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U.S. NEWS

Attacks

Two shootings last weekend left Americans mourning. 

Late Saturday night, three people were killed and eight others were injured at a packed waterfront bar in Southport, North Carolina.

A 40-year-old gunman opened fire from a boat, then sped away. The Coast Guard found him and charged him with murder and assault. The suspect is a veteran who says he was “wounded in combat” and has post-traumatic stress disorder (when a scary or upsetting event keeps making someone feel afraid or upset, even when they’re safe).

The next morning, at least five people were killed and eight were injured after a shooting and fire at a worship service.

The attack happened during the gathering of over one hundred people at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan (~60 miles northwest of Detroit). A man rammed his truck into the building and opened fire. He also reportedly set the building on fire. 

Police were on the scene within 30 seconds of the call. They shot and killed the suspect, a 40-year-old former Marine. The blaze caused part of the building to collapse. 

The FBI is investigating the “targeted act of violence.” They’re looking into whether Sunday’s attack was connected to Saturday’s death of Russell M. Nelson, the 101-year-old president of the LDS Church. 

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CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
God doesn’t promise a world without troubles (actually, Jesus said the opposite), but He does promise peace and victory over sin for all who trust in Jesus. During times dominated by uncertainty and fear, our eternity is secure, and we can cling to His promises. 

“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.” 
John 16:33 (CSB) (read full passage)

What do I want to make sure my kids know in light of this story?
Some nonbelievers argue that evil and suffering like these attacks prove God can’t exist or be good. But this can’t be true. Here’s why:

1. If God doesn’t exist, there’s no objective, true standard of justice. And without a standard for what’s good, calling something “evil” is just one person’s opinion.

2. “Survival of the fittest,” an atheist's typical explanation of how nature works, depends on the idea of the strong overpowering the weak. In that view of the world, acts of violence are perfectly natural and nothing to be outraged over.

So calling acts like this evil—which nearly everyone agrees on—depends on there being a moral standard for right and wrong and a source for that law (God). Nonbelievers are stuck admitting that violence is just the way of the world, but Christians can say that shootings like these are deeply out of place in God’s good world.

What gospel lesson can be taught through this story?
Believers can say with confidence not only that evil doesn’t belong in God’s world, but also that there’s hope for the undoing of evil when all is said and done.

Ours is the only faith that has an answer for injustice: “God… has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31, CSB). Evil people will face the consequences for their choices, and the innocent will be made whole again.

It’s not “survival of the fittest,” because the truth is that none of us is fit to stand before God. But because Jesus satisfied God’s justice, we can stand before God confidently on the last day, pushing back evil by the power of the Holy Spirit in the meantime.

• Discuss the suffering that raises doubts about God’s goodness for your family members. For heart-focused doubts, listen and pray together. For head-focused doubts, check out chapter 2 of Tim Keller’s The Reason for God.

• Memorize Acts 17:30-31, “​​God now commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead” (CSB).

• Pray for victims’ families, those wounded, and those gripped by fear: “O Lord… be merciful to those now wounded. Be present with those now bereaved… Your heart is always inclined toward those who suffer. Now let your mercies be active through the hands, the words, and the compassionate care of those who willingly enter this sadness to console and to serve.” Every Moment Holy, page 149 of Volume 2

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