Cliff Rawley: No escaping divine judgment when attacking innocents
On April 20, 1999 I visited the USP cell block on my chaplain rounds. Inmates were watching the news about the Columbine High School massacre. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher, injuring 24 others. They then committed suicide. Did they get away with it?
These hardened inmates were shocked because the massacre made no sense. It was a tragic watershed moment in our country. They feared for the safety of their children. They predicted copycat slayings to follow.
CBS News reported for the first 150 days of 2023 there were 263 mass killings in our nation, which is the highest number on record and more than the calendar days. A total of 327 people were killed.
Something is deadly wrong. How did this happen? Is it because practical atheism is popular? Many have no fear of God and no view of human life as sacred. Without God every kind of action is permissible. Without God as judge, who can say what is right and wrong? Are we attempting to make moral truth into a personal opinion? Our secular culture ignores God and ridicules religion. We are lost in the confusion of moral ignorance.
Every major religion teaches consequences. This present life is not our end. They warn we will pay for harmful actions. We are not just animals but have a soul which never dies. The belief that there is no accountability after death denies us a needed caution to how we treat others.
Many believe that God is loving and would never send a person to hell. The Bible teaches instead that people send themselves. They drive themselves there by practicing bitterness, hatred, greed, caring only for self, and harming others. God in love does not want anyone to perish and gives us enough instructions in the Bible how to change a hell-bent trajectory.
God is not only love but also about consequences. Galatians 6:7 says, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” There are eternal results for rebelling against God and living just to please oneself. Romans 12:19 warns us, “It is mine to avenge, I will repay.” Because God is love he will avenge the suffering and death of innocent people. His love is based upon moral justice.
Do mass murderers get away without punishment? No, God is real. God will not be made irrelevant. It is impossible. Violence towards the innocent and callous indifference will be avenged by the Lord of righteous judgment.
Arrogant atheism boasts belief in God is an unneeded relic and that modern society has progressed beyond the 10 Commandments. How is this working? The USP inmates were right. The senseless slayings continue to multiply. In our pride we have an aversion to the very idea of being held responsible to God for how we have treated others. We are sowing the wind of rejection of all that is sacred and reaping the whirlwind.
Cliff Rawley lives in Springfield.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Cliff Rawley: No escape from divine judgment
