Unthinkable Evil

Tonight, our nation is wounded. A community in Connecticut is torn apart. 27 people (if I read the last media account right) are dead, among those 20 children.

At around 9:30 this morning, a deranged person entered into what should have been the safest of places, a kindergarten classroom, and opened fire. Within minutes, the lives of far too many innocent victims were cut tragically short.

Forgive me if this is hard for you to read and process.

It is for ALL of us.

With that as our backdrop, our nation grieves. We are hurting people, questioning why. We wonder how anyone could possibly do this… what kind of person could kill children, innocent five and six year old kindergarteners, no less?

As the night comes, and we begin to process these horrific events, we look to each other for comfort. We hold our children tightly, assuring them they’ll be safe. We struggle with answers to their questions… even moreso, our own.

What kind of world do we live in?

Tomorrow, the questions will persist.

We’ll learn more about the shooter, apparently a 20 year old man named Adam Lanza. We’ll learn more about his days prior to this. His friends. His family. His issues. We’ll speculate as to what drove him to do it. What kind of monster? How mentally ill? Why?

Our answers will be woefully inadequate.

Worse? This tragedy will be used as a springboard for political discussion. Our politicians will question whether we have appropriate gun control laws. Whether the types of weapons used should be banned. Broad statements will be made. “This wouldn’t have happened if…” “This could have been prevented by…” “This wouldn’t have been so bad if…”

We’ll see the worst of political finger-pointing; statements made by legions of opportunists who will let no tragedy go to waste.

And victims’ families will continue to suffer this horrific loss.

We’ll continue to hurt as a people.

We’ll struggle with unanswerable questions.

With all of the finger-pointing, all of the political opportunism, all of the psychological profiles, all of the background information… with all of the information we’ll be presented with over the coming days, we’ll still be left with a question we can’t answer.

Why?

Why…

Why!

This question will be asked in a million different ways. What can be done with school-shooter training to keep these children safe? What can be done with background checks before guns are purchased to keep people like this from obtaining weapons? What safety nets were missed such that this deranged individual was not stopped? Who could have done something? What happened in this person’s life to drive them to this point?

No matter how many of these questions are answered, that one central question we all struggle with will persist.

Why?

The fact is, we KNOW the answer to that question. We just don’t want to admit that it’s not enough.

Why did this happen?

Because evil… unthinkable evil… exists.

Unthinkable evil was made manifest before all of us today.

And we don’t know how to process it.

We want to believe that people are inherently good, and that unthinkable evil like this is beyond us all.

We want to believe that this shooter was simply mentally unstable… that a chemical imbalance in his brain caused him to lose his mind and do something we don’t want to imagine.

We want to believe that there’s a reason for this, because we want to believe that this kind of unthinkable act has some sort of rational, believable, preventable cause.

We want to believe that evil isn’t really the sole root.

But it is.

Somehow evil prevailed in the shooter’s life. Whether he was overcome by evil somehow, or had a heart filled with it? We’ll never know.

Does it matter? Our questions won’t have sufficient answers. Our search for understanding will be left unfulfilled.

There are no rational answers that will suffice for the “why” behind this unthinkable evil.

So where do we go from here?

As we struggle.

As we hurt.

As we deal with the reality of unthinkable evil?

For me, I rest in the reality of unimaginable GOOD.

Of God.

I could preach my faith to you, but I won’t… you can read my story here on this site and learn much about what I believe. You can contact me, and I’ll try to explain. Whatever you need, I’ll try.

Suffice it to say that because I see the reality of unthinkable evil in our world, I cannot live without faith that unimaginable good must also exist.

Suffice it to say that because I see the reality of evil in my own heart, I am left with no hope without the intervention of the author of good.

Unthinkable evil MUST be countered by unimaginable good.

And if unimaginable good has an author?

The author is MORE than worthy of my faith and devotion.

That author is worth living for.

That author gives hope.

In the face of unthinkable evil, which we cannot begin to rationalize or understand?

We’re confronted with matters of faith.

Where will you turn for answers?