day, it had become a chorus. Pundits and politicians. Experts in explosives and psychiatry. Families from Jonesboro and Paducah. These and others were questioned by reporters looking for someone to offer new insight on what is becoming a recurring tragedy.
Why? The answer depends, of course, on the specific why under consideration. Were the two in Littleton like or different from those in Paducah and Jonesboro? In what way? What had they been watching? Doing? Where were their parents? Did they know? Did they care? Were there warnings? Shouldn't the teachers have seen the signs? What if more people carried guns? What if fewer people did?
Why? Specific answers will continue to pour in, as varied as the experts who offer them. As this is written, the news is that April 20 was selected because it was Hitler's birthday. Thus, a little of the unknown has been removed, and something has been discovered which perhaps distinguishes this tragedy from the others.
Whatever is discovered about reverence for Hitler, or any other theory for why this or any similar tragedy occurred, my interest here is different. For even though personal responsibility must be given its full due ("the person who sins will die" - Ezekiel 18:20), the impact of a society's prevailing world view must not be ignored. The story of another society wracked by violence is instructive. Ancient Israel knew a time when it was typified by "swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore the land mourns, and everyone who lives in it languishes . . ." (Hosea 4:2-3a, NASB).
Why? "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (v 6a). Who was at fault? Those who sinned. "My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner's wand informs them; for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God" (v 12). But others shared the blame. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children" (v6b-c). At least some did not know because those who were supposed to tell them had not done so.
The cause in Hosea's words is both simple and complex. It is simple because it does serve to narrow many whys to one basic cause. People act the way they do because they think the way they do. Feed on the impure, and vile results follow. Think on the pure and lovely, and you'll see things worthy of praise (Mark 7:21-23; Philippians 4:8-9). That there is evidence of reverence for Hitler by the Littleton shooters shows that thinking does matter.
But Hosea's why is also complex because it deals with root causes which demand long term solutions. A law here, a counseling program there, a security camera in this school, a metal detector in that one - each will probably contribute to preventing exactly the same thing from happening again. But no two cases are alike, are they? Laws have loopholes, programs miss some, and security systems can be circumvented. The only hope for a culture which does not know God is the consistent leavening of truth and goodness which grows people from the inside out, transforming them into the image of Christ himself (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
"Let us not become weary in doing good" (Galatians 6:9, NIV).