When gunmen open fire...

It is difficult to keep tears from welling up in your eyes as the events of the last two days unfold.

Yesterday, Major Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

"The shooting spree began as some 300 soldiers were lined up to get vaccinations and have their eyes tested at a Soldier Readiness Center, where troops who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. Nearby, others were lining up in commencement robes for a ceremony to celebrate soldiers and families who had recently earned degrees.
Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — before opening fire, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander.
When the gunfire subsided, soldiers described a scene that looked like a war zone: too many wounded to count, shells and blood on the floor, and comrades ripping off their clothes to make tourniquets to keep the injured alive. One woman, suffering from a wound to the hip, carried another victim to get help. As of now, Major Hasan is said to be alive and in stable condition (he was first reported as killed by security officers).

I can't imagine the pain for these families, and the entire Fort Hood family. They thought they were kissing their loved ones goodbye to go to war, not to get gunned down by a psycho killer.

And then, just a few hours ago, I got a breaking news text message alert which read: “unidentified man fires in the offices of an engineering firm where he was let go more than two years ago, authorities said, killing one person and injuring five others". He has since been arrested and supposedly issued an apology. He has also been charged with first degree murder.

Innocent people being mowed down by a psychotic gunman two days in a row has a way of jolting us from our numbness.

The question that many people want to know is how can a good God allow things like this to happen? Put another way, if God is all-powerful, and if God is all-loving, then why does God allow evil?

First, when tragedies of this nature take place, people look for answers. Christians should be the ones armed and ready to respond. Peter tells us to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15).

Second, when a similar situation took place in Jesus’ day, he responded by calling everyone to repentance.
"There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:1-5)

Third, the problem of evil has been solved at the cross. Is God all-powerful? Yes. Is He all-loving? Definitely. Is He just? You bet. And here is how all these things can be true.
Hebrew 2: 14-18: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

The incarnation gives us the ability to cope when bad things happen. Because of the incarnation we don’t despair like the rest of the world. Death has been swallowed up in victory. God has shed tears of his own, taking on the limitations and sufferings of creation personally.

For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine… He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair and death. When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.

I know of no equal comfort in the midst of life’s sorrow, no other answer to the problem of pain. God has offered us as unique and personal a savior as the tears we shed crying out for answers and consolation. Every tear is marked with the intricacies of our Creator, every cry heard by one who wept at the grave of Lazarus, every lament collected in his bottle until the day when tears will be no more.