Posted on 07/20/2012 9:09:39 PM PDT by Former Fetus
The news hit the airwaves like a sudden onslaught, and the truth began to sink in. It has happened again. This time, 50 people shot while attending the midnight premier of the last in the Batman sequence, “The Dark Knight Rises.” According to press reports, a 24-year-old man burst into the crowded theater, wearing a gas mask and carrying an arsenal. After deploying what is believed to be tear gas, he opened fire with a shotgun, a rifle, and two handguns. At least 12 people are dead, and dozens are injured, many critically.
Over 100 police officers responded to the scene in Aurora, just a few miles from Columbine High School, where in 1999 two high school students killed 12 fellow students and one teacher in a rampage that also injured 21 other students. That school massacre became a milestone in the nation’s legacy of violence. Now, yet another Denver suburb joins that tragic list.
The inevitable media swarm focuses on the data first—the who, what, when, and where questions. Then they, along with the public at large, begin to ask the why question. That is always the hard one.
(Excerpt) Read more at bibleprophecyblog.com ...
Without Him none of this means anything.
We would be like animals, bugs and bacteria- fighting over nothing.
lame headline. i am so sick of dumbass sensational writing. i live by columbine and work down the road from the theatre. it’s on the other side of denver from columbine. oh and columbine has a littleton mailing address BUT IT IS NOT IN LITTLETON. it is in jefferson county. littleton is in a different county.
I only infrequently quote the Bible but “by their fruit you will recognize them” seems most appropriate here. Holmes face, taken by itself, shows nothing.
Evil crimes like this prove that there is something very wrong with our world. It is broken under the effects of sin.
Jesus Christ came to repair our broken world. He is the only answer.
May God comfort the family and those hurt by this evil maniac.
The Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth.
We’re counting our blessings tonight. Our niece got asked by her friends to go to that midnight showing of Batman. She wasn’t feeling right and didn’t want to go. They live a few miles away from the mall and theater in Aurora. Something about the place being rowdy or such. They went to a better theater farther away. Lucky, and blessed.
Obviously not his booking picture, wonder what
that looked like?
Guy looks whacked to me.
Runaway bride eyes.
While the police say they have no motive for why this act of violence occurred, there are some answers staring us in the face.
Psychologist John Rosemond may offer a clue. He writes “For many years, I have contended that good social science research always confirms both Scripture and common sense....” He goes on to quote social scientist Roy Baumeister who believes that people with “high self-esteem tend to have low self-control, especially when they aren’t getting their way. They don’t handle defeat or disappointment very well. Why? Because people with high self-esteem think they are entitled to always to be the winner.”
He says that people with high self-esteem “tend to lash out, verbally and often physically, at the people they blame for their defeats and disappointments.” It is interesting to note that Baumeister’s 10-year research revealed that wife abusers, child abusers, people with episodes of road rage and inner-city gang members generally have high self-esteem.
Worse yet, if it could be, studies have shown that the worst of criminals, those confined in maximum-security prisons score higher on self-esteem tests than any other group.
So why do modern educators such as Dorothy Corkille Briggs write that “high self-esteem...is our best guarantee that a child will make the most fruitful use of his capacities”?
It could be because current academia rejects the Bible.
We’re not playing politics. When schools reject the Bible they have thrown out the teachings of Jesus which have been the major civilizing influence in the last 2,000 years. It was Jesus who taught that “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matt. 16:24)
People with high self-esteem don’t think about others. Did the thought of self-denial ever enter the mind of James Holmes? When self-gratification becomes god potential harm to fellow human beings is not considered. It is narcissism to the extreme.
Jesus blessed those who are “poor in spirit,” “those who mourn,” “the meek,” “those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,” and those who are reviled and persecuted falsely. (Matt. 5:3-12)
There is simply no way to square the teachings of Jesus with the belief in high self-esteem. The teachings of Christ have been proven right every time there is a test. Colorado provides one more example that God should be the primary teacher in the classroom.
