This morning in the news, I just read of the tragic shooting yesterday on the campus of Northern Illinois University in Dekalb, Illinois. As it stands now, the death toll is at seven, with at least fifteen others shot and injured.
On the radio this morning, the DJ’s were trying to make some sense of the shooting. They suggested that when we teach that we are evolved from monkeys, barely a step removed from the rest of the animal kingdom, that life looses a little of its value.
They suggested that the violence on TV desensitizes us to violence in our lives. We see people shot every evening, why is such a big deal. We learn at a very early age of the violence in our streets (whether it’s really there or not!). They had some other comments that were similar in nature, and they all make at least some sense, though all very general in nature.
If we think about it at all, we have to realize that it’s not just this morning’s event. We are hearing about these more and more. On college campuses, high school campuses, shopping malls. Wherever people gather, we might hear of this kind of horror. And we hear about it more and more. We are still safe, but not as safe as we were years ago.
I have a slightly different theory on the shootings. This week I am preaching on 1 Corinthians 13, what is often called the “Love Chapter.” This chapter talk about what real love is – and isn’t. And I am reminded of 1 John 4:16, which tells us “God is love.”
As we reflect on this, it’s fairly obvious that the opposite of love is hate. But as I go further, it occurs to me that they’re not just opposites. It occurs to me that the very absence of love is hate. And while over 90% of the population claim to believe in some kind of God, they apparently don’t know very much about that God, as fewer than 20% actually go to church. So more and more we are seeing an absence of God. And, if the Bible is true, if God is love, we would expect to see more and more an absence of love.
So in a world where love is increasing absent, we would expect to see more and more hate. And the results of this kind of hate are very widespread, but one of the symptoms may very well be what we saw yesterday on the campus of Northern Illinois University.
On the radio this morning, the DJ’s were trying to make some sense of the shooting. They suggested that when we teach that we are evolved from monkeys, barely a step removed from the rest of the animal kingdom, that life looses a little of its value.
They suggested that the violence on TV desensitizes us to violence in our lives. We see people shot every evening, why is such a big deal. We learn at a very early age of the violence in our streets (whether it’s really there or not!). They had some other comments that were similar in nature, and they all make at least some sense, though all very general in nature.
If we think about it at all, we have to realize that it’s not just this morning’s event. We are hearing about these more and more. On college campuses, high school campuses, shopping malls. Wherever people gather, we might hear of this kind of horror. And we hear about it more and more. We are still safe, but not as safe as we were years ago.
I have a slightly different theory on the shootings. This week I am preaching on 1 Corinthians 13, what is often called the “Love Chapter.” This chapter talk about what real love is – and isn’t. And I am reminded of 1 John 4:16, which tells us “God is love.”
As we reflect on this, it’s fairly obvious that the opposite of love is hate. But as I go further, it occurs to me that they’re not just opposites. It occurs to me that the very absence of love is hate. And while over 90% of the population claim to believe in some kind of God, they apparently don’t know very much about that God, as fewer than 20% actually go to church. So more and more we are seeing an absence of God. And, if the Bible is true, if God is love, we would expect to see more and more an absence of love.
So in a world where love is increasing absent, we would expect to see more and more hate. And the results of this kind of hate are very widespread, but one of the symptoms may very well be what we saw yesterday on the campus of Northern Illinois University.
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