Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Finnish School Shooting

This is the second such incident within a year in Finland. The first was near Helsinki, this one was in a remote town in central Finland.
Finland, as a country, is not known for its' displays of violence; quite the contrary. Its' citizens are generally good citizens, although there are issues of domestic violence and alcohol-related offences. The fact that there have been two massacres in a year in the small country of 5 million people, has shocked Finns and non-Finns alike.
There were warning signs about this one. The police had questioned the gunman the day before, regarding a violent video he posted on you-tube.
The previous shooting involved an angry young man who saw no hope in this life, and he acted on his world view. It's a sad result of the teaching our children are getting in secular education. If we are just randomly evolved animals, then there is absolutely no reason for anyone to respect human life. If it's survival of the fittest, then might is right, and we should 'eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.'
But that's not the truth, and this young gunman learned that the moment after he died, when he stood before his Judge.
The sad thing is that people will often blame God when something like this happens. They'll say, "Where was God when this happened?" But people need to remember, if they don't want God in any part of their lives, they can't expect Him to answer them when they decide they want Him to intervene at other times. Fox-hole religion never was true religion, as people tend to go back to their old ways once trouble passes.
What happened in Finland was truly tragic. I'm not trying to minimize it. I sympathize with the families who lost their children. I would be devastated, myself. But if we're going to ask why these things are happening more and more in the world, we also need to be willing to hear the answers.

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