All that “high self esteem” is a shallow act, of course.
Amen to your post. You are absolutely right. Society has brainwashed kids with violent movies and video games for years now. Does it really surprise us when someone acts
out what they have had pumped into their brain all their life.
Answer...............we need to arm ourselves. If these crazies have the least bit of an idea that there may be many armed and they want to survive this attack they may think twice, if not we have an advantage of numbers aimed at a single target. The next day the perp will be paraded as a victim pictured in his elementary school graduation garb by the scumedia.
“The answer is this: someone is either evil, or he is whacked. It’s no different than a hurricane, a tornado, or an earthquake,”
‘Evil’ is by definition intentional. ‘Whacked’ is helpless. Evil can be nurtured whacked is random. Leaving God out of his Creation is a strategic error (to say nothing of an impossibility) that will result in a lot more Evil and probably a lot more whacked.
I would expect a man of Dr. Mohler’s age, erudition and experience to do better than this. Why is he “groping” at this point in his life? Why is he writing as if this is a totally novel event, and nobody in history has ever usefully explored the theological and philosophical ramifications?
Christianity provides the answer: Human beings have fallen from God’s glory, and they sin. The world is fallen, and so there is mental illness. That about covers it, whatever combination of psychological problems and/or consciously-willed evil motivated the killer in the present case.
Perhaps people focus on incidents such as this because they can imagine that they are categorically different from a person like this killer ... but they should think a little harder. Are they categorically different from the people who participated in the shootings of 15 people in Chicago this weekend (and double-digits *every* weekend)? The fact that those people were shot one or two at a time doesn’t make them any less dead or injured. If those attackers were motivated by greed, anger, pride, lust, or boredom, can any of us claim we don’t sometimes act under those motives?
If this mass murderer raises a unique question of evil, what about the man who took his sex-partner and infant children to the midnight movie, then abandoned them to the killer? There are many, many more like him than there are men who get organized to shoot dozens of people. Where’s the “groping in the dark” about that?
Great answer. Thanks.
Sometimes we’re too afraid to say anything until it’s too late.
Here’s a local site I occasionally check out. Pick any crime story and scroll down to the comments. Look for “1lessyt”.
Next ticking time bomb. Mark my words.
One reason we are witnessing increased random violence is that Jesus told us that at the time of His return, the world would be like the days of Noah, full of violence. Genesis 6: 11,12 says:
Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
So as we see all the other signs that Christ gave us to watch for for His return happening in conjunction with each other, we should not be surprised at all that violence is increasing sharply.
The article also reiterates the fact that since it is God Who restrains human sin, when the Holy Spirit is removed from this earth at the Rapture, there will be nothing restraining evil.
Thanks for posting this excellent article!
Thanks. I liked very much your comment about the removing of the Holy Spirit, although I have often times wondered how will anybody come to Christ during the Tribulation if the Holy Spirit won’t be there to convict them. But we are certainly getting a glimpse of what’s to come! Thanks again!
Conditions will revert back to Old Testament times, which, as we know, was a time before the Church existed and before the Holy Spirit indwelt believers. With the church gone, the Lord's attention will turn back to Israel, and purifying His people to make them ready for the blessings He has promised them.
The temple will be rebuilt, the sacrifices will resume, and the grace of God as we know it now will no longer exist. People will be saved, but they will have to continually work to keep their salvation, just like people did during the Old Testament.
It's so much better to, as God tells us, "seek the Lord while He may be found". Time is rapidly dwindling, and God is bringing this age to a close. And when it's over, it's over.
Got it! The Holy Spirit won't be indwelling believers, but doesn't mean He won't be working in the world.
People will be saved, but they will have to continually work to keep their salvation, just like people did during the Old Testament
Aren't you glad we won't be there?
I am very grateful to God for the fact that I was able to hear the Gospel and know Him as my King, my God and my Savior.
And I can't wait to see him face to face and finally get to be in the presence of the One Who gave His life for me!
Yes, I'm very happy that we won't be there!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.